Five Indians unveiled as part of Cannes Lions ’24 speaker lineup

Cannes Lions has announced its speaker lineup for 2024. Five Indians are part of the lineup. 

These include: 

Abraham Varughese, chief creative officer, Digitas India

At Digitas, Abraham Varughese collaborates with top talents in Creative, CX Design, Technology, Strategy, and Data, essential for connecting today's reality with the virtual worlds of tomorrow. Intrigued by factors influencing human behavior, he constantly innovates to craft brand experiences that provoke lasting interest. Varughese’s contributions have earned acclaim at prestigious events like D&AD, The One Show, Cannes Lions, and more, including top honors like Grand Prix and Best in Show.

Gautam Reghunath, co-founder and CEO, Talented.Agency

Gautam Reghunath, Co-founder and CEO of Talented, an employee-owned creative agency from India, has led the company to become one of the country's top creative agencies in just two years, with notable success at Cannes Lions. Talented prioritizes a new 'agency experience' centered on human values, implementing innovative policies like employee equity ownership and reimagined approaches to time-off and entry-level salaries. Reghunath's previous experience includes 11 years at Dentsu Webchutney India, where he served as CEO during the agency's recognition as Cannes Lions Global Agency of the Year in 2022. He boasts over 100 creative awards, including multiple Grand Prix and a Titanium at Cannes Lions.

PG Aditya, co-founder and CCO, Talented.Agency

PG Aditiya, formerly Chief Creative Officer at Dentsu Webchutney, is renowned for creating India's most awarded campaign, "The Unfiltered History Tour," in partnership with VICE Media. Now, he's co-founder of Talented, an independent creative agency, with Gautam Reghunath and the core team behind the Unfiltered History Tour. Throughout his career, PG has elevated India's standing at prestigious festivals like Cannes Lions, The One Show, and Spikes Asia with notable campaigns such as "Why is this a Swiggy Ad," "Or Travel on ClearTrip," and Flipkart's "Hagglebot." His achievements include being named Creative Person of the Year by Campaign Magazine and earning recognition as APAC's top Chief Creative Officer by the One Show, as well as being honored as Creative Agency Leader of the Year by the IAA.

Karandeep Singh Kapany, regional marketing director, Duolingo

In 2021, Kapany joined Duolingo as its inaugural representative in India. His role encompasses overseeing growth, marketing, and operations within the Indian market. Kapany's strategy has centred on launching highly localised campaigns tailored to India's diverse languages and dialects. Notably, a campaign targeted at Bengali-speaking audiences, particularly in Kolkata, resulted in a remarkable 400% increase in Duolingo's active users in India. Kolkata emerged as the platform's third-largest user market in the country. Kapany is optimistic about Duolingo's growth potential in India, considering it to be just the beginning. Previously, he held positions as Director of Marketing at Verse and Head of Brand Marketing at HolidayIQ.com.

Rajdeepak Das, chairman and CCO, Publicis Groupe and Leo Burnett South Asia

Das has been on a mission of redefining creativity with his HumanKind approach. He firmly believes what is good for people is good for brands. When he joined advertising, his goal was to use creativity and help brands make a positive impact on human lives. Over the years his leadership has helped achieve several milestones that have changed not only the agency but the industry too including winning the Grand Prix for Sustainable Development Goals for his work on P & G Whisper ‘Missing Chapter’.

Das was recently featured in the popular Netflix docu–series ‘Creative Indians’ and was the only creative from advertising in his season.