Omnicom is putting its big brand creative agencies under one management.
Omnicom Advertising Group (OAG) brings together BBDO, DDB, TBWA, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, GSD&M, Merkley & Partners and Zimmerman.
OAG will be led by Troy Ruhanen as global CEO, Deepthi Prakash chief operating officer and Denis Streiff CFO.
“Clients want best-in-class talent, innovation and seamless delivery of creative services around the globe,” Omnicom CEO John Wren said.
“OAG will deliver on that promise while allowing our agency cultures to remain strong and evolve through shared investments and best practices.”
Creative agencies, as a part of Omnicom’s overall revenue, aren’t growing as fast as the group’s media side.
Omnicom’ recorded a 5.2% lift in organic growth in the three months to June but its media sector did better and represented a great share of its revenue.
The Advertising & Media business grew 7.8% to $US2.046 billion, representing more than half overall revenue at $US3.85 billion. The majority of that growth in the advertising media discipline came from the strong performance of the media business.
Ruhanen, the new global head who was CEO of TBWA\Worldwide, said OAG will make the best better.
“One of the most exciting parts of this new division is that we can collectively invest in innovative offerings – such as Omnicom’s recent first-mover partnerships in GenAI,” said Ruhanen.
“This will take our world-class creativity to the next level and keep our clients at the top of their industries. While we are excited to grow together, we will continue to celebrate and protect the uniqueness of each agency’s culture and entrepreneurship.”
Existing clients will continue to be serviced by the agency and teams they currently work with.
The changes will take effect January 1, 2025.
The agency networks within OAG will report to Ruhanen and will be led by:
- Nancy Reyes, who was recently promoted to global CEO of BBDO
- Alex Lubar, global CEO of DDB
- Erin Riley, who is being elevated to CEO of TBWA\Worldwide from her previous role as TBWA\Chiat\Day US CEO
- James Fenton, CEO of the Advertising Collective
The new group joins other practice areas including Media Group (OMG), Omnicom Health Group (OHG), Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG) and Omnicom Public Relations Group (OPRG).
Omnicom in June did the same with production, pulling together Omnicom Studios, eg+, Designory, Mother Tongue, Link9, and the production departments within creative networks and agencies to form a new practice area with a headcount of 3,000.
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