Founder Ajaz Ahmed steps down at WPP’s AKQA
Ajaz Ahmed (below) is stepping down as CEO of WPP’s AKQA Group, which now includes Grey. Ahmed founded AKQA, arguably the world’s best and most creative big digital agency, 30 years ago.
WPP bought AKQA, then an international network, for a reported £300m in 2012. WPP chief technology officer Stephen Pretorious takes over in the meantime.
Ahmed says: “Serving AKQA’s team, clients and values over the past 30 years has been the greatest honour of my life. Founding AKQA at a young age was the start of an incredible journey, and if destiny allows, I look forward to another 30 years of meaningful work and making a difference. I’m tremendously energised about the adventures ahead and the opportunity to do something new.”
WPP CEO Mark Read says: “Under Ajaz’s leadership AKQA has become one of the world’s most recognised and highly regarded agencies. It’s a brilliant business with many extremely talented people around the world. With its exceptional global team, capabilities and expertise, AKQA is well-positioned for continued success and we thank Ajaz for his vision and contribution to the business.”
AKQA was rolled in with Grey a couple of years ago in the part of the reorganisation of WPP creative agencies that led to JWT, Y&R and Wunderman, three storied agency brands, becoming part of VML. AKQA and Grey always looked something of an afterthought; essentially the two had nothing in common apart from ownership.
A decade ago Grey was the shining light in WPP’s creative line-up under CEO Jim Heekin and CCO Tor Myhren, who quit for Apple in 2015. In the UK it had escaped its once-dowdy reputation to thrive under EMEA boss David Patton, CCO Nils Leonard and his colleagues Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson. Leonard, Graeme and Jameson quit to form Uncommon Creative Studio in 2017 while Patton was briefly global CEO of Y&R before, to his surprise, it was rolled into VML.
As an exercise in value destruction it was spectacular and it’s no surprise that Ahmed, after 30 years before the mast admittedly, has given up on the unlikely task of welding Grey into AKQA.
Ahmed remains an influential and charismatic presence in the upper echelons of business and will doubtless resurface elsewhere. Advertising can little afford to lose such people.
Ahmed Who?
30 years and no one’s ever heard of the guy. And, this from a 20 year WPP veteran.
Consequential, eh? We all knew who Jim Heekin was. Now, Jim fit right into the pirates from purgatory culture…and could land a punch.