New Delhi: WPP Plc, world’s largest communications group, on Tuesday announced that Sonal Dabral and Reed Collins will head its creative agency Ogilvy’s Asia Pacific (APAC) team. The duo takes over as Eugene Cheong steps down as Asia’s chief creative officer after a decade in the role. He will be transitioning to a new role at the agency.
Dabral will take care of the agency’s South East and South Asia offices while Collins continues his focus on North Asia.
“I would like to thank Eugene for his invaluable contributions throughout his tenure,” said Piyush Pandey, worldwide chief creative officer, Ogilvy & Mather. “I have great confidence in our next generation of leadership with Reed and Sonal to continue to deliver great creative solutions to all our clients.”
Dabral will work closely with Ogilvy co-chief executives Kent Wertime and Chris Reitermann and with Piyush Pandey.
“Reed and Sonal are true Ogilvy giants with modern marketing skills and the right experiences to take the agency into the future. They are both dynamic, inspirational creative talents whose energy and ambition are infectious,” said Wertime and Reitermann in a joint statement.
Collins joined Ogilvy in 2013, has since served as chief creative officer in Hong Kong and was announced as chief creative officer, North Asia in 2018. Dabral will remain based in India where he has held the positions of chief creative officer and vice-chairman of South Asia.
Dabral worked in Ogilvy India from 1991 to 1999 after which he joined as creative head of Ogilvy Malaysia and then became chairman and executive creative director of Ogilvy Singapore. He came back to India as chairman and regional creative director for Bates Asia-Pacific, a WPP-owned advertising and marketing agency. He then took on the responsibility at DDB Mudra as chairman and chief creative officer.
He has worked with multiple brands across categories, including Volkswagen, Audi, Hindustan Unilever-owned beauty brand Dove, Fevicol, Tata AIG, Prudential and Nestle’s noodle brand Maggi.
Part of the WPP family, Ogilvy offers advertising and marketing services across media including mainline (television and print), outdoor and digital. The agency handles blue-chip clients in the country, including diversified group ITC Ltd, search engine Google, Pidilite Industries Ltd and Tata Sky.
The development was reported by livemint.com
