Interview: Ogilvy SG and MY group chairman Chris Riley on exiting after 26 years and joining mobility industry

Chris Riley, group chairman of Ogilvy Singapore and Malaysia, is leaving to join transport and tech company Glydways as chief commercial officer based in the US. Riley (pictured), who has been with Ogilvy in Asia for more than 25 years, originally joined Ogilvy Hong Kong in 1995. Since then, he has held several key roles across the agency group, including managing the experience business in Hong Kong, leading the growth of IBM across 147 growth markets, and for the last six years as Ogilvy Singapore CEO and group chairman for Singapore and Malaysia.

Kent Wertime, who is the co-CEO for Ogilvy Asia, will take on the additional role of group chairman for Ogilvy Singapore and Malaysia, and a new Singapore CEO will be named shortly. Wertime is already very familiar with the office and clients, having worked closely with the Singapore Group over the past two decades. Wertime and Riley will be working closely to manage the transition smoothly. Announcements on further senior appointments in Singapore will be made in due course.  Wertime said he has worked closely with Riley for over two decades and would like to thank him for his many contributions to Ogilvy. "He has been a true example of Ogilvy at its best. We will miss him but wish him all the best in his future endeavours," he added.

Last year, Ogilvy globally moved to a new structure with five businesses, with regional and local leadership of each business. This structure is fully in place in Singapore and has seen the business clinch over 25 new accounts during the past year, with brands across categories such as technology, retail, financial services and healthcare, and an additional 21 new creative hires. The agency will continue to develop the agency and leadership roles whilst providing full continuity for clients.

Meanwhile, Riley said he is eternally grateful to Ogilvy for providing such stimulating career opportunities which he has thoroughly embraced. "I’ve worked with fantastic clients, colleagues and friends, and now have an opportunity to apply my skills and experience to something completely new and different," he added. In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Riley shared that in his new role he will be involved in aspects such as sales, government and investor relationships, go to market strategies, international expansion and of course marketing. 

Glydways is a company focused on creating solutions for the best passenger experience at a lower cost and carbon footprint to push society and planets forward. It is founded by Mark Seegar who previously also served as global director and founder of Ogilvy & Mather's Ogilvy Innovations, and designed a variety of products in the hardware and software consumer electronics sphere.

In the interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Riley added that after 26 years at Ogilvy, he often thinks about this time in "chapters". "Each of these chapters have bought something different and unique. From a challenger spirit of a smaller Ogilvy Hong Kong, driving new levels of digital capabilities and performance in Ogilvy Singapore, establishing new service models and brand eminence for IBM across 147 countries, to managing Singapore and Malaysia integration under one agency, two locations. They've all been challenging and exciting in equal measure," said Riley, adding:

My decision to leave Ogilvy after more than 26 years was not an easy one or taken lightly, as you may imagine!

"I have had a brilliant career with many exciting chapters, with great personal and professional growth. One lesson Ogilvy has taught me is always to innovate and that is why my curiosity led me to Glydways. This start up has a strong purpose to democratise mobility by re-inventing public transit using new technologies. With autonomous electric pods, Glydways provide a great public transit experience at a fraction of the current development costs, with a great carbon footprint. It is at prototype stage now with great momentum and a bright future," shared Riley.

Nonetheless, he was quick to add that his highlights at Ogilvy have been plenty, but colleagues and clients have taken the icing on the cake. He said:

In a note to staff recently, I highlighted the importance of partnership and collaboration. In my view you do not really build much value acting alone in isolation.

When asked about the talent crunch facing many agencies in Singapore, Riley said he has had his own challenges in this arena and also conversations with government agencies where he candidly expressed some concerns over the issues of scarcity and relative cost of creative talent in Singapore. Calling Singapore a vibrant global hub, he added that Singapore is "at full employment but with an increasingly restrictive labour regulation that combines to potentially starve enterprises of creative talent that is their essential oxygen". 

“I believe and hope there will be some near future corrections to this that will help to increase the pool of talent for our industry in Singapore - inevitably a combination of both investing in homegrown stars and some mixology with international talent.”

However, Riley is a strong believer that advertising has an incredibly bright future. Now more than ever, creativity is needed to solve some of the planet's largest challenges and as such it will need to continue to evolve at pace. "Do not mistake narrow views, and passing fads as yet another headline proclaiming the demise of advertising. The opposite is true, the growth in advisory services, use of technology, increasing channels, partnerships and use of data, all drive a healthy evolution of advertising," Riley said, adding:

Adland needs to ensure it does not get left behind.

Related articles:
IWD special: Ogilvy PR & Influence APAC president Emily Poon
Ogilvy Malaysia appoints Eddy Nazarullah as creative director
Burger King Indonesia fires up brand strategy with Ogilvy's Neha Bansal
Chris Riley and Nizwani Shahar expand remit as Ogilvy shuffles Asia leadership