Ogilvy New York Hires BBDO Pair to Serve as Chief Creative Officers
Danilo Boer and Marcos Kotlhar have worked with Bacardi, GE and Macy’s
Ogilvy New York has two new creative leaders at the helm: Danilo Boer and Marcos Kotlhar.
The pair join from BBDO New York, where they both served as executive creative directors. They take over some of the responsibilities previously held by Leslie Sims, who served as Ogilvy’s U.S. chief creative officer until January. She was let go during a round of layoffs that affected roughly 80 employees.
Their appointments are the latest in a series of leadership shakeups at Ogilvy. In June, the agency hired Andy Main as global CEO to replace John Seifert, who’s retiring next year after 41 years at Ogilvy. The agency also recently promoted Renata Florio to chief creative officer of Ogilvy Health.
At BBDO New York, Boer and Kotlhar led creative for brands including Bacardi, GE, Macy’s and Foot Locker. In 2018, the two spearheaded a whimsical campaign for Macy’s that showed people stepping out of winter boots and sweaters and into summery apparel. They’ve also created a number of campaigns for Bacardi, including “Life Moves,” a music video that relied on input from fans and debuted on Instagram.
Boer was at BBDO New York for 11 years. He joined as a senior art director and has held a number of creative roles at the agency since. Kotlhar joined four years ago after a short stint at BBH New York. Prior to that, he spent many years at AlmapBBDO in São Paulo, working with brands including HP and Getty Images.
The two made Adweek’s Creative 100 list in 2018. Recently, Boer created “BBDO Your Home,” a logo generator that lets employees create a customized email signature featuring their address or neighborhood. The project was created to have some fun with the concept of working from home.
“Danilo and Marcos are two of the most incredible, empathetic creative and business thinkers I have ever met in our business,” said Lauren Crampsie, president of Ogilvy New York, in a statement. “They truly define the sum-greater-than-parts ethos of a creative partnership. I’m thrilled to have them in New York at a time when how we handle the daily challenges in front of us will define how we lead our clients’ businesses into the future.”
Last year, Ogilvy was named Instagram’s lead agency partner. Other recent wins include Poland Spring and The Washington Post. Like many agencies, Ogilvy went through a round of layoffs and furloughs in May as a result of the pandemic’s economic effects.
