• by Catharine P. Taylor , September 9, 2008

Global Communications Planning Director, Unilever

Babs Rangaiah recently moved from the U.S. to London as global communications planning director - a particularly fitting title because he has a global media perspective. Rangaiah's approach embraces everything from Super Bowl commercials to viral videos. Rangaiah first caught the digital bug through his work on Procter & Gamble's Parenting Institute while at DMB&B, giving him a glimpse into the media future. "It was pretty clear to me, and maybe not to others, that some dramatic changes were going on," he says.

Unilever Global vice president of media Laura Klauberg, who hired him in 2002 and today is his boss, says, "His enthusiasm is infectious, enabling him to inspire all those working with him." Of course, the best-known of Unilever's marketing efforts over the past few years is the Dove viral film "Evolution," which has garnered tens of millions of views and last year won two Grand Prix awards at Cannes. But the list of the company's headline-making initiatives is long. This year, for instance, the company's launch campaign for Dove Cream Oil Body Wash included a user-generated commercial contest and aired the winning commercial during the Oscars. It's indicative of what Rangaiah says is Unilever's driving philosophy. "What we are trying to do is penetrate the culture," he says. And with Rangaiah's help, it does.