Ogilvy Bangalore brings in Joono Simon as creative head

After a 10-month stint in Colombo as Leo Burnett's chief creative officer there, Joono Simon is back in Bangalore. This time, he will be at the helm of Ogilvy's creative team. His designation will be executive creative director, and his creative mandate will be for the Bangalore operations.

Simon has eighteen years of industry experience, and has worked on brands such as Jockey, Louis Philippe, Himalaya, Signature Whiskey, Peter England, Ford, and Pepsi Foods. Before his Colombo stint, Simon was heading the creative team in Mudra South, overseeing the Bangalore, Chennai and Kochi offices. Prior to that, he was the senior vice president and senior creative director of JWT Chennai. He has also worked at agencies like Contract, RK Swamy BBDO, SSC&B Lintas and MAA Bozell.

Speaking to Campaign India, Prateek Srivastava, president, Ogilvy South, said, "There is a tremendous amount of creative energy and good work at Ogilvy Bangalore, like the latest Titan campaign. We needed someone who could harness this energy and take the agency to new creative heights. Joono is the right person for this because he has the energy and maturity for it."

On the reason for his return to Bangalore, Simon said, "Colombo was a great place to live and work in, and it's a beautiful city. I had to come back for personal reasons, and hence cut short my stint."

Commenting on how Ogilvy came about, he said, "The conversation with Ogilvy has been on for a long time, so it wasn't very sudden. Obviously, they are one of the most creative agencies around, have done phenomenal work and have huge legacy and leadership."

On his immediate agenda, Simon said, "There is a great bunch of talented and passionate people here and I will be looking to strengthen that team further with some new hires. We also look forward to doing some compelling 360-degree work, because we have some great brands in the South. Consolidating these existing brands is important, as well as adding new businesses."