Ogilvy Social.Lab Amsterdam welcomes new CEO Jai Kotecha

Maggie Hanson Business, Creativity, People

Ogilvy announces the appointment of Ogilvy UK’s Jai Kotecha as new CEO of Ogilvy Social.Lab Amsterdam.

In his new role, Kotecha will be leading a team of 150 strategists, media-specialists and creatives to deliver distinctive and effective campaigns for local and global clients. He will be working closely together with WPP partners at the Amsteldok campus in Amsterdam and the wider Ogilvy network.

Kotecha will remain on the Ogilvy UK Board and will also continue to hold his position as executive sponsor of Ogilvy Roots, an agency-wide network which champions greater cultural and ethnic diversity within the industry. An initiative which has been adopted globally by the WPP network – advertising’s largest employer. Kotecha’s perspective on diversity goes beyond ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation and he intends to lead an innovative neural diversity programme within the Amsterdam office.

Jai Kotecha, Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy Social.Lab Amsterdam:

‘As the landscape of marketing evolves, I see it as my role to keep Ogilvy looking forward – effectively, to ‘future-proof’ our organisation, keep growing our talent and create new opportunities for our clients by helping brands tap into emerging ways to cut through the noise, and I look forward to being a part of that process in Amsterdam.

I’ve always believed in championing diversity of thought, age and socioeconomic background as well as ethnicity. The way I see diversity is that it’s about more than colour – it’s about neural diversity, personal background and forming solid teams with many different kinds of people.”

Kotecha has over seventeen years of experience in digital and marcomms, having worked with industry-leading clients and agencies in Sydney and London. His focus will be on bolstering and enhancing the agency’s capabilities and output, while working collaboratively with clients to both build new relationships and strengthen pre-existing ones.

He joined Ogilvy in 2012 as Associate Director in the London office. In 2018, he was appointed to the Ogilvy UK board and has since been instrumental in merging Social.Lab with other organisations within the company. As Managing Partner, he ran a team of 90 social and content specialists, in addition to leading cross agency clients across the WPP network. He was also running partnerships for the agency at large.

Ogilvy Social.Lab has been growing exponentially over the last two years, with a raft of new hires and new leadership on the business, strategic and creative side. As part of the global Ogilvy network, the Amsterdam office has shown a remarkable surge thanks to the recent addition of new clients like Philips, Mattel, Asics, BK Sports, South African Tourism and the FIVB, the international volleyball federation.

Paul O’Donnell, Chairman & CEO Ogilvy EMEA:

Jai has played a key role in London, leveraging new digital opportunities and forging new partnerships. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Ogilvy Social.Lab Amsterdam; a thriving office in a market that’s pivotal to the Ogilvy network. I’m convinced that his collaborative way of working and personal approach will perfectly match the future ambitions of the Amsterdam office and its clients.”

This new arrival brings new opportunities to advance the portfolio of both local and international clients. It also marks the ambition to grow the agency’s success and expand capabilities.Kotecha will work side by side with COO Heleen Heijt across all clients including Philips, Mattel, Asics, Ford, BP and Sennheiser.

Heleen Heijt, COO Ogilvy Social.Lab Amsterdam:

“Having already gained a strong rapport for his contributions as Head of Social and Content and an Ogilvy UK board member, Jai is perfectly positioned to lead us in this new phase of our agency. We are delighted to have him take the reins of this exciting new role.”