Ellie Bamford, formerly of R/GA, is joining Wunderman Thompson North America as chief strategy officer. Bamford’s appointment rounds out Wunderman Thompson North America CEO Audrey Melofchik’s leadership vision to fulfill CMOs’ needs for end-to-end capabilities and to deliver inspiration across the entire brand and customer experience.
Bamford said, “Ellie’s ability to think about ideas and channels fluidly is perfect for our ambidextrous skill set at Wunderman Thompson. She has a deep expertise of the ever-changing media landscape coupled with a sharp eye for insights, strategy, and a love of creativity. On top of all that, she has boundless energy and a passion for helping clients grow.”
Global chief strategy officer Neil Dawson added, “Ellie is an outstanding strategist with a strong perspective on the future of brands. Her connections planning expertise gives her the superpower to reach across the table to show clients where their work will have the most inspiring impact in culture.”
As global head of media, connections and influence at R/GA, Bamford led strategy across the network and unlocked innovative creative opportunities for clients, such as last year’s “Superb Owl,” Reddit’s five-second Super Bowl ad. The New York Times named the innovation (which was made within a week) the “unlikely Super Bowl winner,” and the work earned a Cannes Lions Grand Prix.
Over her 20+ year career, Bamford has created progressive, award winning work for Pepsi, Nike, FILA, Uber, Rockstar Games, Samsung, Spotify, Sephora, American Express and more.
“Traditional brands were built to market static products. But modern brands are the opposite of static,” said Bamford. “We interact directly with products and services via branded interfaces every day. These experiences must be dynamic, data informed, and adaptive. If the work we create for brands is not deeply connected to how it lives in the real world for real people, it won’t be inspiring or effective. My access to Wunderman Thompson’s deep expertise across all aspects of marketing will allow us to make every piece of work deliver something wonderful and valuable for the human who sees it.”
As a member of the LGBTQIA community, Bamford is known for pushing change and ensuring diversity within her teams and the work they create. This approach has led Bamford to be the strategic mastermind behind work for Sephora, helping to change the search experience to push discovery of Black Beauty content and brands and shine a light on bias. This work for Sephora and Black Beauty is a multi-show award winner culminating with a Silver Cannes Lion.
She has served as a judge for Cannes Lions, Young Lions and was appointed Jury chair for the Clios in 2023.
Since her appointment as CEO of Wunderman Thompson North America in December 2021, Melofchik has been thoughtfully building an ambidextrous team with ambitious vision for the agency’s growth. This team includes chief creative officer Tom Murphy, New York CEO Sasan Saedi, chief experience officer Preeya Vyas, global head of design Josh Loebner, chief growth officer Laura Cona, chief client officer Carrie Philpott and most recently global chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Health, Renata Maia.
Bamford will report to Melofchik, as well as Dawson.
