Ogilvy announces changes in key creative and strategy posts

Martin Halaxa leads the creative team at Ogilvy, which develops above-the-line communications, integrated campaigns and all in-store communications for the Tesco brand in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. He started in advertising as a copywriter and idea maker, later he was a creative director at Peppermint and Havas agencies. He has signed off on award-winning campaigns for Škoda Auto as part of the Czech Philharmonic sponsorship, or iconic Vodafone campaigns (e.g., Salmon on holiday) - not only for which he has won creative awards, such as the Nutcracker, Golden Peck and Golden Drum. He has also worked on TV spots for Tesco in the past.

"Meeting so many friends and ex-colleagues from the Prague advertising scene in one building on Bubenská Street is an interesting experience that I enjoy. I would like to build on my previous good relationship with my client Tesco at Ogilvy and at the same time continue my long-term mission - which is to show that even big retail players can communicate more creatively than is usual in Central Europe," says Martin Halaxa.

Jan Fryč also has a new responsibility within Ogilvy's creative department. Until now, he has been Head of Social Content & Strategy, but in his new role as Creative Lead, he will work with the creative heads of individual teams across the agency. His focus will be on campaigns and projects with potential for creative competitions.

Zuzana Kabelková joined Ogilvy in February and as Strategy Director she will work primarily on setting up brand communications and complex integrated campaigns for Tesco and Raiffeisenbank. She will also work with the consulting team, using her experience from Germany and Scandinavia to focus on identifying strategic opportunities for brands in sustainable development. Since January, Jiří Jón has been heading the Strategy department together with Ogilvy Consulting as Head of Strategy & Consulting.

"I'm returning to the Czech Republic after about five years, and compared to abroad, I perceive that working in advertising here has a largely negative connotation. Generally, people in agencies here tend to be overworked, in some cases close to burnout. This cannot be changed overnight, but I would like to pay more attention to leadership, process flow, balanced feedback between the client and the agency and within the agency and, finally, healthy professional self-development," says Zuzana Kabelková.

Zuzana has been working in strategy for twelve years and has experience mainly in retail, innovation, fintech, pharma, CSR, and sustainable development. She has worked for Ogilvy and Publicis Groupe, worked in public diplomacy as Director of the Czech Centre in Stockholm.