Advertising Age reported on leadership musical chairs playing at Dentsu Creative, an enterprise whose name has always been an oxymoron.
The latest moves include the US CEO and Global Brand President bailing out for another opportunity, and she’ll be semi-replaced by a Dentsu executive assuming an alternative title—CEO of the Americas—with different responsibilities.
The scenario presents an example of restructuring via deconstructing, resigning, and regurgitating.
Another noteworthy point is both executives mentioned above are not original creatives. That is, they never held true creative director titles or duties.
When Dentsu Creative launched in 2022, there was a Global Chief Creative Officer—although he quickly evacuated too.
Now, Dentsu Creative is regionally run by non-creative types, apparently supported by executives with creative backgrounds.
Dentsu Creative hypes itself with a tagline that reads: The Power of Transformative Creativity.
Okay, except variations on “transform” are among the top clichéd buzzwords in Adland. What’s more, the Dentsu Creative website doesn’t clearly explain its transformative offerings at all.
Dentsu Creative seems to be constantly transforming—in ways that are corporate versus creative.
Abbey Klaassen is leaving Dentsu Creative to join Tinuiti
By Ewan Larkin
Abbey Klaassen is leaving Dentsu Creative, where she most recently served as U.S. CEO and global brand president, to become CEO of performance marketing agency Tinuiti.
Klaassen succeeds Zach Morrison, who will step back from his day-to-day role after 21 years leading and building Tinuiti, which is backed by private equity firm New Mountain Capital and has roughly 1,200 employees.
Klaassen, a former Ad Age editor and associate publisher, rose quickly through the ranks at Dentsu. She held key positions at digital shop 360i before its consolidation into Dentsu Creative and subsequently served as president of the unit’s New York office. She was named Dentsu Creative U.S. CEO in 2023 and later added global oversight.
At Tinuiti, Klaassen will work to demonstrate how the agency is more than a performance shop. Tinuiti has expanded beyond its search-and-social roots into full-funnel work, including buying 2026 Super Bowl spots for brands such as Instacart and Liquid I.V., according to an agency statement. Tinuiti was also recently named full-funnel media agency of record for children’s apparel company Carter’s Inc., working across the U.S. and Canada. It nabbed that account from Stagwell’s Assembly, a sign that Tinuiti is competing not just against performance agencies like Wpromote.
Tinuiti has also named Bryan Wiener chairman of its board. He previously served as CEO of Publicis Groupe-owned digital commerce analytics firm Profitero+ and recently launched 37Arc, an AI firm focused on chief marketing officers. Wiener will work closely with Klaassen, with whom he overlapped during his time as chairman of 360i.
Klaassen’s departure comes as Dentsu deals with headwinds. The Japanese agency group in March appointed Takeshi Sano as global CEO, part of a broader reset after it explored selling its struggling international business—such a deal is now off the table—and reported its worst annual loss last year. Dentsu Creative has shed some lucrative accounts in recent years, including work with Subway and American Express, but recently notched a win with Farmers Insurance.
:::::
How Dentsu Creative is rethinking its US leadership
By Ewan Larkin
Dentsu Creative is not directly replacing Abbey Klaassen, its U.S. CEO and global brand president, who is leaving to become CEO of performance marketing agency Tinuiti. Instead, the agency is restructuring the role, naming Dentsu veteran Phil Gaughran CEO of the Americas and expanding the position beyond the U.S.
Gaughran assumes the role after serving as president, global creative product, growth and strategy at Dentsu. Global responsibilities previously held by Klaassen will be supported by Yasuharu Sasaki, Dentsu’s global chief creative officer, along with a group of existing leaders across strategy, growth and creative.
Inside the move and Dentsu Creative’s strategy
A strategist by trade, Gaughran has spent 16 years with Dentsu, including more than a decade at Dentsumcgarrybowen and in corporate strategy roles. “He does some of his best work on a barstool, sharing a pint and a point of view towards solving some of the world’s problems,” his bio on Dentsu’s website reads.
Gaughran’s new role mirrors that of Beth Ann Kaminkow, who in March was named Dentsu’s Americas CEO after previously only leading North America. (Kaminkow has also added the global chief client officer title.) The restructure is designed to align leadership across the region and simplify how Dentsu Creative serves clients, while better connecting creative capabilities in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
“We often have U.S.-based clients that extend into Canada and are either looking at Brazil or other high-profile markets, or they want a through line where everything from our offshoring capabilities, to our technology, to what we provide on the ground is all linked up,” Gaughran said in an interview alongside Kaminkow.
Gaughran’s business and client experience made him best suited for the position, said Kaminkow, adding that he has also been active in new business pitches, including Adobe’s creative review. The move also “felt like an obvious choice to create consistency with clients and continuity of service,” said Kaminkow, who joined Dentsu from WPP’s VML.
Gaughran’s appointment comes as Dentsu deals with headwinds. The Japanese agency group in March appointed Takeshi Sano as global CEO, part of a broader reset after it explored selling its struggling international business—such a deal is now off the table—and reported its worst annual loss last year.
Despite some high-profile client losses over the past year, including work with Subway, T-Mobile and American Express, Kaminkow and Gaughran stressed that Dentsu Creative is “healthy” and improving. The agency recently notched a win with Farmers Insurance, which had been with incumbent RPA since 2010.
Gaughran described the past few years as something of a building phase, focused on developing AI-enabled systems and tools internally, and said Dentsu Creative is now ready to “externalize” that work. Kaminkow pointed to a win with i-Health, led by Dentsu X with support from Dentsu Creative, as early evidence of tighter collaboration between media and creative.
“We are back on the up,” Gaughran said of Dentsu Creative.
The agency isn’t done making moves. Gaughran and Kaminkow indicated more senior hires are on the way, including creative talent.
“We feel like we still have opportunity to strengthen the team,” Kaminkow said.
No comments:
Post a Comment