Ogilvy Elevates Devika Bulchandani to Global Chief Executive Officer

Devika Bulchandani continues her rapid rise at Ogilvy, as the network has promoted her to global chief executive officer. Bulchandani was most recently promoted to global president and CEO of North America earlier this year. Bulchandani will take over from Andy Main, who is stepping down as global CEO and will serve as a senior advisor through the end of the year. In her new role, Bulchandani will be responsible for all aspects of the creative network’s business across 131 offices in 93 countries and spanning its advertising, public relations, experience, consulting and health units. She will also join WPP’s executive committee. Bulchandani most recently served as global president and CEO of Ogilvy North America. She came to Ogilvy in 2020 from McCann with a remit to drive Ogilvy’s business across the United States and Canada. “Devika is a champion of creativity who brings passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on generating impact to everything she does,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP, in a statement. Read credits the work she’s done with Main and global CCO Liz Taylor to driving Ogilvy’s strong 2022. “Her love for our industry, deep understanding of clients’ needs and track record of delivering growth for agencies and brands make her the perfect choice to lead Ogilvy to even greater success,” Read added. Bulchandani’s rise in Ogilvy Prior to joining Ogilvy, Bulchandani spent 26 years at McCann in various leadership roles including president of McCann North America. She was the driving force behind Mastercard’s long-running “Priceless” campaign as well as “True Name,” a feature launched in 2019 that empowers transgender and non-binary people to display their chosen name on their Mastercard. She also helped launch the iconic “Fearless Girl” campaign. “As we write the next chapter in the history books of Ogilvy, we will do it together with our clients, using creativity to push the boundaries of what’s possible. I am honored and humbled to take on this role, and to do it with all our incredibly talented people all over the world,” said Bulchandani in a statement. Next month Bulchandani will be honored by New York Women in Communications (NYWIC) at the 2022 Matrix Awards, which honors women who are making a difference, building community and inspiring the next generation of female leaders in their field. She has previously received a range of other honors including NY Power Woman by Moves Magazine, Working Mother of the Year by She Runs It and ADCOLOR Innovator. She has been the recipient of multiple Jay Chiat Awards for strategic planning. Bulchandani serves on the board of the ERA Coalition. She is also a founding member of Times Up Advertising and serves on the boards of the Ad Council, the 4A’s and the Advertising Club. Main steps away Read said that Main is leaving as the “agency’s transformation” is a year ahead of schedule than the company originally envisioned. “Andy has decided that now is the right time to seek a new challenge and he is moving on with my personal thanks and best wishes,” Read added. Main joined Ogilvy as global CEO in 2020 after two decades with Deloitte, most recently as global head of Deloitte Digital. “When I joined Ogilvy, my goal was to build on the company’s incredible heritage, raise its ambitions and deliver growth for our clients through work that has impact,” said Main in a statement. “David Ogilvy spoke about the importance of hiring giants and Devika is truly one of the giants in the industry. It has been an honor being a part of this company’s rich history and I know Devika will continue accelerating the momentum our team has built.” Ogilvy’s strong 2022 Over the past 10 months, Ogilvy has done well on the new business front, most notably being one of the lead agencies on Coca-Cola after WPP won the bulk of the beverage giant’s business. Ogilvy also won Audi in May after VBP held the account for 15 years. This week, multiple sources told Adweek that SC Johnson consolidated its marketing work entirely with Ogilvy. Previously, BBDO and Ogilvy split the account (a source told Adweek that the media portion of the review was also decided and Omnicom will hold onto that part of the business). According to COMvergence, SC Johnson spent $300 million on measured media in 2021. At Cannes, Ogilvy won network of the year for the first time since 2016, capturing 88 Lions across 38 offices. Ogilvy also ranked second in WARC’s Effective 100 in 2022. Since the beginning of 2021, the agency has invested heavily in creative leadership. Ogilvy named Leo Burnett’s Liz Taylor as global chief creative officer, TBWA New York's Chris Beresford-Hill as president of advertising for North America and Dentsu’s Menno Kluin as CCO of Ogilvy NY. Audi Picks Ogilvy as Its New Creative Agency of Record