Ogilvy sacks its chief creative on grounds of misconduct

Ogilvy fires SEA chief creative officer for misconduct

Sources say that Ogilvy has fired its South East Asia chief creative officer Ajab Samrai at the end of September over misconduct.

An internal memo to senior agency staff by Ogilvy Asia-Pacific co-chief executive officer Kent Wertime read as follows:

“As you know, we ask everyone in the company to commit to a code of conduct and to maintain the high standard of behaviour expected of Ogilvy’s employees.

“I was recently notified of a complaint about the behaviour of Ajab Samrai, chief creative officer, South Asia.

“Having investigated the complaint, and carefully reviewed the findings with outside counsel, we concluded that Ajab’s behaviour was in breach of his terms of employment and Ogilvy’s code of conduct.

“We have terminated his employment, effective immediately. We will be communicating further as necessary with various markets and Ogilvy teams regarding the creative responsibilities that Ajab has held to date.”

Ajab had been in the role since 2013, first being based in Japan and since January this year, in Singapore.

Prior to joining Ogilvy, he was with WPP and Saatchi & Saatchi in London.

Describing himself on his LinkedIn profile, Ajab said “when he’s not creating ideas you’ll find him pouring over heaps of dusty books researching his single greatest passion – he’s a global expert on Sikh period Indian painting from the 17th century”.

It is another blow for Ogilvy after the agency’s worldwide chief creative officer, the Singaporean Tham Khai Meng, was fired under similar circumstances in July.