Miles Young to succeed Shelly Lazarus as CEO of The Ogilvy Group

22 Jul 2008

Miles Young to succeed Shelly Lazarus as CEO of The Ogilvy Group

Shelly Lazarus to remain Chairman of The Ogilvy Group

WPP announces that Miles Young, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Asia Pacific, has been appointed global CEO of The Ogilvy Group, the world's third* largest agency group, succeeding Shelly Lazarus who has led the company for 11 years. Shelly will remain Chairman of The Ogilvy Group. Both appointments become effective January 1, 2009.

Miles Young, 53, is one of Ogilvy's stellar performers. For the past 13 years, he has run Ogilvy in Asia Pacific, building it into the clear industry leader in the world's fastest growing region, consistently outperforming all competitors in terms of creative recognition. Under his leadership, Ogilvy has seen phenomenal development in scale and creativity across all marketing disciplines: in India and China as market leaders; in Japan as a now prominent player; and with strong success in Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, not forgetting the creative powerhouse of Ogilvy's Singapore hub. In the past five years alone, the Ogilvy Asia Pacific region has almost doubled in size to a $500 million revenue business. Beyond his Ogilvy position, Miles has latterly had a dual role, operating where appropriate as de facto WPP Chairman in the region - supporting acquisitions, developing talent and building practical integration initiatives.

This new appointment ensures continuity of leadership for Ogilvy. Miles, like Shelly before him, with his background in both advertising and direct marketing, is a champion of multi-disciplinary marketing, of integrated offerings - a philosophy that drives Ogilvy's brand-building business practice, 360 Degree Brand Stewardship©.

In making the announcement, WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said, "Shelly has done a fantastic job as brand guardian of Ogilvy, building a first-class client roster and driving the company to fully embrace integrated marketing under 360 Degree Brand Stewardship© and has taken Ogilvy from a strong position, both geographically and functionally, to a superb position. She'll be an extremely difficult act to follow and we are delighted she will continue to focus, as Chairman of The Ogilvy Group, on developing Ogilvy's client relationships. Miles brings to the role of CEO a deep understanding, not only of European and Asian markets, but also of the role that new technologies - and integrated thinking - bring to our business, " adding with a nod to founder David Ogilvy, " Shelly is certainly a "gentlewoman" with brains . Miles is definitely a gentleman with brains. We are extremely lucky to have them both."

Commenting on her successor, Lazarus says: "I love Miles Young. I have worked in partnership with him for years. He has a simple mandate ... to do for Ogilvy Worldwide what he has managed to do so brilliantly for Ogilvy Asia. "

Before moving to Asia in 1995, Young had 12 years experience in Europe. He began his marketing career in the early 1980s working in pure advertising - at Lintas and Allen, Brady & Marsh before joining Ogilvy & Mather in 1983. In 1990 he moved over to lead Ogilvy's Direct operations (precursors to the agency's digital offering) in Europe, ultimately as Chairman. During this period he played a pivotal role in establishing the European hub for IBM when Ogilvy landed the global landmark account in 1994.

Young is a graduate of Oxford University where he gained a first class degree in history. He has lectured and written widely on integrated marketing, a special interest.

[*AdAge Global Marketers Report 2007]

For further information, please contact:

Feona McEwan, WPP, London
+44 (0)20 7408 2204

Kevin McCormack, WPP, New York
+212 632 2239

Belinda Rabano, WPP, Beijing
+00 86 1360 107 8488

Eleanor Mascheroni, Ogilvy, New York
+212 237 7239

Toni Lee, Ogilvy, New York
+212 237 5090