DDB’s Fran Clayton departs to take on role at Ogilvy
Chief strategist at DDB Sydney, Fran Clayton, is departing the agency after four years to take on the chief strategist role at Ogilvy ANZ, Ogilvy has confirmed.
Clayton spent nearly ten years at DDB in total. She joined in 2013, before moving to McCann Worldgroup in 2018. After a 2 year stint there, she rejoined DDB Sydney as chief strategist.
She replaces the chief strategy officer role at Ogilvy left vacant by Ryan O’Connell, after he departed in January. O’Connell has since launched his own creative agency, jnr., alongside former Special NZ general manager John Marshall.
Clayton
Ogilvy confirmed Clayton’s appointment to Mumbrella, and a spokesperson said more details will be provided early next week.
In a statement sent to Mumbrella, DDB Sydney’s CEO, Sheryl Marjoram, said she “could not be more thrilled for Fran” in the new role.
She said: “DDB continues to be a place that keeps its talent well past the ‘normal’ industry cycle and we are lucky to have had Fran here for almost a decade. She did a brilliant job at DDB and we’re incredibly proud.
“We have begun the recruitment process for our new chief strategy officer, so stay tuned.”
Clayton will remain employed at DDB until June 21, but due to a “competitive conflict”, she will not continue to work with the agency.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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@And
This is weak thinking.
Ogilvy was founded in 1948 and DDB in 1949. Are we saying these businesses have never seen change or disruption in the advertising industry?
They are still here today working with the biggest advertisers and creating the most famous and recognised work because:
– they know how to create commercial value for their clients. They build their business and are trusted by the execs at these companies to do so
– they can and do adapt and evolve as the industry changes
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No pressure. Just need to keep winning a thousand Effies every year.
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Big, (yet surprisingly small) shoes to fill. There will only ever be one Ryan O’Connell
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DDB Ogilvy Saatchi just sharing talent means they will die quicker they need fresh thinking from fresh models
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Are they though?
Increasingly it’s the indies that are dominating the market and winning business. Special, Howatson, Thinkerbell, Bear Meets Eagle – and The Monkeys have been setting the standard for years.
It feels like the only reason clients go to network agencies is scale and range of services – and a lot of these Indies are beginning to address this second point. In short, I tend towards what And is saying. It’s going to take new thinking to revive the networks. Whether Fran can offer that – and we don’t know how much DDB caged her in or vice versa – is yet to be seen. Whether Ogilvy allow her to bring new thinking is another thing entirely. Looking forward to watching the CSO merry-go-round get into full swing.
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In response to @Jonathan Betts
I think I may have interpreted the comment I was responding too differently. That comment talked about the quick deaths of businesses that have been at the top of their game for nearly 70 years. I was certainly questioning that.
Yes, I agree that there are some great independent and/or newer agencies.
I think there are multiple reasons to choose a large multinational network agency. Let’s not forget that there are billions of $s of sales generated by the work they create for clients every year.
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