AD Agencies
Leo Burnett elevates Chaka Sobhani to global chief creative officer
Mumbai: Leo Burnett has promoted Chaka Sobhani to the global chief creative officer, where she will be representing Leo Burnett on a global stage.
She will also be responsible for evolving the Publicis Groupe network’s creative standards, as well as recruiting and growing the next generation of creative talent, with a focus on diversity and inclusion, said the agency on Friday.
Sobhani will also continue to hold the post of a chief creative officer at Leo Burnett London, a position she has held for the last five years, even as she takes over global responsibilities. With this promotion, Sobhani will replace Liz Taylor, who will exit the agency two years after joining FCB. She will continue to be based in London and will oversee creative leadership at the London agency in addition to her global role.
During her time with Leo Burnett, Sobanhi has overseen work including several highly-praised campaigns for McDonald’s. Before Leo Burnett, she worked at Mother and before that spent ten years in the TV industry, including setting up the first in-house agency at broadcaster ITV.
Leo Burnett USA, CEO Andrew Swinand said in a statement: “Chaka puts the ‘human’ in HumanKind. You can feel it in every part of her work and her tireless dedication to championing and including diverse voices and people in our industry. Chaka’s pride in our brand is immense, as is her passion for breakthrough creative and enduring client relationships. She’s a cultural titan in every sense and a Burnetter through and through.”
Sobhani said, “I’m truly honored to take on this mantle, working closely with all our global CCOs and ECDs to push for even greater creative excellence at Leo Burnett around the world and bringing in the next generation of talent from different backgrounds.”
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
