LONDON--Michael Frohlich has added management oversight of Ogilvy PR’s UK office to his existing remit as MD of the firm’s EMEA consumer marketing practice.

The additional duties follow Frohlich’s arrival at the firm earlier this year, after heading Bell Pottinger brand Resonate.

Frohlich becomes the first permanent managing director of Ogilvy PR’s UK office since the departure of Ash Coleman-Smith in 2010. The role was then occupied on an interim basis by senior director Ross Cathcart, who left the agency last year.

More recently, EMEA CEO Stuart Smith has overseen the London office, which has exhibited strong growth over the past 12 months.

“We've added many new clients to our roster, made big strides in social media, internal communications and sustainability and brought in some great fresh talent at all levels,” said Smith. “Michael is highly creative, fun to work with and extremely well qualified to take the reins having held a number of P&L roles and run his own agency.”

Frohlich, who will also sit on the Ogilvy & Mather UK board, told the Holmes Report that he will focus on “building the Ogilvy PR brand in London and the UK”, where it has rarely been viewed as a powerhouse presence.

The challenge, according to Smith and Frohlich, is three-fold. First, said Smith, “the prejudice some people have is that Ogilvy is an ad agency trying to do PR.”.

Second, added Frohlich, Ogilvy PR needs to demonstrate its scale in the UK, where it currently has six practices: broadcast, digital, consumer, technology, corporate/public affairs and Ogilvy Earth.

Lastly, Frohlich said that the firm must do a better job of building awareness. “We’re starting to get out there,” he said. “People are starting to realise that Ogilvy PR is a business and brand in our own right.”