Omnicom Oceania chief Nick Garrett rejigs 100 brands, ditches old holdco media-creative model for CMO, CCO growth focus, takes on consultants with new upstream unit, reshapes 1000 staffers as specialist group-wide ‘T-shape leaders’, lobs Publics over Accenture Song as biggest competitive threat

About this episode

Nick Garrett discusses his radical restructuring plan for Omnicom Oceania amidst significant industry changes.

Host: Paul McIntyre, Editor-At-Large Merging two massive holdco structures after the global Omnicom-IPG merger and culling 100 brands is not for the faint hearted. Overhauling the local operating model entirely at the same time? Fraught with risk. But Nick Garrett’s master plan has the blessing of Omnicom chairman John Wren, and Garrett says he wouldn’t have taken the job without licence to radically recut the ANZ business.  If it works, “I think the US and other markets are all looking at this with support and optimism, hoping that this is a great test case”, says Garrett. The new model puts a three-pronged upstream advisory layer at the top of its structure, supported by six ‘centres of excellence’, pooling and centralising resources to concentrate firepower as Omnicom heads “upstream”. It’s going head-to-head in “transformation” and business strategy through brand with the likes of Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey and Bain while taking marketers and customer chiefs upstream with them.  Too many marketers have been relegated to execution, per Garrett. He thinks Omnicom Oceania’s new approach can help…

People in this episode

Host: Paul McIntyre

Guest: Nick Garrett

Topics covered

• business strategy
• marketing transformation
• organizational change
• consulting competition
• brand management
• leadership development

Keywords

• Omnicom
• Nick Garrett
• marketing
• consultants
• transformation
• leadership
• business strategy
• GRACosway
• Accenture
• Publicis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Omnicom, IPG, Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey, Bain, GRACosway, Publicis, BRX

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