Ogilvy Chief Data Officer Role May Be Sign of Things to Come
Is the chief data officer an addition to the agency C-suite that will stick? Ogilvy & Mather is among the first agencies to create a CDO role, as the influx of data and modern approaches to analytics change how agencies do business and serve their clients. The company has hired former Acxiom exec Todd Cullen as its global chief data officer reporting to Miles Young, worldwide chairman and CEO at the WPP-owned shop.
Forward-thinking agencies such as Ogilvy already have plenty of people focused on analytics and how consumer data can benefit clients. However, Mr. Cullen is charged with creating standards for using data that can be applied across the organization and across the globe.
“The approach here is not so much can they build a data and analytics capability; the difference here is the opportunity to scale it globally,” said Mr. Cullen, speaking from his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, home to data giant Acxiom.
