DDB North America Continues to Invest in Data-Fueled Creative with Chief Data Officer Hire

DDB North America has announced the appointment of Pradeep Kumar as chief data officer, leading data science innovation that powers unexpected creative ideas across DDB North America offices. Pradeep will report to DDB North America president and CEO Justin Thomas-Copeland and will play an integral role in the region’s vision to be the future-forward integrated creative powerhouse.

Justin said: “At DDB, we believe in the power of data to unlock insight. This allows us to unleash the most powerful and unexpected stories and immersive experiences to consumers and customers alike. We’ve been on this journey of expanding our capabilities at DDB North America for some time now, and Pradeep brings proven critical thinking, to drive the creative process to deliver next level solutions to our clients’ business .”

Pradeep is a passionate leader in transforming marketing thinking and practices fuelled by DATA (Data, Analytics, Technology, and Automation). He is a change agent for modern marketing organisations to fuse creativity and DATA to build high performance teams. His focus is in cross-disciplinary integration to navigate the evolving complex marketing ecosystem with accessible, succinct, data-savvy ideas for decisive action and tangible value creation. 

Pradeep brings to DDB over 20 years of strategic data and analytics experience. He joins from FCB where he most recently served as global chief data and analytics officer, propelling the agency vision & endeavour to make the culture and practice of data-fuelled marketing, a core capability and competitive advantage. There he established a world-class award-winning team of data strategists, scientists, and technologists, inspired several global new business wins, developed an evolving strategic toolbox, and orchestrated planning and deployment with AdTech, Martech, AI-ML as well as customer data platforms. Kumar also founded and led the marketing mix practice, to deliver marketing mix modelling, attribution, and optimization solutions to clients in Beverages, CPG, Education, Financial Services, Insurance, Pharma, Home Security and Telecom categories. 

Pradeep said: “It is very exciting to be joining Justin and the DDB North America leadership team as the network continues to double-down on evolved capabilities, a game-changing investment that will enhance the creative product. I’m ready to be a part of this growth and enhancement of DDB’s world-class creative legacy.”