Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, the world’s third* largest advertising agency, has announced the appointment of Tham Khai Meng as its Worldwide Creative Director and Chairman of its Worldwide Creative Council.
Khai has been Co-Chairman and Regional Executive Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific since 1999.
During that period, he has built Ogilvy into a creative powerhouse, first in Asia, and later globally. The agency has consistently been recognized as the most creative network in the Asian region (“Creative Network of the Year” for seven consecutive years by Campaign Brief Asia), and as one of the most successful creative businesses anywhere in the world.
A Singaporean, Khai will divide his time from the beginning of next year between New York and the rest of the world. He will continue to have a supervisory role over the Asia.
Shelly Lazarus, Chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, said, “Khai’s record speaks for itself. He gets results. He believes in great work that works. And above all, he is an Ogilvy ‘gentleman with brains’ to his bones. We are thrilled that Khai will take up this challenge for us.”
Khai commented, “I’m honoured to take on this worldwide role. I believe opportunities abound in these frightening yet very exciting times. As a global agency, we are in a strong creative position, but we all believe we can do better. I’m greatly looking forward to working with our brightest minds across our international network.
“The marvellous thing is that I shall continue to work with Miles Young who will be taking on the new global CEO role in January. We’ve been a team in Asia for a long time, and we both reckon that renewing our partnership will make for some spectacular success on the bigger stage. We expect to have a lot of fun along the way!”
[*AdAge Global Marketers Report 2007]