O&M Appoints Heather Alderson to Worldwide Head of Planning Role

Ogilvy & Mather has appointed Heather Alderson to the newly created role of Head of Planning Unilever Worldwide and Ogilvy & Mather Group UK. 

She joins Ogilvy this month and will report to Sophie Hoffstetter, Worldwide Managing Director for Unilever, and Annette King, Chief Executive Officer, Ogilvy & Mather Group UK.

Alderson will head up the Planning function for Unilever, setting standards and providing thought leadership across the entire Unilever portfolio at Ogilvy, with a core focus on Dove. She will be based in London, which is the global hub for Unilever brands including Dove, Comfort and Hellmann’s. In her Ogilvy Group role, Alderson will partner with the Group Leadership team, Operating Company CEO’s and Heads of Strategy/Planning, to help ensure Ogilvy’s strategic capabilities are best in class.

Alderson most recently held the position of Commercial Strategy Director and Managing Partner at Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) where she headed up a portfolio of clients including Diageo, British Airways and Unilever, and lead BBH’s strategic capabilities. Amongst her many accolades, Heather was the driving force behind a number of prestigious strategy and marketing award wins for brands including Audi, Polaroid, British Airways, One 2 One, Yeo Valley and Electrolux.

Alderson said: “Joining Ogilvy offers me a tremendous opportunity to make a positive difference at scale. Unilever is the agency's biggest client and I am relishing the opportunity to help take Dove, a brand that I have hitherto admired from afar, and the rest of the Unilever portfolio forward. At a group level, Ogilvy has a future-facing infrastructure in place. Now is the time to galvanise the potential of the Group's specialist planning talent into a powerful combined force. A big team that can make a big difference.”

Hoffstetter said: “Great strategy is the springboard to game-changing creativity and Heather is a world-class planner with fantastic credentials in building big brands through iconic work".

King said: “Heather has the right balance of fresh thinking, curiosity and strategic rigour required for heading up our biggest account in the agency and ensuring our Group planning capabilities are best in class. We look forward to welcoming her on board.”