Paul Heath Named Worldwide Director Ogilvy & Mather Advertising

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May 19, 2010, 09:04 ET

NEW YORK, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide today announced the promotion of Paul Heath to the newly created role of Worldwide Director, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, in addition to his primary role as CEO Asia Pacific, with immediate effect. Paul will remain in Hong Kong where he is currently based.

Said Miles Young, CEO of The Ogilvy Group, "Paul successfully relaunched and reinvigorated Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in Asia Pacific before becoming CEO. Unlike other Ogilvy disciplines, Advertising does not currently benefit from formal global leadership. Under Paul's guidance, Advertising will take on a more formalized approach that links the Advertising heads in each region together to drive our business development agenda and give momentum to our largest discipline, a shift that has benefited the unit significantly in Asia."

In 2009, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising's new business growth impressed in a tough year, on the back of wins for clients such as Shangri la, Rolex, Prudential, Vitamin Water (Coke) and Tata sky among others.

Aiming to replicate Asia's success, Paul will assemble a global executive committee (ExCo) consisting of the regional heads of Advertising from Asia Pacific (David Mayo), London (Hugh Baillie), New York (Simon Pearce) and Brazil (Fernando Musa).

Said Paul Heath, "At the heart of our thriving advertising businesses are the Twin Peaks of Creativity and Effectiveness. Only by developing insightful, creative and effective work for our most cherished clients will we drive the most value for our client's brands, and our own. Working in a global community and putting the best of Ogilvy & Mather from around the world behind our client's brands means that we will be competitively geared for growth."

Paul continues: "Advertising, in the traditional sense, has taken a beating in the popularity stakes over the last decade, with the demise of TV leading the headlines. We believe the biggest opportunities, particularly for emerging markets, lie in understanding how this medium works and how best to combine TV with other mediums to develop innovative communications for our clients."

According to a recent report from Media analysts Informa, TV advertising revenue in Asia Pacific has overtaken that in Western Europe for the first time, as China and India expand. Total net TV advertising in Asia Pacific hit US$ 27.9 billion, while the value in Western Europe was at 26.7 billion. North America remains the world's largest TV ad market at US 38.9 billion. Although Asia Pacific is expected to remain ahead of Western Europe, the gap between these regions is expected to narrow by 2012. This is due to major sporting events, such as the London Olympics and World Cups in South Africa and Brazil – both held in countries compatible with European time zones and therefore attractive to TV advertisers.