DDB Group APAC Chairman and CEO John Zeigler steps down

GLOBAL – After nearly three decades with DDB Group and 11 years at the helm of DDB Asia Pacific, John Zeigler has announced his retirement but will remain with the Network as Chairman Emeritus Asia Pacific.

DDB Group Australia & New Zealand Chairman, Marty O’Halloran, continues to lead the Pacific and focuses on further growth of the region, while President and CEO DDB Singapore, David Tang, steps into Asia’s top job–CEO DDB Asia.

As O’Halloran continues in his role as Chairman, Australia/ New Zealand, he will now report directly into DDB Worldwide Chief Executive Officer, Chuck Brymer, as further testament to the growth of ANZ over the past five years and the increasing role the region is playing globally.

O’Halloran comments, ”In his time as the head of the region, John has achieved outstanding financial growth and has championed our creative success. John has been a great mentor and supporter of my efforts to grow DDB Australia and New Zealand and I’m going to miss those crazy ideas!”

Zeigler has been with DDB since the network bought his agency, Kuscyinski and Zeigler in 1986. Under his tenure he has led and managed agencies in Melbourne, Dallas and Singapore before assuming his current role in 2004.

He has been credited with leading one of the most successful agency networks in Asia Pacific spanning 26 agencies in 14 countries with more than 3,200 employees. In 2010 and 2012, under his watch, DDB Group Asia Pacific was awarded Campaign’s Creative Network of the Year and he was named Campaign’s Agency Head of the Year in 2010. John was instrumental in leading the agency’s creative renaissance with DDB claiming Network of the Year at Spikes Asia and AdFest in 2010, 2011, 2012 — and has consistently remained in the top three ever since.

“This decision has not come easily. Mostly because of the people I have worked with and those who have done so much to make the region what it is today. I often tell my kids two things – change the world and then when you do, get out while it’s still good. And so I am heeding my own advice,” shared Zeigler.

In 2013, Zeigler was honored as Global Marketer of the Year by the Academy of Marketing Science along with the Brand Leadership Award at the CMO Asia Awards.

“I have worked with many talented people, and the time is right for these same people to continue to drive DDB Asia Pacific forward under Marty and David’s helm. DDB has been my extended family for so long, and I will always think of it with fondness, pride and admiration,” Zeigler concluded.

“John has been a terrific partner for both DDB and myself. He contributed an enormous amount to our agency’s growth in terms of our people, our work and our clients. We wish him well in his new endeavors,” said DDB Worldwide Chief Executive, Chuck Brymer.

Watch adobo magazine’s interview with John at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity: