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Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards Grand Jury
Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy North America and Global Strategy Lead, WPP OpenX
Ogilvy
BIO
From a childhood steeped in the vibrant culture of the Dominican Republic to navigating the bustling streets of New York City, Anibal's journey has been fueled by an insatiable curiosity and a passion for understanding what connects us all. For over two decades, this drive has shaped the strategic vision of some of the world's most influential brands. His career began at Y&R, honing his Communication & Media Planning skills across LATAM, before transitioning to the U.S. to spearhead Multicultural Strategy for Heineken, Nissan, Johnnie Walker, Wendy's, and the NFL. From there, he stepped into leadership roles at some of the world's most creatively driven agencies, including Wieden + Kennedy, Droga5, 72andSunny, and FIG, where he catalyzed award-winning campaigns for P&G, IKEA, Old Spice, Google, Ketel One, Audi and more, earning recognition from Cannes Effectiveness, Effies, WARC, One Show, and Clio's.
Today, as North America's Chief Strategy Officer at Ogilvy, Anibal leads a multidisciplinary practice at the intersection of Advertising, Connections, PR, Social, and Business Transformation. He is also the Global Strategy Lead at Ogilvy for WPP's OpenX, steering the future of brands within the Coca-Cola family. Beyond this, he champions Ogilvy's Intercultural approach, redefining how brands connect with the ever-changing fabric of America by embracing the richness of culture and perspective. His commitment extends to transforming Ogilvy NA's Integrated strategy team, building a more representative and inclusive group that reflects the communities they serve.
More than a strategist, Anibal is a natural-born storyteller and a people-first leader. He leads from the bottom up, stays close to his team's day-to-day realities, and holds a firm belief that kindness and creativity aren't soft values but the foundation of work that actually matters.
Q&A with Anibal Casso
What makes great marketing today?
Honestly? Knowing who you're for, and being okay with not being for everyone. Most work flops because someone got scared of leaving someone out, so they sanded off every edge until there was nothing left to grab. The work that grows a business picks an audience and sticks with them.. Nobody owes you their attention anymore – so , give them something first. A real laugh. A truth they didn't expect from a brand. A "how do they know me?" moment. Whatever it is, do that and they’ll let you in. Skip it, and you're ignored.
What is the one cultural trend you are watching today?
The one I keep coming back to? People are done translating themselves in public. You used to shrink yourself for everyone else. Explain the joke, swap the slang, lose the accent on the phone. That's flipping. Younger folks show up as they are and let the room catch up. That’s why the work is moving, too. It used to be on you to be understood. Now it's on the brand to be fluent enough to keep up, and most fail hard at it. They've got a ‘playbook’ and feel it's a second language. That's the line I'm watching, because it's about to sort the brands that get culture from the ones faking it.
In one sentence, what will it take to make an entry worthy of winning a Grand Prize award?
The people it was made for need to see themselves in it before any of us on the jury do, and the results should make it obvious a commitment to doing the true work earned that attention, not just the media budget.
What advice would you offer to teams preparing submissions for the ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards?
Be candid with yourselves… don't hand us a reach number and call it insight. Instead, tell us the thing you understood that nobody else did. Lead with that, then bring the proof. And be harsh about your numbers. We can tell what your work actually moved versus what was already happening around it, and that gap shows fast. A small, clean result you believe in and can stand behind beats a huge one you can't. Enter the work you really did, not the one you wish you'd made.
Why do awards programs like ANA Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards matter to the health and progress of the marketing industry?
Communities keep score. They remember which brands understood them while they were still getting filed under "niche," and which ones showed up the second it got profitable. That memory outlasts any campaign. These awards write it into history, with proof. But here’s the hard part. The fact that we still need a separate room for this work tells you it wasn't getting seen in the main one. So the real win isn't the trophy. It's the day this stops being its own category, because hopefully understanding people is just how everyone works. Every year, these awards move what "good" means closer to the truth, and the center follows.
On the "breakthrough insight": what tells you a team found something meaningful?
The tell is simple. A real insight makes me a little uncomfortable, or it makes me wish I'd thought of it first. It's true before it's clever. Fake insights flatter the audience, whilereal ones show you understand them – and that's not the same thing. What I want to see in this section is where it came from. Did you earn it by paying attention to actual people, or pull it off a trend deck and dress it up? Show me the human truth first. Then show me you can tell the difference between what you observed and what you assumed.
On risk and effectiveness: how have you handled the balance?
Honestly, I've stopped seeing them as enemies. The safest looking work, the kind that tests fine and offends no one, is usually the real risk. It runs, nobody remembers it, the money's gone. So I try to be precise about where the risk lives. Take the bet on the insight and the idea. Stay disciplined on the fundamentals. Derisk the stuff that doesn't matter so you've got the nerve to double down where it does. The work I'm proudest of was never reckless. The risk was always in service of something true, not risk for the thrill of it.
What separates exceptional multicultural and inclusive work from "good"?
Good work gets the surface right. The casting, language, and references all check out, and people nod. Exceptional work gets something right that only someone inside would catch, and somehow that's the part that travels to everyone. Good makes a community feel seen. Exceptional makes them feel known, which lands completely differently. One avoids getting it wrong. The other notices what everybody else missed. You can feel that gap in an instant, even when you can't quite name it.
Get to know the 2026 Multicultural and Inclusive Marketing Excellence Awards Grand Jurors.