Ogilvy boosts leadership team

AUCKLAND, Today: Ogilvy NZ has boosted its leadership team with two new hires following new business wins. Kristal Knight, previously creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, has joined Ogilvy as executive creative director, and Nick Salter, previously group strategy director at Special Group NZ, is Ogilvy’s new head of strategy.

Led by Ogilvy NZ managing partner Megan Clark Cook and working alongside customer experience & innovation director Matt Oxley, and ceo of the Ogilvy Network NZ, Kelly Ann Maxwell (KAM), the new executive team will be responsible for driving the growth strategy across the business. 

Announcing the new hires today, Kelly Ann Maxwell said: “We are so delighted Kristal and Nick have chosen to join Ogilvy. We continue to operate with a start-up spirit, while supported by the incredible global brand,  which means that having strong talent who share our high energy and ambition to drive borderless creativity is vital if we are to continue our pace of growth.”

Ogilvy NZ had a string of new business wins at the back end of 2021, including Make A Wish, the Human Rights Commission, and Kami.

Knight, who was an art director at Ogilvy more than a decade ago, said: “I spent my most formative years at Ogilvy in London, so I have an insider knowledge and admiration for the power of the network and the geniuses within it.

“Kristal and Nick will make a formidable duo. It’s a powerful statement of intent for Ogilvy NZ.”

“So I leapt at the chance to join the agency here as it reboots with a hugely ambitious and talented team, and at the opportunity to build a creative culture where ideas can flow freely across and between diverse disciplines and minds.

“I’m hugely excited about where Ogilvy is heading in NZ, and thrilled to be jumping aboard.”

Slater, who has also won a host of awards (including Effies, Axis and Yellow Pencil gongs), said: “It’s really special to be joining Ogilvy at a time when momentum is rapidly gaining. That momentum is down to the ambitious leadership of KAM and Megan, some seriously formidable creative firepower, and a determined and talented team of good humans.

“Ogilvy right now is a perfect storm I couldn’t wait to sail into.

“The opportunity to work with the Tobies, build a strong strategic-creative partnership with Kristal, and work closely with Matt to bridge technology and humanity was especially too good to pass up. I’m looking forward to playing my part using strategy to wield creativity that makes an impact.”

Newly-appointed chief creative officer for the Ogilvy ANZ Network, Toby Talbot, who worked with Knight at Saatchis in New Zealand, said: “Kristal has mana.

“She’s not just one of the most awarded creatives in the world in the last year, she‘s a natural leader too. I saw it first hand at Saatchi.

“The way she effortlessly galvanised everyone around a big idea on all sides of the fence makes her ideal for Ogilvy NZ, as we embrace borderless creativity across all four ANZ offices.

“Kristal and Nick will make a formidable duo. It’s a powerful statement of intent for Ogilvy NZ.”