Ogilvy restructures to unite its three Canadian offices

by David Brown

Ogilvy has restructured its operations in Canada by unifying its three offices and creating one national leadership team led by Marie-Lise Campeau.

“National teams give clients a national perspective and resources,” said Arthur Fleischmann, WPP’s country manager and group CEO for Ogilvy and John St. “Furthermore, they can more easily access specialized resources that sit at each agency, such as design and CX in Montreal, and deeper brand strategy and production in Toronto.”

Ogilvy Canada has about 100 staff in Toronto, and another 50 split between Montreal and Quebec City. The changes mean that both John Killam, who was previously CEO in Toronto, and David Aubert, who was CEO in Montreal, are no longer at Ogilvy. Campeau, who had previously been chief client officer, has been elevated to president for Ogilvy Canada.

The changes come in the midst of a strong run at the agency, including picking up the TD account late last summer, along with Absolut, ALDO, J.P. Wiser, TCS, and Kahlúa in the last year. The agency has also performed well at awards shows, with Dove’s “Courage is Beautiful” doing particularly well for the agency.

But it also comes after two years of working from home, which proved that talent can, in fact, work on projects from anywhere.

“The last two years have shown us how effective technology is in bringing our people together without the need to expand physical infrastructure, enabling us to invest more in talent development,” said Campeau in a release. “Centralizing our operation in Canada enables us to overcome geographical limitations and improve collaboration between our teams, enabling our clients to easily access our wealth of diverse talent in the country and the network and tap into their creative potential.”

The restructuring also allows the agency to streamline processes and enhance collaboration between offices, enabling what it calls “Borderless Creativity” and formalizing an agile work environment where Ogilvy staff can work from both home and the office.

“One national team also means unified processes, technology and services, which creates a more cohesive employee experience,” added Fleischman.

Aside from Campeau, the rest of the new national leadership is comprised of:

  • Tom Kenny, chief strategy officer;
  • Sandie Rotgé, managing director, business and experience strategy;
  • Meg Farquhar, chief creative officer;
  • Gavin Drummond, chief creative officer—Quebec;
  • Audrey Hasdenteufel, managing director, clients and operations—Quebec;
  • Katherine Palumbo, managing director, business operations;
  • Anchie Contractor, managing director, client service;
  • Sandi Truffen, managing director—North America TD;
  • Stéphanie Laurin, EVP finance;
  • Lorie Manley, director of human resources; and
  • David Lalancette, group director, business innovation and transformation.

Ogilvy also said that Ogilvy Health will continue to operate under the leadership of Nadine Lafond, as president, while John St. is unaffected by the changes.

David Brown