Well, this is even bigger news than last week’s headline of Liz Taylor leaving her position as Global Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett – Ogilvy has named Taylor as its next Global Chief Creative Officer.
Liz, who will be the first woman to hold the company’s top creative role, is returning to Ogilvy at a time where the company has won several new global accounts—including Abolsut, Enterprise Holdings, Pernod Ricard USA, Zippo, among others—and accolades for its creativity.
“We could not be more thrilled to be welcoming Liz back home to Ogilvy,” Andy Main, Ogilvy’s global CEO, said in a statement. “Liz is a modern creative leader who leads from the front and understands that magic happens when we create and innovate at the intersection of our world-class capabilities and talent.” The statement also cited Taylor’s “culture-shaping work for a range of clients,” including Bank of America, Boeing, Budweiser and Cadillac.
At Ogilvy, she will be tasked with overseeing the network’s creative output across 132 offices in 83 countries, spanning five business units: advertising, PR, experience, health, and growth and innovation.
Last month, the Clio Awards named Ogilvy its 2021 Agency Network of the Year, and DAVID Miami was named Agency of the Year. Both Ogilvy and DAVID were also awarded these respective honors at the 2020 One Show and D&AD Awards.
“There is something special about being able to come back to Ogilvy and join a team that is taking this iconic company into the future. Creativity has the power to change everything and I’m looking forward to working with Ogilvy’s incredibly strong global network of creative talent to inspire people and brands to have an impact on the world.”
Liz Taylor, Ogilvy Global Chief Creative officer
Most recently, Liz served as Global Chief Creative Officer for Leo Burnett and Chief Creative Officer for Publicis Communications North America. There she was a founding Partner at Le Truc, a new business model threaded across the Publicis Groupe.
Taylor returns to Ogilvy where she experienced a meteoric rise from 2012 – 2016, going from Executive Creative Director, Social to Global Executive Creative Director. She left in 2016 for FCB Chicago to serve as Chief Creative Officer until mid-2019.
She’s been named an Ad Age “Woman to Watch” and a member of the Adweek “Creative 100,” her work has been featured in the Museum of Modern Art and multiple Super Bowls, seen across the pages of Harper’s Bazaar, Fast Company and Rolling Stone, and even topped Billboard charts.
Throughout her career Liz has driven transformative creative solutions and culture-shaping work for a range of clients that have included: Aldi, Bank of America, Boeing, Budweiser, Cadillac, Campbell’s, Facebook, Gatorade, GE, Kellogg’s, Kimberly-Clark, McDonald’s, Morton Salt, Nintendo, P&G, Walmart, Wrigley, among many others.
One of the most awarded creatives in the industry, Liz has numerous honors to her name, including Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, ANDYs and Effies among others. An industry leader in addressing workplace inequality, Liz also served as an inaugural jury chair of the Athena Advertising Awards, held in conjunction with the 3% Movement.
She will replace Piyush Pandey, who is taking on a new role as chairman of global creative and will continue to serve as chairman of Ogilvy India.
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Devika Bulchandani, Global Chairwoman of Advertising, said, “There are always those people who you yearn to work with some day—and Liz is one of those people. She is creatively ambidextrous and a sharp problem solver who shares our ambition to make Ogilvy the most creative company in the world, but most importantly Liz embodies both the goodness and greatness of Ogilvy.”
Taylor will reportedly partner with good friend Joe Sciarrotta, Ogilvy’s deputy global chief creative officer. Taylor’s husband, Chuck, works in Ogilvy’s creative department. All are based in Chicago.
Reel 360 wishes Liz all the best in her new role.
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
