Ogilvy & Mather UK has appointed Leo Ryan as Group Head of Social. Leo brings with him a wealth of experience having spent 16 years working in digital both client and agency side. In this newly created role, Leo will lead the new Social@Ogilvy practice in London, working closely with the Social@Ogilvy UK Working Council to accelerate the adoption of social media solutions across all of the agency’s disciplines. Leo will report to Paul O’Donnell, Chairman at O&M UK and the board.

Prior to this appointment, Leo was the social lead on the Ford WPP team at Ogilvy PR, responsible for overseeing Ford’s social media programme across Europe, and spent the previous year (2010) at DraftFCB developing the agency’s social media insights programme. In 2006, Leo was one of the founding partners of RMMLondon, one of the UK’s first specialist digital and social media planning agencies, with clients including Sony Consumer Electronics, the Discovery Channel and Diageo.

Leo’s experience in social began in 2005 when he worked at Tonic, an independent boutique agency as the digital planner on the award winning Sony Bravia Balls campaign, one of the first marketing activities that was picked up and amplified through public sharing.

Paul O’Donnell, Chairman at Ogilvy & Mather UK commented: “Leo has an innate understanding of social and digital marketing and how companies need to execute at the next level, and will play a key role as we look to bring the benefit of Social@Ogilvy to our clients. Leo’s background in digital planning means he understands the strategic importance of integrating the right digital elements and social technologies for clients’ businesses. I am confident that clients and colleagues will benefit enormously from Leo’s expertise.”

Leo Ryan commented: “My years in specialist digital agencies and client side have shown that digital and now social is integral across clients’ businesses. To be able to deliver against that requirement, social needs to sit within a network of cross -discipline professionals who can understand and impact on every aspect of a business. That’s the opportunity we have with social through the agencies that comprise the Ogilvy Group.”

Social@Ogilvy is a worldwide practice connecting all of the agency’s social media experts to deliver solutions across all areas of business.