Ogilvy & Mather London Appoints Kevin Chesters as Chief Strategy Officer

Ogilvy & Mather London has appointed Kevin Chesters as Chief Strategy Officer to help lead the UK agency. He will report to O&M London’s new CEO Charlie Rudd.

Chesters has been Executive Planning Director for mcgarrybowen London since 2013. Before this he worked as Head of Planning for Wieden & Kennedy London for five years, and was previously Planning Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. Like Rudd, Chesters started his career at O&M in Account Handling before switching to becoming an Account Planner in 1999.

While at Wieden&Kennedy he was responsible for multi-award winning work for Three, Honda and Nokia. His new business track record since joining mcgarrybowen has been deeply impressive, winning 16 out of 19 pitches in just under 3 years. He has also helped the agency win twice at Cannes and seen the agency enjoy considerable revenue growth.

Charlie Rudd, CEO, O&M London said, “I am delighted that Kevin will be joining the team.  This is a new era for Ogilvy, with our fantastic new home at Sea Containers, and Kevin will help me and the wider team shape and build the agency’s future direction. I can’t wait for him to start and bring his blend of hunger, humour and strategic smarts to our business.”

Chesters said, “I’ve had a brilliant time helping put mcgarrybowen on the map in the UK, but when Annette and Charlie talked to me about this opportunity, I knew this was the next chapter for me. It feels like coming home, to one of the great brands in world advertising.”