Ogilvy’s Guy Lambert moves to Jones Knowles Ritchie

Ogilvy Advertising managing director Guy Lambert is to take the helm at Jones Knowles Ritchie, replacing Mark Gandy, who has left after around 18 months in the role.

Lambert leaves Ogilvy at the end of April, and in May will head up the JKR management team that includes Emily Kousah, Hannah Saunders, Chris Holton, John Ewles, Glenn Kiernan and Silas Amos, as well as taking responsibility for the day-to-day commercial running of the 82-strong business.

Founders Andy Knowles and Ian Ritchie will share the responsibility of overseeing the business in the interim period, says Ritchie.

Gandy, who is currently on gardening leave, is ‘exploring his options’, says Ritchie.

He adds, ‘In the end, his style and ambitions were very different to mine and Andy’s. We came together and asked him to explore new opportunities outside of JKR, but it was a perfectly amicable parting. It was a question of style, really. Mark helped us enormously in getting the management team sorted out. It’s just that he wanted to do other things.’

Ritchie says Lambert’s advertising background will be useful in getting design on the agenda higher up the client hierachy, and will take forward JKR’s strategic direction.

Ritchie says, ‘We’re trying to make ourselves more effective to clients in a business sense, and this is where Guy’s advertising experience will help. There are a lot of moves from advertising to packaging of late; consultancies are looking for the expertise of a more mature and sophisticated business. Since the fragmentation of media, advertising agencies have had to be on the ball about touchpoints, and I guess that we’re looking to do the same with the brands we’re working on.’

JKR’s major clients include Unilever, Diageo, United Biscuits, Birds Eye and Mars.

Gandy replaced former managing director Nir Wegrzyn – who left to form his own consultancy, Brandopus – in 2007.