Today OMD UK announces key changes to its investment leadership with the internal promotion of Christian Byron to Head of Investment and the appointment of Vicky Fox to the new role of Head of Implementation Planning in OMD’s newly formed Activation team.
Byron, who has been with OMD UK for 13 years and has played an instrumental role with clients such as Citroën, Camelot and McDonald’s, was previously Group Investment Director for OMD UK Group. He adopts his new role with immediate effect and will report into Matthew Wigham, Head of Investment for OMD UK Group. Byron will continue a focus on best-in-class efficiency and campaign execution, whilst ensuring seamless integration with strategy, activation and planning teams across the agency.
Byron takes over the position from predecessor, Chris Amor, who became Head of Investment at OMD UK in 2009. After 18 years at the company developing the print and buying teams and negotiating print and radio deals for OPera, Omnicom Media Group’s (OMG) buying powerhouse, Amor has moved into an Investment Director position at Omnicom Media Group’s buying powerhouse OPera, where he will now add the co-ordination of OMG’s Outdoor trading and delivery to his duties.
Fox joins OMD UK from ThinkBox, the UK’s commercial TV marketing body where she was Head of Planning. Previously she was at Manning Gottlieb OMD for 12 years, fulfilling roles such as Group Media Director and Head of TV Planning whilst working with clients such as John Lewis and Virgin Media during her tenure.
In her new role as Head of Implementation Planning at OMD UK, Fox will also report to Wigham. Her remit is to strengthen the agency’s cross-media solutions, bringing new-to-market opportunities and media firsts to clients, whilst working with Byron to ensure that all executions deliver on strategic intent. Fox will work closely with the agency’s strategy, planning and creative teams as well as OMD UK’s new Director of Culture, Gareth Orr, to ensure that creativity and innovation are driven through all media owner partner solutions.
Of the recent appointments, Dan Clays, Managing Director OMD UK, says: “Christian has the sharp intellect, leadership and collaborative approach that will ensure our clients fully capitalise on the rapid pace of change in today’s market. He is also a real gentleman who I know the media owner community hugely respect – as well as everyone at OMD. We are delighted Vicky chose to join OMD UK. Her experience at Thinkbox will give a new dimension as we strive to lead the market for our clients in media innovation.”
Of his new position Byron says: “I am hugely excited about this new challenge in my OMD career, not least because of the abundance of talent, capability and enthusiasm we have within the OMD UK investment team. It’s an exciting time for OMD UK and I want to ensure that the investment team plays a full part in the growth and development of the agency. As a team, our aim remains unchanged, to deliver smart investment solutions which deliver tangible results against our customer’s business objectives.”
Of her appointment Fox says: “I can’t wait to get started on some of the biggest and most important brands in the advertising marketplace. OMD UK seems to be a really exciting place to work right now, you can see the changes that Dan has started to make have real impact. I’m looking forward to bringing my passion for craft of media planning into the agency”.
