Chaka Sobhani is leaving Leo Burnett Worldwide to join DDB, where whe will be president, chief creative officer international. She will report to DDB Worldwide global chief executive officer, Alex Lubar and will be based in DDB’s European headquarters in London partnering with Rick Brim, global chief creative officer of adam&eve DDB.
Sobhani has already amassed a treasure chest of accolades. She was named Campaign’s Creative Leader 2022, and has featured in Campaign’s Top 10 Creative Leaders consistently for the past 5 years, as well as Adweek’s Creative 100. During her tenure, Leo Burnett London has been named Agency of the Year in 2022 and Leo Burnett Worldwide has received its most awards in 5 years, including being named Network of the Year at Clio, ADC, Dubai Lynx and Spikes. Award-winning campaigns include Raise your Arches and Lights On for McDonalds, The Missing Chapter for P&G, One House for Suncorp and Lost Class for Vange The Ref.
Sobhani has been a jury member and president numerous times at Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, LIA, the Andy’s, Art Directors Club, Eurobest, Clio, the IPA, the Creative Circle and the British Arrows. She also sits on the External Affairs Committee for the Design Museum, as well as on the board of D&AD, The One Show, the British Arrows, Creative Circle and Facebook EMEA Creative Council, Snapchat Global Creative Council and WARC Advisory Board.
Alex Lubar stated, “Chaka is a true leader. She’s leads by doing, inspiring and deeply understanding the people around her and the clients she works with. Her energy is infectious, her drive is relentless, and her dedication to delivering outstanding creative product for her clients is unquestionable. She is the type of leader that makes you want to be, make, and do everything better. We have an outstanding creative community at DDB, and the addition of Chaka will continue to raise the bar on our world-class creative product for clients. In short, today is a very good day for DDB Worldwide.”
Before joining Leo Burnett, Sobhani spent a number of years at Mother, running key accounts and building their content capability. She has worked on an array of large global brands including McDonalds, Coca Cola, Google, Kelloggs, Samsung, Boots, Skoda, Disney, AXA, Morrisons, Tui, Premier Inn, Sky, P&G, General Motors, Stella Artois, National Lottery, Agent Provocateur and adidas.
Sobhani also spent over a decade as an awarded film-maker and television creative executive. She set up ITV’s first in-house creative agency, during which time the network regained the #1 position in the UK, created its most successful global formats and content in shows like the X Factor and Downton Abbey, and won the prestigious Channel of the Year for the first time as well as numerous BAFTA’s, Golden Globes and the prestigious Rose D’Or.
