REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards Grand Jury

HARJOT SINGH

Global Chief Strategy Officer
McCann

BIO

Harjot Singh is an award-winning global advertising leader with an unmatched record in building brands that grow, endure and set the standard for effectiveness. Unwavering in his belief that creativity is the world’s most powerful resource, he is drawn to people and partners who are restless, open-minded and obessesed with learning rather than legacy. 

For more than 25 years, Harjot has held senior leadership roles across North America, Asia and Europe, working inside some of the world’s most renowned creative agencies and advising makers of the world’s most successful brands and corporations. His experience spans virtually every sector; from packaged goods, banking, retail to telcom, beauty, fashion, luxury and the public sector. Colleagues and clients consistently credit him with turning complexity into clarity, putting human needs and emotion at the heart of every marketing response, and delivering impact that can be felt in the work and seen on the P&L. 

Harjot joined McCann in New York in 2011 to lead the General Mills and Nestle businesses globally. Before being named Global Chief Strategy Officer of McCann in January 2021, he served as Chief Strategy Officer, McCann Worldgroup EMEA and UK, helping the network become the most creatively effective in the world, and the only one to be ranked #1 for six consecutive years. He was named EMEA Strategist of the Year 2020 by Campaign Magazine. 

In January 2023, he was promoted into an expanded global strategist and executive leadership role across all McCann Worldgroup brands, agencies and regions. Under his leadership, McCann continues to rank among the world’s most effective agency networks. 

Harjot has judged, chaired, advised, spoken at and won at the most influential industry stages internationally. In recognition of his contribution to advancing the practice and understanding of advertising effectiveness, he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in June 2023. Beyond McCann, he is a non- executive director of a UK-based economic development consultancy with worldwide operations, and serves on the board of directors of Effie Worldwide and on the boards of The British History of Advertising Trust and ArtAngel, a global public art organisation committed to celerating artists of today and identifying those of tomorrow. 

Q&A with Harjot Singh

Please provide one word that defines great brand leadership today  

“Restless" 

Please share one trend you are watching closely  

The quiet shift from “content at scale” to “trust at risk.” As automation floods the world with messages, the brands that win will be those that protect distinctiveness, truth and accountability, not just efficiency. 

In one sentence – What will it take to make an entry worthy of a REGGIE Brand Catalyst award?  

Work that proves a simple thing in a non-negotiable way: a sharp undeniable truth turned into an idea only that brand could make, that moves people and business in a way that cannot be ignored. 

What advice would you offer to teams preparing submissions for the REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards?  

Show the creative leap, then show the commercial consequence with receipts not rhetoric. Be honest about what didn’t work on the way; credibility is a growth driver. 

Why do awards programs like REGGIE Brand Catalyst matter to the health and progress of the marketing industry?  

Because they formalize a standard and reward the work that treats creativity as an economic engine, not a decorative expense. Most importantly, they give the next generation proof that you don't have to choose between work that moves people and moves the market. 

What distinguishes exceptional brand-building work from work that is simply “good”? 

Good work solves the brief, but exceptional work changes the brief for everyone who comes after it. Good brand building delivers an incremental bump, but exceptional brand building redraws memory structures, behavior and price elasticity in a way that is still paying back years later. Exceptional work makes the brand itself the operating system of the idea. 

How have your expectations of great marketing evolved over the past few years— and how does that shape how you evaluate work today? 

I used to be impressed by big ideas that traveled. Today I am only impressed by big ideas that compound. In an environment of volatility and scrutiny, my expectations have shifted in three ways: From campaigns to platforms, I look for ideas that can be re-expressed, not just repeated; I expect a clear line from creativity to commercial value, not a loose constellation of metrics; and When I evaluate work now, I ask myself: does this piece of marketing make the brand more valuable as an asset, not just visible as a message. 

When you review the “breakthrough insight” or “aha moment” behind a campaign, what tells you that a team has uncovered something truly meaningful?   

I have learned that a real insight always makes you wince a little, because you recognize yourself in it and realize you have been underestimating its power. I look for 3 signals - 1) It’s specific, not slogan-like; 2) it changes the choices available to the brand; and 3) it travels from research into execution. What I most want to understand is how did this insight sharpen what you stopped doing, not only what you did. That is where you see real strategic courage. 

How do you balance creative ambition with commercial accountability? 

For me, there is no balance to strike. The two are the same job. Creative ambition without commercial accountability is just indulgence. Commercial accountability without creative ambition is incrementalism. 

What lessons from your own leadership journey most influence how you assess excellence? 

Three lessons guide me every time I am in a jury room. 

First that difference is a performance advantage, not a courtesy. My own lived and learned experience has taught me that ideas which feel slightly uncomfortable to established norms are often the ones that unlock disproportionate growth. So, I look for work that doesn’t just include diverse voices but is inconceivable without them. 

Second that only receipts matter. I have spent my career arguing that effectiveness is not a trophy, it is an operating system. 

Third that how you achieved the work matters as much as what you have achieved. The best cases show not only business impact, but a way of working that makes the industry more humane and more porous to new talent. 

Those three lenses - difference, proof, and how you treat people are what I carry into judging. 

Get to know the 2026 REGGIE Brand Catalyst Grand Jurors.