Burgess succeeds John Wilde, and will report to both OgilvyOne Asia-Pacific COO Jerry Smith and RedWorks worldwide CEO Fred Schuster. The unit, which counts American Express, Kodak and 7-Eleven as some of its clients, has also opened a new production hub in Dhaka, in a bid to improve outsourcing cost benefits.
“I think clients want agencies more and more now for really good ideas and creative, and they are looking for that to be efficiently managed through to production,” said Smith, of the RedWorks strategy. “That could mean they decouple production out of agencies altogether, so our RedWorks strategy is to defend that.”
Burgess is charged with replicating the success of RedWorks Singapore, which won 7-Eleven’s full-service advertising business earlier this year, across Asia, which now counts 300 RedWorks executives. Smith is also hoping that the unit can become a “Trojan horse” that delivers business to other Ogilvy units. “It’s growing at 30 per cent and there are a lot of opportunities,” said Smith. “RedWorks’ benefits are amplified in times of recession.”
The new Dhaka hub is led by GM Mashuk Rahman and will be joined, said Smith, by a hub for Greater China. While the RedWorks offering was conceived in Asia, it has since been rolled out worldwide, as Ogilvy aims to consolidate its hold on production.
Wilde will focus on RedWorks’ hub strategy, its implementation and support of key client requirements, added Smith.
