Agency

Ogilvy Group UK Names Grey CEO Jai Kotecha as New President of Social

Published on September 16, 2026

The Ogilvy Group UK has created a new group-wide social leadership position and given it to Jai Kotecha, who will hold the post alongside his existing role as CEO of Grey London.

Effective immediately, Kotecha becomes President of Ogilvy Group UK, Social, reporting directly to Ogilvy Group UK CEO James Murphy. The role spans Ogilvy, Grey and New Commercial Arts, the three agencies that make up the group, and tasks Kotecha with consolidating and building out social capabilities across all three. The group said Kotecha will make a number of senior-level hires to the social team in the coming months.

Kotecha has more than 20 years in the industry. He previously led social, digital, content and influence for Ogilvy UK before serving as CEO of Ogilvy Netherlands and EMEA Managing Director at Ogilvy. He joined Grey London as CEO in January, a tenure that has already included agency wins with Synechron and Henkel. In the new role, he will work closely with Nicola Dodd, Ogilvy’s EMEA president of PR and UK managing director of PR, Social & Influence.

“Jai is a truly modern agency leader with extensive social expertise and a proven track record of highly successful agency leadership,” Murphy said. “All this makes him the perfect choice for this new role. I look forward to working with him to take Ogilvy Group UK’s social offering to the next level.”

Kotecha called the dual mandate “a dream scenario,” saying he intends to build on Ogilvy Group UK’s existing foundations while adding senior talent, all while continuing to lead Grey London.

In July, WPP named Imogen Coles, who had led Influencer Marketing for Ogilvy across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to a new network-wide position as Head of Influence, EMEA, while she retained her existing title as Ogilvy’s EMEA managing partner for influence. Both moves point to WPP treating social and influence strategy as functions that need to operate above the level of any single agency within its holding structure, rather than staying siloed inside Ogilvy, Grey or the other networks it owns.