Muir heads up Ogilvy Group's development

by JEREMY WHITE, Campaign 05-Apr-02

Mike Walsh, the European chairman of Ogilvy Group, has continued to bolster the UK group's management after his ousting of the London chief executive and chairman, Paul Simons, last month.

David Muir, currently the head of futureOgilvy, is promoted to group development director, strengthening Ogilvy's group positioning. Muir headed new business for O&M before taking a two-year sabbatical in 2000.

Muir will take responsibility for group new business across O&M, OgilvyOne, Ogilvy Interactive and Ogilvy PR. He will also co-ordinate the group's acquisition policy.

Muir said: "I am very lucky to have spent nearly ten years at Ogilvy. As such I have a strong sense across the group of the tremendous assets we have. My job is to make sure that these assets work together effectively for our clients.

I will over the coming weeks cease my role on futureOgilvy and transfer the knowledge and expertise built up into Ogilvy Interactive, allowing me to focus on this new role."

Ogilvy Interactive will offer clients digital and wireless capability and futureOgilvy, the group's dedicated digital and wireless business centre, will be closed.

The news comes after last month's appointment of Mark Earls, the executive planning director at Ogilvy & Mather, to the role of group planning director.