Aaron Wild resigns from OMD China

Aaron Wild has resigned as CEO of OMD China, Campaign has learned. An internal memo sent to staff in Shanghai provided to Campaign by OMD confirmed Wild has stepped down from his position to return to his homeland in Australia. It gave no further explanation for the move.

Staff had noticed Wild was absent from the Shanghai office earlier this week. One well-placed source told Campaign he had been placed on gardening leave, effective immediately.

In the internal memo, OMD's APAC CEO Stephen Li noted Wild "helped ensure one of our region’s largest markets played its part in executing our network’s turnaround strategy in 2018. We thank him for his contributions over the years and wish him all the best for his return to Australia.” 

Li will now be working with the leadership team in China to ensure continued seamless operations, the memo noted, adding the network will be working to identify the right candidate for the now vacant position.

Wild took on the OMD China CEO role in Shanghai in March 2017, shifting over from Omnicom Media Group’s sister agency PHD. He led PHD China for six years, initially as Shanghai general manager before being promoted to managing director and later CEO.

During Wild's tenure, OMD China, successfully defended its McDonald's account and picked up other key clients like Papadai, TouTiao and Amway. Yet the the media agency in China also had to deal with some notable client departures due to global realignment, such as Intel and Carlsberg.

Campaign approached Aaron Wild for comment, but he declined.