Wanda Pogue has joined VaynerMedia as chief strategy officer. In this role, Pogue will oversee strategy across the agency’s global offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Singapore and report to CEO and co-founder Gary Vaynerchuk. Pogue was most recently chief strategy officer at Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
Pogue brings over 20 years of strategic planning and brand-building experience to her new roost. As chief strategy officer at Saatchi New York since 2014, she was instrumental in leading business-building and award-winning work across the agency’s roster of clients, including Walmart, Procter & Gamble and USAA. Prior to that, she led the strategic vision for brands such as Olay, Tide/Ariel, Head & Shoulders and Trident as global strategy director, helping to further establish these brands around the world. Her first role at Saatchi & Saatchi was as regional strategy director across both the United States and Latin America. Pogue began her career in marketing research and U.S. Hispanic and multicultural marketing.
Pogue is the latest appointment to VaynerMedia’s global leadership team, following the announcement of Rob Lenois joining the agency as chief creative officer last week.
Changes Afoot For Cannes Lions 2025, Including Increasing Festival Access For Underserved Communities
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is putting plans in motion for its 72nd edition, set to take place from June 16-20, 2025 in Cannes, France. The Festival has announced that it will double funding to provide €2m (some $2,150,000) worth of complimentary passes to underrepresented talent and underserved communities through its Equity, Representation and Accessibility (ERA) Pass, returning for a second year.
Frank Starling, chief DEI officer, Lions, said the increased investment was “crucial to continue to drive progress for both Cannes Lions and the industry.” Starling added, “The ERA pass plays an important role in fostering a global representation of talent within the creative communications industry at Cannes Lions, and to date our funded opportunities have reached creatives in 46 countries globally. With the Festival being the destination for everyone in the business of creativity, we recognize the importance of creating equitable access to it, and this is why we’re prioritizing increased representation from the Global South to support a greater range of voices and perspectives from the region at the Festival.” Applications for the ERA pass are open now and close on December 5, 2025. More details can be found here.
With submissions into the Cannes Lions Awards opening on January 16, 2025, innovations to the Awards have also been announced today. Glass: The Lion for Change celebrates 10 years since its introduction. The Glass Lion was launched to champion work that used creativity to drive a shift towards more positive, progressive and gender-aware communication, and Marian Brannelly, global... Read More