Deidre Smalls-Landau

Deidre is a transformative, award-winning advertising and marketing executive with over 20 years of cross-agency experience, leading strategy, innovation, and growth across both creative and media disciplines. Her deep expertise spans automotive, beauty, CPG, financial services, personal care, pharma, retail and telecom- positioning her as a rare hybrid leader who seamlessly blends brand storytelling, cultural strategy, and performance-driven marketing. Deidre’s early career was shaped at top creative agencies, where she led campaigns for globally recognized brands and honed her skills in consumer behavior, segmentation, and brand innovation. Her brand building was further finessed at boutique agencies where she led teams to create culture shifting narratives targeting various sub-cultures for CPG and pharma brands. Deidre’s ability to build integrated marketing strategies that resonate across platforms and audiences laid the foundation for a career defined by nimbleness, forward-thinking leadership and inclusive business transformation. During her tenure at Mediabrands, Deidre has driven bold, entrepreneurial transformation across the agency network. In her executive roles—including U.S. Chief Marketing Officer, Global Chief Cross- Cultural Officer, and Chief Business Equity Officer—she led the development of new consulting capabilities and commercial solutions that fueled double-digit revenue growth. She launched the industry’s first award-winning global cultural study, created new revenue streams through inclusive innovation, and founded UM’s Diversity & Belonging division, earning several national workplace awards. Deidre also co-created the groundbreaking Equity Upfront, which helped double investment in diverse-owned media, and led the team to develop the Future Impact study, which linked values- aligned partnerships to a 2x increase in a brand’s purchase intent. Her strategic vision played a pivotal role in securing an $800M account win and growing the agency’s billings by over 200% with a major retail account—a testament to her ability to scale big ideas into real business results. Deidre has worked across client teams, data and analytics, media, creative/content, and commerce— bridging silos to drive integrated, inclusive strategies that futureproof businesses. A trusted advisor to clients and a catalyst for organizational change, Deidre is redefining what it means to lead with intention, inclusivity, and innovation in a rapidly evolving industry. Her entrepreneurial and inclusive leadership has earned her awards like Adweek Media All-Star, She Runs It Working Mother of the Year, Ad Club Innovator and She Runs It - Changing the Game. Deidre has served on the jury for the Effie’s Grand Jury, Cannes Media Lions, Cannes Glass Lion, and the Global Festival of Media Awards, where her perspective on strategy, inclusivity and creativity helped to shape the global standards of marketing excellence.