From left to right: Sarah Stringer, Chrissie Hanson, Bram Meuleman
Sarah Stringer becomes global chief strategy and innovation officer, while Bram Meuleman is elevated to global chief planning and intelligence officer
Carat, Cannes Lions '26 Media Network of the Year, today announced two key global executive appointments designed to redefine strategic craft: Sarah Stringer as global chief strategy and innovation officer, and Bram Meuleman as global chief planning and intelligence officer. Reporting to Carat’s global brand president Chrissie Hanson, the duo will bridge the gap between upstream strategic theory and commercial outcomes.
As global strategy and innovation lead, Stringer will apply deep marketplace knowledge across platform ecosystems and commercial partnerships to turn strategy into an immediate, actionable competitive advantage. In his role leading global planning and intelligence, Meuleman will reinforce the disciplined application of evidence, behavioural science and proprietary intelligence to shape how media investments are designed and measured.
Carat global brand president Chrissie Hanson said, “For Carat, strategy cannot exist in a theoretical silo. It must be commercially actionable. Sarah brings unmatched expertise in translating emerging platforms, entertainment and tech partnerships directly into dynamic marketplace execution. Concurrently, Bram’s elevation reinforces our founding heritage: anchoring planning in uncompromising empirical evidence and consumer intelligence. Together, they offer clients an unfair advantage: media that is engineered with rigorous proof and activated at the frontier of culture.”
Stringer, based in New York, most recently served as global chief of innovation for dentsu’s media practice, and previously as head of US media partnerships, steering strategic partnerships with Google, Meta, TikTok, Amazon and Snap while shaping dentsu Gaming’s global offering. As a strategist, she has delivered culture leading work for clients including Universal Music, Disney, Marvel, Nintendo, adidas and Mattel. In her new role, she will unify Carat’s global strategic proposition, deploying platform innovation from both hyperscale and hypergrowth partners while leveraging technological capabilities in Japan and worldwide.
“It’s easy to make the current marketplace sound unnecessarily scary or intimidating for brands,” said Stringer. “It’s not just about adopting new tech, but about how to create value and meaning for customers by testing, learning and adapting. Brands still hold a meaningful place in people’s lives. Now, we must co build that identity in new ways.”
Meuleman, formerly global head of strategy at Carat, brings more than 15 years of brand, media and creative strategy leadership. He has been instrumental in driving Carat’s award-winning work, including HEINEKEN and Kraft Heinz, and making dentsu’s industry-leading Global Attention research practically applicable in communications planning. Based in London, he will direct the network’s global communications planning community, elevating evidence-led methods and modern planning intelligence across all markets.
The appointments come as brands face a rapidly shifting media landscape. Advertising effectiveness has fallen by 11% since pre-covid-19 (Binet, L. and Davis, W., IPA, '26, ‘Go Big or Go Home’), while traditional search volume is predicted to fall by 25% by the end of '26 (Gartner), artificial intelligence (AI)-driven referrals are growing 357% year over year (Similarweb), and 71% of consumers trust brand information from influencers (Nielsen). Together, these shifts are making it increasingly complex for brands to build a coherent identity, maintain audience relevance and create new pathways to discovery, reinforcing the need to connect strategic thinking more closely with execution.
Meuleman said, “The industry has spent years improving touchpoints, platforms and technology, but the thinking that connects them hasn’t kept up. As a result, too many strategic decisions don’t translate into execution. This role gives Carat the mandate to fix that by putting serious firepower behind comms planning and giving our brilliant talent the standards, tools and confidence to turn communications into a clear path to growth.”
Carat in the news
The appointments have also been featured in Campaign, Digiday and LBB.
Read the coverage on LBB.
