Matt Waksman Becomes Ogilvy UK’s Head of Strategy, Advertising

Ogilvy UK has appointed Matt Waksman as head of strategy, advertising. In the eighteen months since joining the agency Matt has led global work for Coca Cola, for their Special Olympics partnership developed global culture strategy for Absolut vodka, led the strategy on Stonewall’s first ever rainbow mistletoe Christmas campaign and took Sipsmith’s award-winning Mr Swann into the USA. Matt also built a partnership with Clearchannel to harness the power of advertising to do good with proactive campaigns championing road safety for BRAKE, better communication for RELATE and celebrating LGBTQ history month. Matt is a prolific writer and has written numerous opinion pieces about subjects close to his heart, including HFSS, DE&I and the invisible Antisemitism.

“I’m very excited to announce Matt’s promotion. I’ve seen first-hand over the last six months what a talent he is. He’s a sharp, funny thinker who speaks form the heart. His creative judgement is top drawer and you only have to see him talk a strategy to know he is the real deal. He’s Ogilvy through and through – puts the people and the work on equal footing and both are so much the better for having him here. Borderless Creativity is defined by strategy. We’re seen the success of our approach this year – we were the only agency to win a Glass Lion at Cannes, we won 13 golds at the Creative Circle Awards, 11 D&AD pencils, 14 Clios, including the Grand Clio, we won two silvers at British Arrows, 50 One Show pencils, making Ogilvy UK the most awarded agency globally, and we were the most awarded agency at the DMA awards. Last month D&AD announced Ogilvy UK was the top ad agency in the UK, and the third best in the world, and last week we won Best Large Agency and four further awards at the PR Week Awards. Strategy is the bedrock to all our campaigns, big or small, for legacy brands or start-ups. Matt is perfectly placed to partner our leadership team in the advertising business and drive our success into 2023.” Jo Arden

“Strategy is not a product. It’s fuel. I’m proud to lead a team of fire starters who want to light up the world with their creative partners and their clients.” Matt Waksman