Samir Gupte departs Ogilvy to join Wunderman Thompson Indonesia as Chief Executive Officer

Samir Gupte has signed with Wunderman Thompson Indonesia as Chief Executive Officer. Gupte brings more than 25 years of experience within WPP and joins, effective immediately, from Ogilvy where he most recently served as Executive Director and Head of Operations.

During the past 23 years at Ogilvy, Gupte has divided his time between India and Indonesia. Moving from India to Indonesia in 2013, Gupte initially served as Managing Director of OgilvyAction where he led the merger that formed Geometry Global – before making the move to SohoSquare, Ogilvy’s second integrated agency in 2016. After two years, Gupte took over the Managing Director role at Ogilvy Indonesia, leading key client relationships and building out a diverse, robust team. Under his leadership, the agency won clients such as Kimberly-Clark Softex, Converse, Sunpride, Asian Paints and also received multiple awards and recognition.

Gupte said: “I am really excited about this next chapter in my career. Having worked very closely with Wunderman Thompson teams on key clients like Nestle and Unilever, I am aware of the sheer talent and the potential that exists within the agency.

“The current leadership team has done a great job of consolidating the different services within the agency. My focus now will be to strengthen our capabilities in CX, data, content and ecommerce, and drive growth for our clients in Indonesia.”

Audrey Kuah, APAC CEO of Wunderman Thompson, said: “Samir brings vast integrated marketing experience growing some of the world’s largest brand in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. His expertise in integrating brand, digital, data and technology, combined with his growth ambition for us, we are pleased to have Samir join our leadership team.”

Wunderman Thompson Indonesia has been responsible for some of the markets most successful campaigns, inspiring and delivering growth for global and local brands. This includes Vaseline’s #BebasGerah work, freeing hijabi from the heat faced every day and led to the product becoming a category leader in just four months. The creative agency also captured the hearts of Indonesia mothers in DANCOW’s Perfect Mom Exam and turned KITKAT’s global brand purpose into a truly local campaign – delivering a 41% sales increase for the chocolate brand.