American ECD Chris Ford out as chairman Moult makes sweeping changes at Ogilvy in Australia

Ogilvy & Mather Australia’s new executive chairman Tom Moult has made sweeping changes in both Sydney and Melbourne which includes the departure of Sydney executive creative director Chris Ford.

Ford (left) is returning to the US less than a year after being brought in from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco by Ogilvy’s former managing director Mike Daniels, who quit Ogilvy in January this year, soon after the appointment of Moult.

Ford, who replaced Bruce Matchett, now ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi, Singapore, was supposed to bring Ogilvy out of the creative wilderness, having worked on the world’s most awarded ad of 2009, the Comcast Rabbitcommercial, and another example of his work – Saturn’s ‘Numbers’ – hasbeen archived in the Museum of Modern Art.

However, after nearly a year in the role, the work has not noticeably improved, reflecting the degree of difficulty of getting great work out of the suit-led culture at Ogilvy, which until lately did not enter award shows, a hangover from the John Singleton era.

The departure of Ford comes as no surprise to some industry observers, echoing Publicis Mojo, Melbourne’s appointment of American ECD Franklin Tipton, also from Goodby’s San Francisco, who also left within a year.

While the search is on for Ford’s replacement, Sydney office creative will continue to overseen by creative directors Andrew Ostrom (above left), Russel Smyth (above right) and others. Ostrom was appointed Sydney creative director in November last year, while Smyth joined in April 2010 as CD on Telstra, replacing Yanni Pounartzis who lasted on seven months in the role.

Just over a week after news the departure of Ogilvy Melbourne ECD Michael Knox to Grey Melbourne, Moult has elevated Ogilvy Melbourne CEO Andrew Baxter (left) to Ogilvy Australia CEO based in Sydney, while current Sydney CEO Stuart O’Brien takes up the role of national chief strategy director.

Baxter will work closely with Moult to oversee the business from a national perspective. His remit covers all Ogilvy companies in Australia except Ogilvy PR.

Moult said Baxter’s strong knowledge and proven experience in both the Sydney and Melbourne markets – having worked for seven years in Sydney, and 11 in Melbourne – would allow greater collaboration between the two offices, and provide clients with custom-built teams, the broadest range of disciplines and the most integrated solutions.

“Ogilvy Sydney and Melbourne are the leading agencies in both markets, and I’m looking forward to further evolving our offering and our work to ensure we continue to be the best partner for marketers into the future,” says Baxter.

O’Brien will focus on solving clients’ business issues. He will continue to play a major role with Ogilvy’s key clients. He will also be exploring the potential for creating Ogilvy consulting services which have been successfully launched by Ogilvy in other markets.

Moult said while Ogilvy Sydney and Melbourne had seen four years of year-on-year growth across its local client base, and had more local business than any other agency group in the country, “we need to look to the future to ensure this success continues”.

Other changes announced today include Neo@Ogilvy services in Melbourne and Sydney both coming under the leadership of Penny Davy.

Moult said that Ogilvy also intended to create a new, national Chief Creative Officer role. “This role will be the most expansive creative role in Australian advertising,” Moult explained.

Current Ogilvy Sydney ECD Chris Ford will return to San Francisco for family reasons. Says Ford: “My family has not adjusted as well as we would have liked and wish to return to San Francisco. It was a great experience for all, and would not trade it for the world, but family comes first.”

The agency has also appointed a new Head of Talent Management and Performance. This new role will head a team who will move the agency toward the goal of “having more of the better people than any other agency,” Moult said. The new role will be dedicated to recruitment, career development and retention of staff.

At BADJAR Ogilvy in Melbourne Michael McEwan, Nick Muncaster and Andrew Egan will run the advertising agency as joint managing partners as Baxter expands his role to national CEO.

Other changes include the promotion of former Saatchi NZ’s Brian Merrifield (left) to Digital Creative Director, replacing Chris James in the role, and Damian Damjanovski to Head of Digital Planning at Ogilvy Sydney.

Moult said of O’Brien: “Stuart O’Brien has been an outstanding CEO and takes on this new role with our blessing and best wishes. His passion is with solving business problems for clients, and looking for new service offerings, and his new role will allow him to focus on this.”