John Kottmann Joins Ogilvy New York's Planning Leadership

NEW YORK, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ogilvy & Mather New York announced today that John Kottmann, is joining the agency as Senior Partner, Managing Director in its Planning Department from McCann New York where he was EVP Chief Strategy Officer and co-director of planning.

In his new role at Ogilvy, Kottmann will join Ogilvy's senior Planning community and will focus on driving planning's role in new business as well as in working with the agency's existing client roster.

Colin Mitchell, Worldwide Head of Planning, noted that, "John is a perfect fit for Ogilvy.  He's a real expert in unifying multifaceted brands with culturally important brand ideas."  

John has led planning on some of McCann's most famous work.  As global planning director on MasterCard, he helped expand Priceless to over 100 markets.  He pitched and won the $1.3 Billion U.S. Army assignment in 2005, developed the "Army Strong" idea, then led strategy for the successful recent 're-compete' for the U.S. Army account.  He was also part of the team that pitched and won the Staples business and developed the iconic "Easy Button."

John Seifert, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather North America, welcomed John saying, "This is a big hire for us.  John brings the level of sophistication and creativity in modern marketing that wins clients over."  

For the past six years, John has co-directed the strategic planning group in McCann's flagship New York office.  As such, he was responsible for strategic output, new business, talent development, and the creation of new planning tools and approaches.

John has always been an impact player in new business.  When he was in his leadership role, McCann pitched and won major accounts such as U.S. Army, Applebee's, Smith Barney, Citi MyFi, MLB Network, and Nasdaq. Prior to this, he was a senior planner contributing to wins such as Burger King, TGIF, Bacardi, Staples, Lowe's, Intel, Nikon, HP and more.

John joined McCann in 1992 and was one of the key architects in transforming and building McCann's planning culture.  Prior to McCann, John worked for two years in management consulting.

In commenting on his move to Ogilvy, John Kottmann said, "Ogilvy was a logical next step for me.  Its commitment to strategy is well known and it has a real vision for what the agency of the future will look like.  I think it has made all the right bets."

About Ogilvy & Mather:

Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. Through its specialty units, the company provides a comprehensive range of marketing services including: advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing. Ogilvy & Mather services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 450 offices in 120 countries. It is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY).  For more information, visit www.ogilvy.com.

SOURCE Ogilvy & Mather