Ogilvy rearranges creative leadership across Asia

Ogilvy & Mather has unveiled another raft of changes to its leadership across Asia as Ajab Samrai moves from the agency in Tokyo to take up the new position of chief creative officer for ASEAN.

Samrai has held the same role at Ogilvy in Tokyo for the past five years. He will be replaced by Doug Schiff, who was previously the executive creative director at DigitasLBi in Boston and Detroit.

Meanwhile, Reed Collins has been promoted from Hong Kong creative lead to CCO of North Asia.

His markets include Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan and China. This latest comes just days after Ogilvy China announced the departure of creative heavyweight Graham Fink and the CCO role in the country. Now,Ogilvy China’s creative leadership is formed of three ECDs who report to Cheong.

Together with Sonal Dabral, Collins and Samrai will form a regional leadership team reporting to Eugene Cheong, Ogilvy’s chief creative officer for Asia Pacific.

Kent Wertime, co-CEO of Ogilvy Asia, said: “Ajab and Doug are true Ogilvy giants. Ogilvy Japan saw exception growth under Ajab’s leadership and he has been one of our most awarded creative leaders in recent years.

“I am excited to see what he will do next. For Doug, we are delighted to have him return. He’s exactly the kind of transformative thinker that will continue Ajab’s extraordinary work for that office.”

Meanwhile, Ogilvy Singapore has been on a winning streak lately, having won major local accounts with Changi Airport and Pizza Hut.