Publicis Groupe's Le Truc hires Ogilvy's Marcos Kotlhar as its new creative chief

Publicis Groupe’s Le Truc has a new creative chief, as Ogilvy New York Chief Creative Officer Marcos Kotlhar has stepped into the role. Kotlhar fills the gap left by founding member and former chief creative officer Neil Heymann, who last December announced he was departing to become the first global chief creative officer at Accenture Interactive.

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Kotlhar is a 20-year industry vet who took the creative helm of WPP's Ogilvy New York in September 2020 alongside then Co-Chief Creative Officer Danilo Boer. Prior to that, Kotlhar served as an executive creative director at Omnicom Group's BBDO New York and creative and head of design at Publicis Groupe's BBH New York. His body of work spans major brands such as IBM, Instagram, Samsung, Ikea, Nationwide, Absolut Vodka, Zippo and Pernod Ricard, among others. 

Kotlhar is the latest addition to the leadership of Le Truc, Publicis Groupe’s New York-based center of creativity. Earlier this month, Megan Bundy stepped into the post of exec VP and managing director. The 20-year-industry vet last served as senior VP and group account director at FCB New York, where she led the AB InBev business. In January, Ryan Chong, an agency production exec of nearly two decades, joined as exec VP, head of production after serving at agencies including 72andSunny, Droga5, BBH and Wieden+Kennedy.

Kotlhar “is a natural partner, with his passion for fresh cultural ideas, collaborative process and obsession with craft,” Publicis Groupe Chief Strategy Officer Carla Serrano said in a statement. “Together with Megan and Ryan, we approach our first year anniversary of Le Truc with expanded expertise and even greater ambition for the year to come.”

Kotlhar’s departure from Ogilvy leaves the agency without a formal creative chief. His former partner Boer left the agency last December to become global creative partner at Interpublic Group of Cos.' FCB. For the time being, Chris Beresford-Hill—the former TBWA\Chiat\Day New York chief creative officer who became the agency’s president of North America advertising last October—will oversee creative in New York.

Kotlhar "is a great person and talent, we thank him for all his contributions here and wish him the very best,” Beresford-Hill said.  As for Kotlhar’s permanent replacement, “we are excited to share the bigger plans as soon as we can,” Beresford-Hill said.

Opened in February 2021, Le Truc is a manifestation of Publicis Groupe's “Power of One” philosophy, uniting under one roof the more than 600 creatives, strategists and production execs of the company's New York agencies. It has since created work for TikTok, Samsung and Planet Fitness, which named Publicis Groupe its agency of record last September.

Watch Planet Fitness' first campaign from Publicis Groupe

Heymann founded Le Truc alongside Chief Design Officer Bastien Baumann, former Ogilvy executive creative director and head of design, and Publicis New York Chief Creative Officer Andy Bird. Serrano added president of Le Truc to her duties, and former Saatchi exec Elaine Barker stepped in to lead resource management and operations. Liz Taylor, then-Leo Burnett global chief creative officer and Publicis Communications NA chief operating officer, was another founding member, but she departed the company last May to become global chief creative officer of Ogilvy.