Ogilvy Africa names Vikas Mehta it’s new CEO

Ogilvy Africa has named Vikas Mehta as its new Chief Executive Officer. He takes 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.

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

A strategist by training, Vikas has experience spanning managing units across disciplines including advertising (on and offline), digital transformation, social, shopper & experiential and PR & influence. He believes in an omni-channel approach to building brands which creates a unified experience across consumer touchpoints.

"In most markets that I have worked in, Ogilvy has been the one to beat. I have tremendous respect for the network and it's 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 leadership team, Vikas joined Ammirati Puris 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.

He moved to India in 2013 to head marketing for Mullen Lowe Lintas Group as the first CMO in Indian advertising. Since then, he’s played several roles in the group including Head of Digital, President Group Marketing Services and then founding the group’s omni-channel creative agency, PointNine Lintas in 2017.

Built as a beta (version 0.9) of a new operating model for an integrated agency, PointNine Lintas was incubated and successfully merged with the group’s flagship agency, Lowe Lintas. Vikas took on the role of CEO at Mullen Lintas in January this year.

Whilst congratulating Vikas on his appointment, Chairman and CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Europe, Africa, and Middle-East Paul O'Donnell said Vikas has the skills needed to build the agency of the future and his experience as an Omni channel practitioner will give an edge to the solutions needed to develop the agency.

While announcing the changes, Thakrar, thanked Mathieu who he said had created a solid team across Ogilvy markets in Africa, focusing on client needs, business growth and continuity that saw the firm win 4 of the industry coveted Cannes Lions awards in 2017, among others.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Ogilvy Africa has solidified its presence as a leading creative communications agency, with several global awards reflecting success in various campaigns.

About Ogilvy Africa

Ogilvy Africa is the largest network agency in Africa with offices in 24 countries and 900 employees across Central, East and West Africa. The agency, which has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, is the most awarded integrated communications network in Africa.

Some of the recent awards Ogilvy has won include 4 Cannes Lions, 5 Africa Gold Sabre awards, a Grand Clio award and 12 Grand Prix awards at the Dubai Lynx Festival.

Ogilvy Africa handles Pan-African communication for various global and African brands including Airtel, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Safaricom, Equity Bank Group, Diageo and more.

Ogilvy is a global creative network that was launched by David Ogilvy in New York 70 years ago. The company announced its refounding this year – defined by a new visual identity, logo and organizational design. Besides the new look, Ogilvy now operates as a single brand combining its direct marketing, creative, advertising and public relations divisions as one entity that Makes Brands Matter.