Dentsu International CEO Wendy Clark, who left DDB almost two years ago, is advanced in her plans to simplify the global agency business.
“We are very close to our clients,” she says. “That's one of our strengths. And so, having those constant conversations and check-ins really, deeply understanding their business, and understanding their categories, and their consumers, and how they will win is part of our recipe for success.”
Dentsu’s full year guidance is 5% to 6% revenue growth. “We’re saying we're going to be at the upper end of that,” Clark told analysts at a briefing on June quarter results.
Australia performed better for Dentsu than many markets in APAC in the June quarter.
The Japan-based global advertising group reported Australia’s first half organic growth at 8%, ahead of the region’s 4.8% (excluding Japan).
This compared to the 8.2% organic growth reported for the group globally and strong growth forecast for the full year.
Clark says Dentsu International had about USD1 billion in media wins so far this year.
“We have a very strong local conversion rate, and we've seen that now convert to regional and super regional wins by the likes of Ferrero, ING, and UniCredit," she says.
“And of course, what's never reported in those numbers would be expansions with existing clients, where, again, back to our closeness with clients, is a real strength for us.”
Dentsu International’s top 20 clients grew 12% in the June quarter.
“That's not going to show up necessarily in any public statements of wins and losses because they're already clients for us, but the likes of Heineken and P&G among them,” she says.
“Media represents 50% of our business, but of course, the other 50% is in CXM and creative.
“CXM is now 36% of our revenue, so over one-third in that important structural growth area, less cyclical, and more resilient during any potential challenging times.
“They are in their fifth quarter of double digit growth, and they're up now 18% over pre-pandemic performance. So exactly in line with what we would like to see specifically within CXM, the growth areas. Commerce and experience are up 20%. B2B is up 30%, and our analytics business is up over 20%.”
In September of 2020, Clark announced that agency brands at dentsu international would go from 160 brands to six over two or more years.
Part of that was Dentsu Creative, announced in June this year, with creative assets in one global agency.
“We really have repositioned our creative proposition and its horizontal creativity. That means that we deliver creative, not only through our creative agencies but also through our media agencies and our CXM agencies," says Clark.
“We saw a five-time increase in new business opportunities and engagement following that announcement. We truly believe that we are in step with the market trend.”
The brands are Carat, iProspect, Dentsu X, Merkel and Dentsu Creative plus a single entity, Dentsu.
“In many cases, we integrate the capabilities of those five brands. So, it actually works out to still be six," she says.
“As we sit here right now, we are sub-100 brands. So, we are on the path to continuing to execute that accelerated transformation plan … and we will continue to simplify our business and keep in step with the marketplace that demands speed, efficiency, and integration.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.