Ogilvy Thailand has appointed Mettipapan Tongton as its new market lead, succeeding retiring CEO Jiravara Virayavardhana following a tenure of more than 31 years.
Taking up the role this month, Tongton steps in as WPP advances efforts to streamline and integrate operations across its agency network. With over 18 years of experience in marketing communications, Tongton has ascended through the ranks to serve on Ogilvy's executive board, most recently managing T&PM—a WPP agency collaborating with Ogilvy across APAC—and serving as managing director of Ogilvy One. Her expertise encompasses brand management, O2O communications strategy, customer experience, and martech-enabled CRM.
In her new capacity, Tongton will partner with Ogilvy Thailand Chief Creative Officer Pete Thasorn Boonyanate and network leadership to drive creative growth and innovation via WPP Open, scaling integrated capabilities across brand strategy, communications, experience design, and public relations.
"I am deeply honoured to step into this leadership role," Tongton said. "While the agency landscape is changing faster than ever, Ogilvy Thailand's mission remains constant: to deliver creative excellence and drive growth for our clients."
The transition marks the conclusion of a three-decade career for Virayavardhana, who reflected on her time with the agency as a privilege. Ogilvy Global CEO Laurent Ezekiel lauded Virayavardhana’s extraordinary tenure while praising Tongton as the ideal leader to guide the agency into its next chapter under WPP's borderless creativity framework.
The leadership change coincides with broader integration efforts across Ogilvy’s advertising, PR, experience, consulting, and health divisions. Within Asia-Pacific, the network has expanded its earned media, social, and creator offerings under its Connected Impact strategy, deploying tools like Generative Impact, CompassAI, CultureBot, and its Believability Diagnostic Tool. Ogilvy Thailand continues to serve as a creative anchor in Southeast Asia, recognized for notable campaigns such as the Thailand Capital Market Development Fund's “Check, Check and then Check Before Investing” and Burger King's “The Real Burger”.
