Omnicom confirms Nick Garrett to lead new Oceania structure
Omnicom has revealed major changes across Oceania, confirming the return of Nick Garrett to lead a single management structure.
Omnicom Media Group and Omnicom Advertising Group will be brought together under Garrett as CEO, according to a release.
His remit will include media, creative, PR, performance marketing, and production. The move has been widely anticipated in the trade press.
Garrett will report directly to global chairman and CEO, John Wren, with Omnicom Oceania acting as a “pilot” model for the holdco.
“Increasingly, clients in this market are looking for deep specialism and seamless integration,” Wren said in the release. “We have successfully deployed these specializations with many leading clients in the market, and this organisational shift accelerates our ability to deliver this model to more clients across the region.”
Nick Garrett
Garrett has spent a total of 16 years with Omnicom, working across its various creative agencies. He was CEO of NZ-based Colenso BBDO before taking on the CEO gig at Clemenger BBDO.
Since 2021, however, he has been at Deloitte, where he was most recently global CMO of Deloitte Digital. He quietly departed Deloitte in February this year.
“My time in the consulting world showed me just how big the opportunity is to add creative problem solving and brand thinking further upstream into business strategy, and how agencies can positively influence more of the customer eco-system beyond marketing and comms,” Garrett said of his appointment.
“There is a huge amount of white space to grow into, and I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to the Omnicom family to continue to drive growth at an accelerated pace.”
The changes are effective immediately.
His appointment at Omnicom matches local management operations by rival holdcos Publicis Groupe and Dentsu. Publicis Groupe ANZ is led by CEO Michael Rebelo, while Dentsu ANZ is led by CEO Patricio De Matteis.
Havas also recently adopted this structure, appointing James Wright as its group CEO of ANZ.
Omnicom is also preparing to merge with IPG following the acquisition announced last year. The deal has been approved by regulators in the US, New Zealand, and Australia.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has also launched a review, with a preliminary decision expected in August.
In its recent financial results, Omnicom had an optimistic Q2, reporting 3% organic revenue growth.
Broken down by discipline, year-on-year growth was 8.2% for media and advertising; 5% for precision marketing; 2.9% for experiential; and 1.5% for execution and support. This growth was partially offset by declines of 9.3% for public relations, 4.9% for healthcare, and 16.9% for branding and retail commerce.
“Our continued investment in our innovative operating platform, Omni, is driving superior business outcomes for our clients while enhancing operational efficiency across our organisation,” Wren said last week.
Of the merger with IPG, he said: “As we look ahead, I am more optimistic than ever about the significant growth opportunities this strategic transaction will create for our people, clients, and shareholders.”
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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