MAM
WPP appoints Lindsay Pattison as Global Chief People Officer
Mumbai: WPP has appointed Lindsay Pattison as the new global chief people officer, responsible for overseeing the company’s people strategy and operations. She takes over from Jennifer Remling, who is moving on to become the chief people officer at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Pattison currently serves as WPP’s global chief client officer, where she leads the relationships with the company’s major clients. She has held this role since 2018 and is in charge of developing and supporting the global client leaders for the company’s largest clients, which contribute significantly to WPP’s revenue. Before this, she held various leadership positions at WPP, GroupM, and the media agency Maxus.
Throughout her career, She has been a dedicated advocate for talent development and is committed to enhancing diversity at the highest levels of business. She has a strong track record of implementing initiatives to improve gender diversity, including the successful launch of ‘Walk The Talk’ during her time as CEO of Maxus. This program aimed to empower senior women to reach their full potential and was later expanded globally within WPP, benefitting over 3,000 female leaders worldwide.
She has also played a crucial role in WPP’s Diversity & Inclusion Council, supported the Elevate program for Black female talent, and served as the former President of WACL (Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership), where she mentored early-career talent across the industry.
In addition to her role at WPP, Pattison serves as an independent non-executive director for the Rugby World Cup (England 2025) Limited, overseeing the delivery of the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025. She also holds positions on the board, including chairing the compensation committee, at Waldencast, a NASDAQ-listed global beauty and wellness company. Furthermore, she is involved with the advisory board of Planet First Partners, a fund focused on sustainable products and services, as well as Meta’s Global Client Council, and the UK EFFies advisory board, which is dedicated to driving effectiveness in marketing. Pattison also contributed to the WEF Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media, serving two terms and co-chairing for two years.
WPP CEO Mark Read commented, “Lindsay is extremely highly regarded across the industry as a leader who can identify and develop top talent and as a trusted partner to global clients. She has a deep understanding of our business, people and culture, and her strong commercial focus will help to drive our future people strategy.”
“Jennifer has been an excellent partner to me, the rest of the executive team and the leaders of our agencies, and I’d like to thank her for everything she’s contributed to WPP and our agencies over the last seven years,” he added.
Lindsay Pattison said, “Our business and our clients succeed when we have the best, most highly motivated talent. Our most valuable assets are our people, and creating the culture and environment where they can do the work of their lives is both what excites me about this new role, and what will deliver results for our clients.”
Pattison and Jennifer Remling will work closely together on the transition until the end of the year, taking up their new positions in January 2024. An announcement regarding Pattison’s successor will be made shortly.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
