Les Timar will step down as CEO of Clemenger Group at the end of June, marking the end of a 27-year tenure just as parent company Omnicom moves to take full ownership of the storied Australian agency group and reshape its operations across the Oceania region.
Timar’s departure comes at a time of intense transformation for the business he helped steer for nearly three decades. Having joined Clemenger in 1998 when it acquired the strategic consultancy he co-founded, now GRACosway, Timar went on to lead that firm as CEO before becoming Group CEO in 2021. During that time, he championed cross-agency collaboration and capability growth, and navigated Clemenger through one of its most challenging periods, including the controversial merger of CHEP and Traffik into Clemenger BBDO.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my career to serve as the CEO of this truly extraordinary, storied and diverse company,” Timar said. “I have had the opportunity of working with so many talented people who have brought their innovative thinking and boundless energy to our clients’ most important business problems.”
His exit coincides with Omnicom’s push to acquire the remaining 13.16 per cent of employee-owned shares in Clemenger Group, a deal that will go to vote on 30 June, the same day long-serving chairman Robert Morgan steps down after 46 years.
The acquisition would mark the end of Clemenger’s hybrid ownership model and open the door to a major operational restructure in line with Omnicom’s global ambitions.
In the interim, Clemenger’s Chief Operating and Financial Officer, Adrian Ciabatti, will step into the leadership role. Further structural announcements are expected from BBDO Worldwide, but industry speculation suggests Omnicom is preparing to consolidate its creative and media agencies under a single regional leadership team, with former Clemenger BBDO CEO Nick Garrett tipped to head the new Oceania structure.
Garrett, who also previously led Colenso BBDO and left his global CMO role at Deloitte Digital earlier this year, is widely expected to return to Omnicom next month. Sources close to the matter suggest his appointment could position Australia and New Zealand as a testbed for a globally scalable creative-media integration model.
The news of Timar’s departure and Garrett’s likely return follows another key appointment at Clemenger BBDO: the return of Stephen de Wolf as National Chief Creative Officer. “Wolfie,” as he is known in the industry, rejoins the agency after a stint at BMF and brings with him a legacy of award-winning work, including the landmark ‘Meet Graham’ campaign.
The shake-up at Clemenger is set against a much broader backdrop: Omnicom’s proposed global merger with Interpublic Group, which would create the largest advertising holding company in the world by revenue. Regulatory reviews are underway, including by Australia’s ACCC and New Zealand’s Commerce Commission, though early signs suggest minimal local resistance.
The consolidation of leadership, creative, and media capabilities in Oceania is likely to align Omnicom with competitors like WPP, Publicis, and Dentsu, which already operate under centralised local management models. The integration is also expected to unlock efficiencies, with the global IPG deal projected to generate over $1.1 billion AUD in annual cost synergies.
As Omnicom moves closer to full ownership and potentially overhauls the way its agencies operate across Australia and New Zealand, Timar’s departure signals both the end of an era, and the beginning of a new chapter for Clemenger Group.
