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Lars Bastholm Joins Ogilvy as Chief Digital Creative Officer N.A.

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 08:33 CDT

WORLD-CLASS DIGITAL CREATIVE LEADER CHOOSES 360 DEGREE BRANDING MODEL OVER DIGITAL STAND-ALONES

NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning digital creative leader, Lars Bastholm, is joining Ogilvy North America in a specially created role as Chief Digital Creative Officer with responsibility for Ogilvy's digital creative work across North America.

In making the announcement, Carla Hendra, CEO of Ogilvy North America said, "Lars is the hottest digital creative talent in our industry, and we've been great admirers of his work for many years. Ogilvy has continually invested in the best digital creative talent and ideas for our clients in the fastest growing part of our business. Lars is more evidence of the Ogilvy commitment to creativity first and to innovation in digital."

In his new role at Ogilvy, Bastholm will report to Jan Leth, Vice Chairman, Global Digital Creative. He will partner with JP Maheu, Chief Digital Officer for Ogilvy North America to provide digital expertise and strategic leadership for all of Ogilvy's North American operations. Ogilvy's digital model is unique in spanning digital experience design, application development, media, analytics, direct marketing, CRM, loyalty, public relations, and activation through its multiple business units.

The Chief Jurist for the 2009 Cannes Cyber Lions, Lars is one of the most highly awarded and recognized digital creative executives in the industry with three Cyber Lions Grand Prix's of his own. Before joining Ogilvy, he spent four-years at AKQA, most recently as Co-Chief Creative Officer where he was key to winning interactive assignments for Coke, Smirnoff and Motorola.

"It is becoming obvious that marketing shouldn't live in silos. Consumers don't distinguish between what's in which channel, when they shape their perception of a brand. Nor should they," said Lars Bastholm. "My reason for joining Ogilvy is to get a seat at the table with clients who make the 360 degree brand decisions and to work on the campaigns that will help define what integrated, multi-channel advertising can look like in the future."

Lars has been working in the interactive marketing industry for over 12 years. After starting up Grey Interactive in Scandinavia, he joined Framfab in Copenhagen, Denmark as Creative Director. There he worked on some of the world's most recognized brands, including Nike, LEGO, Sprite and Carlsberg.

"Lars is a proven leader and has already helped define the new creativity," said Jan Leth. "He will be a fantastic inspiration to our staff and clients as we continue to evolve and define what a brand experience is." To view a conversation with Lars and Jan see: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDBKxTJBmD0)

Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide said, "I cannot think of a better person in the world than Lars for this gig. He comes with real leadership skills, deep knowledge and massive talent that will help us offer genuine value for our clients."

Ogilvy was the first agency network in the world to establish an interactive discipline (Source: Adage) when it launched the Interactive Marketing Group in 1983 under then leader Martin Nisenholtz.

Through Verge, The Ogilvy Digital Summit, which was established in June 2004, the agency has established its thought leadership in digital marketing. Within a few short years, Verge has grown to become the preeminent agency-led forum for clients and other industry experts to debate and discuss the realities and possibilities of digital marketing. Since its creation, Ogilvy has hosted 36 Verge events in 23 countries.

ABOUT OGILVY NORTH AMERICA

Ogilvy North America (www.ogilvy.com) is the largest unit of The Ogilvy Group agency network, a subsidiary of WPP Group plc (Nasdaq: WPPGY). It has offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Durham, Minneapolis, Denver, and throughout Canada. Ogilvy North America brings together all the capabilities of the Ogilvy network to provide integrated marketing solutions to the agency's clients. It encompasses Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, OgilvyEntertainment, OgilvyOne, OgilvyInteractive, Neo@Ogilvy, Ogilvy Healthworld, Ogilvy Public Relations and OgilvyAction.

SOURCE Ogilvy North America

Source: PR Newswire

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