Omnicom has completed the first wave of redundancies and leadership reshuffles across its group corporate teams and agency brands.
Patterns have emerged in how Omnicom is consolidating the two groups in Australia and abroad.
The first point to note is that this is very much a takeover, rather than merger. One senior IPG Mediabrands executive described it as an “aggressive takeover” with “little to no consultation” with the acquired party until decisions had been made.
B&T understands that in this round of redundancies, just north of a dozen roles have been axed in this market, largely those where duplication exists.
The highest profile departures are IPG Mediabrands CEO Mark Coad, APAC boss Leigh Terry, chief investment officer Lucy Formosa Morgan and CFO John Clements. Harry Preston, the MD of Mediabrands Content Studio, has also left.
It’s important to note that Omnicom Media Group’s Australian business (now known as Omnicom Media) is substantially larger than IPG Mediabrands and it was always likely that Omnicom executives would survive, particularly the leadership of Kristiaan Kroon (CEO) and Mark Jarrett (COO), who B&T reported were being given these titles a month ago.
Across Australia, agency leadership remains unchanged, with Sian Whitnall (OMD), Laura Nice (PHD), Anathea Ruys (UM), Jo McAlister (Initiative) and Sue Squillace (Mediahub) continuing in their roles. Hearts & Science has not had a CEO since Jane Stanley’s move to Air New Zealand, and it has been speculated that EssenceMediacom’s Stephanie Douglas-Neal could take up the mantle when she moves to Omnicom next year.
Omnicom leaders dominate Asia-Pacific
Across the Asia-Pacific region, most leadership appointments have come from Omnicom, which is the larger partner in most markets.
Ninety per cent of Omnicom Media’s APAC leadership team are from Omnicom with only IPG’s Naomi Michael (head of brand marketing) remaining. All APAC presidents of agency networks are from Omnicom. This includes UM, where former Hearts & Science CEO Rochelle Chhaya has moved to fill a leadership vacancy.
A new APAC president is also being sought to lead Initiative.
In terms of APAC country leadership, 85 per cent are from the Omnicom tent with only Japan being led by former IPG Mediabrands leaders in CEO Matt Ware and CFO Takahiro Oe.
India is the other market that is interesting as it is one of the few where IPG Medibrands had a substantial size advantage over Omnicom.
Kartik Sharma, who served as CEO of Omnicom Media Group India, will continue in that role alongside Omnicom’s CFO Rishit Mehta.
Interpublic CEO Amardeep Singh has been appointed COO of Omnicom Media India, while IPG chair Shashi Sinha, a highly-respected media leader, has been given a board position as strategic advisor.
A comms conundrum
B&T has spoken to more than a dozen senior IPG Mediabrands executives throughout the takeover process and what has caused most concern is the lack of communication about their futures prior to this week, and a lack of consultation during the decision-making process.
There may be legal reasons why Omnicom could not speak to IPG staff ahead of the acquisition concluding, but this has caused uncertainty and anxiety with one executive saying: “We get that it’s business, but we have been completely sidelined”.
Squad M&A chief executive Virginia Hyland, who has been through M&As at group level when she was the leader of Havas Media, told B&T Omnicom’s leaders will need to carefully communicate a new vision and the inevitable staff redundancies.
“It demands cultural clarity, a shared purpose and an operating model that marries global consistency with local autonomy,” she said.
“If the newly formed group can articulate a simple, inspiring narrative and back it with transparent communication, integrated capabilities and undeniable client outcomes, it has the potential to become one of the most influential forces our industry has seen. But without intentional leadership and a client-first integration strategy, size alone won’t guarantee success — connection will.”
Creative agency shakeup
On the creative side, three creative agency networks that will now wave the Omnicom flag: BBDO Worldwide, TBWA\Worldwide and Interpublic’s McCann Worldgroup.
As B&T first reported in October, Omnicom has retired the iconic DDB brand. FCB and MullenLowe have also been “sunsetted” in corporate comms parlance.
In Australia, DDB will merge with Clemenger BBDO, creating a single national agency under the Clemenger BBDO brand.
DDB’s Sheryl Marjoram (Sydney) and Mike Napolitano (Melbourne) have been appointed co-CEOs of Clemenger BBDO Australia, responsible for leading the national agency and shaping its creative, media, strategic and operational direction.
This move sees Lee Leggett, the current CEO of Clemenger BBDO, transition into a newly-created role, chief customer officer of Omnicom Oceania.
303 MullenLowe, which is owned by Kiwi holding company Attivo Group, has dropped the ‘MullenLowe’ name and will now trade as ‘303’—a move that is incredibly exciting for fans of crap noughties pop music.
McCann Australia, an independently-owned Australian affiliate of McCann Worldwide, and its local independent partner agency HERO, will remain unaffected.
In New Zealand, DDB Group Aotearoa and FCB Group Aotearoa will merge to form McCann Group NZ, a new unified creative and media agency network. Priya Patel (CEO, DDB Group Aotearoa) and Paul Wilson (CEO, FCB Group Aotearoa) have been appointed Co-CEOs of McCann Group NZ.
In Wellington, Clemenger Wellington and FCB Wellington will rebrand as McCann Wellington, operating as part of McCann Group NZ. Omnicom said the local leadership for McCann Wellington will be announced shortly.
Media consolidation questions
Omnicom Media’s global CEO Florian Adamski provided insights into the final shape of Omnicom Media and all client facing media agency brands have been retained.
There has been industry gossip that Hearts & Science will fold into UM, which undoubtedly gained traction due to Chhaya’s move from Hearts to UM president, but B&T understands that such gossip is wide of the mark.
One Omnicom insider told B&T that although it had been considered, any combination would prove to be a conflict nightmare, particularly in the US, and there are no plans to change media agency brands.
Another theory that has circulated is that reducing the number of media agency brands could fall foul of competition watchdogs in certain markets, and that the current structure needs to operate for at least 12 months before combinations are possible.
Either way, don’t expect radical changes to the number of media agency brands at Omnicom Media.
“Omnicom Media is where more than 40,000 media professionals across 70+ markets oversee $73.5 billion in media investment for the world’s leading brands,” Adamski recently posted.
“It’s where two formidable competitors have become fierce collaborators. And in this case, 1+1 > 2, with Omnicom Media being home to Acxiom and its Real ID data and identity solution which gives brands the most connected view of consumers, recognising up to 5x more people across the marketing ecosystem.”
The agency brands and centralised services that will make up Omnicom Media are:
Client Delivery: OMD, Initiative, UM, PHD, Hearts & Science, Mediahub.
Commercial & Central Delivery: Omnicom Media Investment, Kinesso, Outdoor Media Group.
Data, Identity & Analytics: Acxiom, Annalect.
Specialized Services: TRKKN (Cloud Consulting), Optimum Sports (US Only), Fuse (Sports & Entertainment), Creo (Influencer Marketing), Omnicom Media Health, Ptarmigan (Financial Services Specialists).
There are other brands, such as IPG’s sports agency Octagon, that will continue to operate and trade under its current brand for now.
The next wave
In the first week, Omnicom wanted to lay out its stall on the new look leadership teams by region and agency brand. This has led to high profile casualties (read above), albeit a relatively small number.
The headline figure of a further 4,000 redundancies represents less than 4 per cent of Omnicom’s global workforce.
B&T understands that the next round of redundancies in 2026 will target a duplication of roles in its centralised middle office services, such as its data, tech and performance businesses; businesses like Acxiom, Omni and Kinesso.
Many of these changes will impact the US market, where a large chunk of centralised services are headquartered.
The message for Australia is that more roles will be made redundant, but don’t expect sweeping cuts.
