Jo Coombs to lead the customer agency of the future
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A new leadership team has been appointed to unify OgilvyOne and OgilvyOne Business and to bring to market three specialist acquisitions in the UK.
OgilvyOne and OgilvyOne Business will now report into a new executive OgilvyOne team, which will be led by Jo Coombs, as its Chief Executive. Jo Coombs was the Managing Director of OgilvyOne UK.
Coombs will partner with Charlie Wilson and Ann Higgins who become the new Creative Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer respectively. Coombs will be responsible for driving the whole of OgilvyOne forward, helping the teams to transform and delight clients as OgilvyOne looks to maintain it dominant leadership position in the industry.
OgilvyOne further strengthens its capabilities with the announcement today of some new acquisitions launching in the UK including Social.lab – cutting edge Social CRM provider, Verticurl, geniuses in marketing automation and the very best mobile app developer in Bottle Rocket.
The move to unify the specialist divisions under one leadership team has been driven by the customer-first experience that consumers and B2B customers increasingly expect and OgilvyOne’s vision of how brands will need to engage customers in the future.
Sam Williams-Thomas is taking over as CEO of OgilvyOne Business and Clare Lawson previously joint MD of OgilvyOne Business becomes UK MD across the whole of OgilvyOne.
Annette King, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Group UK, said “Jo Coombs is the embodiment of the vision for OgilvyOne. Historically OgilvyOne always takes big leaps forward – leading the industry – and this move is no exception”
As Jo Coombs, CEO of OgilvyOne comments: “Everyone talks about starting with the customer, but the reality is that a vast proportion of brands still don’t build their campaigns/strategies this way. This is something we are passionate about changing at OgilvyOne. We are The Customer Agency and I am confident that by unifying our two companies and our new specialists under one team we can harness the best parts of each discipline to create a more powerful and effective offering for clients. Our new structure will help us transform our client’s businesses, delight their customers and help them win – a mantra that we will be embracing ourselves.
Charlie Wilson, chairman & chief creative officer comments “In today’s customer centric world, creativity is more important than ever. I relish a role that puts creativity at the heart of our business and ensures that we aren’t just a great business with a creative department, but a great creative business.”
