Singaporean advertising veteran Tham Khai Meng was on Thursday terminated from his longtime position as worldwide chief creative officer of The Ogilvy Group.

[SINGAPORE] Singaporean advertising veteran Tham Khai Meng was on Thursday terminated from his longtime position as worldwide chief creative officer of The Ogilvy Group.

The global advertising agency's chief executive officer John Seifert told employees in a memo that this followed an internal investigation into complaints over Mr Tham's behaviour.

According to trade publication Adweek, the memo said that the complaints surfaced two weeks ago and were serious enough that an external legal counsel was appointed to investigate the matter.

"After carefully reviewing the investigation's findings with several of my partners, we concluded that Khai's behaviour was a clear breach of our company values and code of conduct," Mr Seifert wrote.

"I have decided to terminate Khai's employment with the company with immediate effect."

Mr Tham, who is in his 60s, joined the ad giant in 1999. He was also co-chairman of Ogilvy's board.

In 2009, he became the first Asian and Singaporean to take on the role of worldwide chief creative officer.

As the company's creative spokesman, he was a prominent player in the industry who spoke frequently at advertising conferences around the world.

At Ogilvy, he played a role in shaping the identities of brands, such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Unilever and Louis Vuitton.

He also led Ogilvy to win the prestigious Cannes Lions Network of the Year award five years in a row from 2012.

He was also one of four recipients of the Designer of the Year award at the 2009 President's Design Award in Singapore.

More at https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/consumer/tham-khai-meng-fired-from-chief-creative-officer-role-at-ad-giant-ogilvy-over-alleged