Phew, talk about new hire overload today, but this one is fairly notable as John Kottmann, who most recently served as EVP/chief strategy officer and co-planning director at McCann New York, is heading to the west side of Manhattan to take on role of senior partner, managing director in the planning department at Ogilvy.
During his rather lengthy stay at McCann (he originally joined the agency in 1992), Kottmann served as global planning director on the MasterCard business and also helped pitch and win the $1.3 billion U.S. Army assignment back in 2005 (and eventually helped develop the “Army Strong” concept for the brand). In addition to Army and MasterCard, Kottmann was also part of the team that pitched and won the Staples business and soon developed the “Easy Button.”
Now at Ogilvy, Kottmann will work on new business efforts as well as the agency’s existing client roster. Says O&M North America chairman John Siefert, “This is a big hire for us. John brings the level of sophistication and creativity in modern marketing that wins clients over.” High praise, indeed.