Ogilvy names Piyush Pandey as Global Chief Creative Officer

Advertising veteran Piyush Pandey will be the new worldwide chief creative officer of the Ogilvy Group, one of the world’s oldest and largest advertising companies, effective January 1, 2019.

He will be replacing Tham Khai Meng who was terminated due to allegations of misconduct. Ogilvy Group’s CEO John Seifert announced in a memo to his employees in July that the company had terminated Khai Meng after an internal investigation.

Pandey joined Ogilvy & Mather in 1982. Under Pandey’s charge, Ogilvy India won the country’s first Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness category this year, for the Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks campaign. But he began his winning spree at Cannes back in 2002 with two Gold Lions for the famous antismoking campaign that featured a Marlboro Man lookalike with a dead horse. Pandey has had an illustrious career in advertising that began over 35 years ago.

John Seifert said in a statement, “Piyush is a true industry icon who is uniquely suited to lead our global creative efforts. Creativity has and will always be at the heart of the Ogilvy brand and culture. Piyush is the perfect leader to shepherd that legacy as we continue to focus on making brands matter as the leading creative network in the world.”

Ogilvy also announced that it will expand its Worldwide Creative Council from 12 members to 20; the 20 members – of which half will be comprised of female creative leaders – will be announced in January of 2020.