Omnicom Group was upset when the head of DDB, Wendy Clark, left to become global CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network.
DDB had entered 2020 in a difficult situation after losing several large clients, mostly to other parts of Omnicom, says Omnicom CEO John Wren.
"We were a bit shocked and put off when Wendy Clark decided that she was going to move on in the middle of a crisis," Wren told analysts after releasing first quarter results.
"But we were able to recover with no interruption at all because Chuck Brymer, who had previously been the CEO and the chairman of the company, was with us and ready to step back in and has done a magnificent job irrespective of the behaviour of his predecessor."
Wren was responding to questions about the retention of talent during the downturn caused by the coronavirus crisis.
"People are free to do as they want to, and they’ve always been that way," Wren says.
"I’m not any more concerned than I would be prior to the crisis about our staff choosing to work for Omnicom as opposed to one of our competitors."
He says the company has been careful communicating with employees on priorities and concerns.
"I find that when you do communicate with your employees that way, it creates a dialogue, a trust level that is terribly important to get us through this crisis," says Wren.
"I will be shocked if there’s depletion in the talent at Omnicom.
"I quite expect to be able to do just the opposite ... and probably hire people that we think are terribly talented in some of our competitors as this settles down."
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