Business

Ogilvy Africa names Vikas Mehta new CEO

Ogilvy Africa has named Vikas Mehta as its new Chief Executive Officer taking over from Mathieu Plassard who is moving to Ogilvy South Africa in a new role.

Until his appointment, Vikas was the CEO of Mullen Lintas, in India.

He will take on this new role effective December 2019, said Bharat Thakrar, CEO of WPP-Scangroup which owns the Ogilvy Africa Agency Network. 

“Vikas has the right combination of leadership, people and technology skills to continue to scale Ogilvy Africa to even greater heights. This is something he has demonstrated extraordinarily well over the years as proven by his career track record of 15 years in various agency leadership roles across Asia-Pacific markets including Singapore and Vietnam,” said Thakrar in a statement.

He said the agency had confidence in Vikas’s ability to be an outstanding, collaborative leader, and most importantly a remarkable brand partner for clients.

A strategist by training, Vika’s experience spans managing units across disciplines including advertising, digital transformation, social, shopper & experiential and PR & influence.

“In most markets that I have worked in, Ogilvy has been the one to beat. I have tremendous respect for the network and it is an exciting time to bring the ambition of One Ogilvy to life in Africa. With Bharat’s vision and Paul’s keen support, I think Ogilvy has the right recipe in place to author the next chapter of its evolution across the continent. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my work in D&E markets in Asia and hope to bring that on board in contributing to Ogilvy’s continued success in Africa,” said Vikas on his appointment.

New to Ogilvy’s leadership team, Vikas joined AmmiratiPuris Lintas in 2002, based in its New Delhi office.

After a brief stint with Leo Burnett, he returned to the network in 2006, moving to Lowe Viet Nam in Ho Chi Minh City.

At the age of 31, he was named Managing Director – Lowe Viet Nam, making him the youngest country head in the global network. Under his leadership, the agency went on to create some iconic campaigns, dominate effectiveness awards in the region and become the largest creative agency in the country.

In 2011, he was named Regional Growth Officer for Lowe Asia-Pacific based in Singapore, the role was instrumental in charting out and implementing the strategy for business and capability expansion for the network.

The role included 15 countries across the region including North Asia, Greater China, South & South-East Asia and the Pacific with a focus on developing and emerging (D&E) markets.

BY TIMES REPORTER

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