Shaw will report to chairman and chief executive Gary Leih and will take a seat on the UK group board. He will also jointly chair the Ogilvy global planning council.
In addition to his UK group role, in which he will oversee the group's 50-strong planning department, Shaw will devote a proportion of his time to planning issues for Ogilvy & Mather Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Leih said: "John has an accomplished track record working on significant brands and will be a tremendous asset to Ogilvy Group UK.
"Planning is a vital component in the pursuit of big ideas for our clients' businesses and the addition of John to our already strong planning line-up will help us to deliver bigger ideas more often."
Shaw began his career in the 1980s at AC Nielsen, before training as a planner at JWT. He then moved to Mars to manage research projects for its UK petcare operations. Following that, he went onto EHS, establishing the agency's planning function, before joining the Young & Rubicam Group.
Before moving to Ogilvy in January 2003, he worked at Wieden & Kennedy in the London and in the US, where he was global planning director for Microsoft, as well as working on the agency's Nike and Coca-Cola accounts.
Shaw said: "It's an exciting time for me to come to Ogilvy in London, not just because it completes my world tour, but because it's a great brand that's undergoing a vigorous revival. I'm looking forward to the ride."
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