Meet The Panellists: Inside Job: How the New Gen of Inhouse Agencies Has Found Its Creative Ambition
The LBB & Friends Beach, in partnership with MCA, reveals a line up of top in-house agency creatives to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of life working at a brand.
On Monday 17th June at 12:00pm at the Plage & Restaurant Croisette Beach, LBB’s EMEA editor Alex Reeves will be joined by Simon Au, ECD at The Kitchen North America (Kraft Heinz) Jo Shoesmith, Global CCO, Amazon, Matthew Watson, ECD at Sips & Bites (PepsiCo), Mariota Essery, ECD at DoorDash and Carlo Cavallone, VP Creative at the LEGO Group for a panel titled ‘Inside Job: How the New Gen of Inhouse Agencies Has Found Its Creative Ambition’.
Read on to find out more information about the session and the panellists joining us, and you can view the full LBB & MCA ‘Better Together’ content programme for the LBB & Friends Beach at Cannes here.
PANEL SYNOPSIS
Inside Job: How the New Gen of Inhouse Agencies Has Found Its Creative Ambition
In-house agencies have boomed in recent years, challenging preconceptions and coming out swinging with strong creative ambitions, seen in both the work they’re producing and the talent they’re recruiting. Leaders from some of the world’s most impressive in-house agencies gather together to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of life working at a brand, where they’ve found their creative swagger and what the future looks like for this growing corner of the industry.
MODERATOR
Alex Reeves, EMEA Editor, Little Black Book
Alex has been on the Little Black Book editorial team since 2017, but has been writing about advertising since 2012. Former editor of UK commercial production publication The Beak Street Bugle, what began as a career covering the craft side of the British industry broadened significantly when he joined the global platform of LBB. He’s now editor for the EMEA region and deputy editor of the platform.
PANELLISTS
Mariota Essery, ECD at DoorDash
Mariota is an Executive Creative Director with over 20 years of global experience. She has lived and worked across 3 continents, and 4 cities - starting her career in Cape Town, then making her way to London, Amsterdam and Los Angeles.
Mariota started at DoorDash in November 2020, where she built Superette, the in-house creative studio from the ground up - to where it is today.
Prior to DoorDash, Mariota has worked on the agency side, on a multitude of global clients on award winning campaigns, including Philips, Adidas Football World Cup, The North Face, google, and Nissan. She has been listed as one of Business Insiders top 36 women in advertising.
Coming from a background in art direction, Mariota prides herself in well crafted pieces, with a focus on emotional storytelling no matter what discipline.
She is a mother of twins and in her spare time you can find her Horse Riding, Skiing, on various sports fields with her kids and throwing parties in her garden. She is also an avid traveller and visits her family in Europe and South Africa as often as possible.
Simon Au, ECD at The Kitchen North America (Kraft Heinz)
Simon Au is the North American Executive Creative Director at Kraft Heinz's internal agency, The Kitchen. Under his leadership, the agency has achieved remarkable growth, expanding to over 100+ team members spanning two countries and overseeing 15 brands, all within just two years. The agency has earned numerous awards worldwide, including recognition at Cannes and being named the Drum's Global In-House Agency of the Year.
Simon's driving force behind his work lies in sparking cultural conversations that transcend traditional media. His innovative approach has garnered attention in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Drew Barrymore Show, Hype Beast, and Fast Company.
Beyond his contributions to The Kitchen, Simon is a dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion in the industry, particularly championing BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation throughout his career.
Carlo Cavallone, VP Creative, The LEGO Group
Carlo Cavallone leads the creative output globally of Our LEGO® Agency (OLA), the LEGO Group’s internal creative & strategic agency, as its first ever VP of Creative.
Carlo is a core part of the OLA leadership team, stationed at its headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and working closely with OLA’s creative talent there as well as its
China, Singapore, UK and US Hubs to meet the demands of an evolving consumer and media landscape, bringing to life the LEGO Group’s brand vision.
Previously, Carlo spent 13 years at 72andSunny, previously holding the role of Global Chief Creative Officer and Partner – based in their New York office but having worked in their Amsterdam and Los Angeles offices during his tenure there also, across brands including Google, Samsung and many more.
Prior to that, Carlo spent over eight years at Wieden+Kennedy in the Netherlands working with clients including Nike, EA Games and Heineken, and also worked as part of Leo Burnett’s Milan office.
Jo Shoesmith, Global CCO, Amazon
Jo Shoesmith is the Global Chief Creative Officer at Amazon. She leads a cross functional global team consisting of creative, design, production, product and external agency partnerships. Her team is responsible for executing the largest fixed marketing portfolio investment at Amazon. Under her leadership teams have created three top five Super Bowl ads, launched Amazon co-founded Climate Pledge, created the ‘It’s on Prime’ campaign, and made some of the world’s most loved Holiday ads.
Prior to Amazon, she was a global CCO at IPG, serving brands across 10+ industries, and has built creative departments at leading agencies in the USA and Australia.
Jo is a passionate advocate for women’s sport, and sits on the Baseball for All advisory board. An organisation whose goal is to build gender equity in baseball by providing girls with real opportunities to play, coach, and lead in this sport.
Matthew Watson, ECD, Sips & Bites, PepsiCo’s in-house agency, Europe
Matt joined PepsiCo in 2020 and is currently Executive Creative Director for Sips & Bites Europe heading up the creative department and leading the agency. Since joining Matt has built out a team of award-winning creatives delivering fame driving brand campaigns for Walkers, Doritos and Pepsi to name a few. He’s even managed to get a Guinness World record for the largest Wotsit which was featured on the BBC and ITV news!
Prior to joining PepsiCo, Matt spent 2 years as ECD of Cult LDN/NYC straddling across both locations leading the creative on Burberry, MAC, Yula Energy drinks and Marc Jacobs to name a few. Previously, Matt built a Publicis One cross agency team for Kellogg’s from the ground up, leading the creative across both Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi. Winning many creative awards for Pringles and Kellogg’s.
Matt is an award-winning Executive Creative Director that delivers brave entertaining ideas that sell. An integrated thinker at heart that has honed his trade all over the world for some of the biggest brands. He believes in giving back to the creative community with speaking on many panels and judging creative shows regularly in the likes of D&AD and the DMAs. He spends his spare time nurturing young creatives across Europe by mentoring them and their thinking preparing them for their jump into the industry.
