Lauren Ogúndèkó has been officially welcomed as Co-founder and Chief Digital Officer at recently-launched ‘media experience’ (MX) design agency Bicycle London. Her role covers digital, performance, ad tech, martech, and emerging platforms, as she looks to embed digital and data thinking within the agency. Ogúndèkó will also work with Chief Strategy Officer Graeme Douglas to lead the agency’s strategic output using data science techniques that are being developed in-house.
Ogúndèkó brings almost two decades’ worth of agency and startup experience into the role and most recently served as Head of Response and Board Director at PHD, where she worked across clients including VW, HSBC, Virgin, Diageo, The Guardian, and Sainsbury’s. She was also a Digital Board Member and Co-chair of the UK Multicultural Advisory Board at PHD’s parent Omnicom Media Group.
“Being part of the founding team of Bicycle is an absolute dream for me. I’m fired up about changing our industry. We have a real opportunity to re-imagine what media means for businesses and how we fully integrate audiences across platforms without silos or fragmentation,” said Ogúndèkó. “I’m pumped at leading by example and bringing more diversity of culture and thought to create new ways of imagining how we do things. Marrying data with creative insight to underpin media experience alongside CX and UX is going to completely change the game”
Bicycle debuted on 1 June 2021 with a launch team of Chief Executive Officer Harry Daglish, former CEO and Founder of Bountiful Cow; Executive Chair Pedro Avery, former CEO of Havas Media Group; Chief Client Officer Erika Mari, Bountiful Cow Co-founder; Executive Advisor Mark Jarvis, the7stars Co-founder; and Finance Director Reema Patel, former Wieden+Kennedy and Kite Factory accountant; as well as Ogúndèkó and Douglas themselves.
The self-funded agency launched with the new concept of MX, which is designed to work alongside CX and UX by combining data science and creative strategy. MX takes the focus away from the channel where experiences are delivered and instead gives its attention to context and the experience itself.
Initial clients include LiveScore Group, Virgin Bet, Swyft Sofas, and Moju Drinks.
“Media is culture and everything is media, yet it’s still so routinely undervalued and commoditised by our industry. The world has changed: it’s no longer about brand or performance, on or offline, art or science, so Bicycle London – the MX design agency – brings together a depth and breadth of talent that will not only change the way people think about media agencies, but the type of work we are able do,” said Daglish, ahead of the launch.
“By building our offering around MX, we’re able to be a way more fluid, modern and ultimately effective marketing partner to our clients – filling a gap that’s been left gaping open by many ‘traditional’ media agencies, both network and independent and our already burgeoning client list shows we are absolutely on the right track.”
