Ashley Earnshaw departs DAN as it rolls Vizeum into iProspect
The Dentsu Aegis Network’s (DAN) Vizeum will merge into iProspect, in a move described by the holding group as a ‘further simplification of its media business’.
Ashley Earnshaw has resigned his role as CEO of Vizeum, only a year after taking up the role. Oliver Rapson, the managing director of iProspect, has been named CEO in an expanded role to integrate the Vizeum leadership team.
Earnshaw leaves after five years at DAN
It is another added responsibility for Rapson, who took control of performance marketing agency Merkle in January following the departure of Australia and New Zealand managing director Rebecca Tos.
Vizeum rolled into Isobar made much more sense. It will die in iprospect’s narrow business.
Good on you Ash. Enduring DAN for that long through some incredibly tough conditions is a credit to you.
Your facts and dates remain incorrect on multiple levels even after your minor update, this is amateur journalism at best and misleading at worst.
Hi there,
An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed Simon Ryan in the place of Simon Williams. It was updated shortly after. From what I can see, the story is correct now, and links to the corresponding articles to support the timeline. If you could please give me some clarifications around the incorrect facts and dates I will definitely look into them further.
Thanks,
Hannah – Mumbrella
Someone better tell Vizeum global that they’re no good at “anticipating the changing consumer landscape to provide clients with increased tangible value”…
Acquiring Merkle? I think you mean Columbus.
Hi Hmm,
According to the most recent information we have on Merkle and Columbus, Oliver Rapson took over the role at Merkle as Rebecca Tos stepped down. Columbus sits under Merkle. I’m not sure where there is mention in the story about anyone acquiring Merkle – it still exists within DAN.
Thanks,
Hannah – Mumbrella
Pretty sure “Merkle” isn’t run by Oliver. Might want to fact check that. Merkle has a few brands underneath it.
Hi Anonymous,
To clarify – he took over the ANZ business in January. You can read that story here – https://mumbrella.com.au/rebecca-tos-merkles-anz-md-steps-down-with-iprospects-md-to-lead-both-dan-businesses-613349
Thanks!
Hannah – Mumbrella
Linking a previous incorrect article does not correct the mistake in this article.
Hey Hannah. Appreciate you don’t have all the answers, but it’s factually incorrect to say that Oli leads Merkle.
All around good changes by Angela, of course some people will leave as a result. Can’t help that its a big change. But its the right move for Dentsu and will enable us to be much more client focused.
Good things are happening at DAN.
Ha, come on Mumbo. I don’t work at DAN anymore, nor would I want to again, but even I think this article is rubbish. The first half is fine, but is it really necessary to rehash old news about redundancies? With so many in our industry going through change at the moment, why don’t you try to focus on reporting the news from today and heck, maybe even find some positive angles.
Well said
Dentsu was gaining decent momentum pre-covid and is making the right choices to set themselves up for growth.
Losing Ash will be a big loss as he’s an incredibly talented operator. That said, this move will bring together the best of brand & DR, backed with solid data & tech from the Dentsu Solutions team.
This is a smart move, because it will simplify the business model, make the business more client centric, whilst maintaining depth of the solutions.
They’ll be in safe hands with Rapson. iProspect has continually been a top performing business unit for years under his leadership.
Context for Mumbrella:
1) DAN should be referred to as Dentsu since the move to ‘One Dentsu’ globally (bringing together Japan & international)
2) Dentsu owns Merkle
3) Merkle acquired Columbus, but then decoupled. Columbus then merged with iProspect
4) Dentsu Solutions is a central hub within the group, bringing together the best minds and capabilities to solve client problems
5) Dentsu haven’t just lost clients over the past few years, they’ve won & retained some as well, with some being quite happy customers. Believe it, or not.
It’s good to see Dentsu heading in the right direction. Well done guys.
@Ex-Dentsu
On your point around DAN vs. Dentsu, I’m sorry but you’re incorrect. DAN still exists but it’s under and reports to Dentsu Group (holding company).
By the sounds of things you also know DAN is massively underperforming with only a few minor new business wins in the last 12 months (which don’t make up for the huge client losses, hence all the redundancies and restructure).
Dentsu Solutions is another excuse to sell more services from other parts of the network as the One P&L concept never worked.
Independents are performing much better because in Australia we see through the smoke and mirrors of the holding companies.
Wow, what a mouthful to read. Ash is a great guy so that part is a loss for DAN. But putting the sledging of DAN aside, what they’re trying to do actually makes sense… I think, hard to know what the change actually means considering this piece is riddled with a bunch of other stories. If the first line captures the sentiment of the change ‘further simplification of its media business’ then that can only be a good thing. Holding cos can only benefit from having a simpler model.
Ash is a good guy and will be missed but have heard only good things about where DAN is heading. Sounds like Angela is turning it around after some really poor leadership wrecked the place.
This can only be a good thing and they should have done this years ago.
One of the biggest frictions for clients has been the separation of traditional media/search & social across two separate teams in two separate businesses that never really worked well together.
Guessing this wasn’t the only job loss as a result of the merger though unfortunately.
Congrats to Dentsu for making this necessary but still challenging move. It’s always tough losing good talent like Ash but this is just the start; not for Dentsu but for all major holding Co’s. Too many brands offering what is really a rather vanilla offer. Clients don’t care what you call yourself, what your vision, mission and purpose are, they just want smart teams who can deliver great outcomes at the lowest price (caveat that’s what procurement want). Harsh but true.
I really do not understand the need to continuously drudge up facts from over 12 months ago when writing current articles.
It is not only boring it is perceived as negative reporting.
When the industry is facing it’s toughest time it has ever seen how about you show some support!
My first ever job was under Oli, was a great guy and one of a few bosses I’ve had who genuinely cared about people in the office. I’m glad to see him doing well
How many years ago does an account loss have to have occurred before it is removed from the same old paragraph inserted into every. single. article on Dentsu?
Maybe think about changing the template going forward?
Can’t understand why mumbrella continues to rehash such old news losses from over 2 years ago how about more recent wins like Pandora, Caltex and more. This is getting a bit old now
Agree that in parts this article is not factually accurate.
Let’s start with the arrival of Sue Squillace. L’Oréal, Medibank and AHM were already clients of the DAN network which Carat and Columbus servicing across media and digital performance. It was under Joey Pardillo’s and Mitchell McBeath’s leadership these accounts were retained (before Sue started).
Not that long ago iProspect was an underperforming business in ANZ, only a few global account wins out of UK and USA turned around the business (not because of local leadership or capability). iProspect absorbed Columbus not Merkle, Merkle has all but disappeared in ANZ apart from DWA and Amicus. Columbus was the digital performance marketing brand of Merkle in AUZ.
Dentsu Commerce is a global initiative, the article reads as if Tangas drove this (not the case, it was created in a different market).
BMW now in market for closed pitch.Clearly not happy with the decision to close Vizeum.