Henry Tajer named Dentsu Aegis Network’s CEO

Why is Nick commenting? I thought he was out?

Notice word “short stint”

What a perfect match those two are ..

Pitching is going to fun this year !

Yeah. A career defined by “short stints”. Henry’s had more starts than Phar Lap….But then again, who would want the DAN role?

so will most of the ex IPG, cum Amazon, former Tajer lieutenant’s now end up at Dentsu? Isn’t that what normally happens?

When the business matches the individual I think it’s called “fit”.

Question is why one would leave Amazon – largest business in the world and at the start of becoming an advertising powerhouse, unencunbered by any legacy thinking … to a mature holding company with a role reporting into SG.

Dentsu started life as a media company and bit by bit became an advertising agency. A very big advertising agency. Let’s settle on huge. For a long time its global offices were created solely to service their Japanese clients interests and were managed by Japanese staff sent from HQ.
Unfortunately, everything that is wonderful about Japanese culture and ways of doing business wasn’t necessarily right for the international markets it and its Japanese clients were operating in. Consequently, Dentsu’s global client list hardly included any client that wasn’t Japanese. Then, Tim Andrade was appointed to head Dentsu’s global network – that is, all Dentsu’s interests outside Japan – to ensure Dentsu’s global ambitions and compatibility with the markets they operated was not Japan-centric. The change has been remarkable and it’s working. You only have to look at the amount of acquisition activity Dentsu Australia embarked on under Simon Ryan to appreciate the difference in Dentsu’s attitude and ambition today compared to days gone by. Henry is ambitious, and like Simon, he has the right media/advertising pedigree to help unleash the power of Dentsu and all its assets even further.

Thanks for that Dentsu PR. I was impressed by the diplomatic way you explained how Dentsu (prior to Aegis) could not make a success of anything outside Japan. DAN still does not understand creative, and with the exception of M&A (which you could read as desperation), DAN has underperformed for a number of years now. Relations between London and Tokyo are as troubled as ever.

BTW it’s Tim Andree, not Andrade. Tim’s a talking head.

1 month Tajer lifts hood and peeks in
2 month Tajer confronts management that job was severely misrepresented and has more issues than a junkie cousin
3 month short stint complete to IPG to start all over
4 month DAN is still awful

Corrected re: Andree, but I’m not a Dentsu employee and never have been. I’m simply waiting for the day Dentsu unleashes all its power. maybe it won’t be under Henry, but like the ad says, ‘it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen’.

How do you go from managing a huge company like DAN to a lowly director spot at Carsales? Likewise, how do you go from one of the world’s powerhouse brands in Amazon to DAN? Their paths don’t make a whole lotta sense but then again who cares when DAN is on the ropes. The world wants specialist agencies who are extremely good at their craft, not one stop shops.

Maybe…you never know. I am an ex-DAN staffer, and having seen how it operates, I don’t give DAN (or Dentsu) much chance…the place is massively dysfunctional…

interesting isn’t it? Bear in mind also that Nick Waters is going from a regional CEO role, to a “cluster” CEO, reporting into the EMEA Exec. Obviously not a promotion.

I see you’re visiting us from 2012, welcome!

Here in 2019, where the groups are consolidating and consolidating and consolidating, it’s precisely the opposite of what you said. Clients are sick of paying for 200 different specialist agencies to all squabble amoung each other while knowing nothing outside their craft, when they could have one full-service who can better understand all facets of their business.

Pretty sure he was with Mediacom for many many years followed by Mediabrands (locally then globally) for many more. Where are all these short stints other than Amazon?

there’s a talent pool at DAN?

Why all the negative comments?! Feels like the right fit for both parties to me…

jeez, be nice mate 🙂

Your version of 2019 reads more like 1979.

Why would I want to use a know nothing one-stop media company where I can get the best results from experts in their field. To be a true expert in your field you must study it, know it well. Just because it’s full service doesn’t mean it’s good. Jack of all trades, master of none. Give me the masters, please.

Of course there’s a pool of talent…how good they are is determined by how low your standards are

Agreed, congrats Henry

yep, consolidation is a product of global capitalism, not a unique feature of Media/Advertising. As “media commentator” says, consolidation doesn’t usually (in fact, very rarely) brings quality. Plus, add in the complexity of dealing with a large group and all the funny business that goes on with pricing services between related entities. My observation is that clients feel they’re not getting VFM (they’re probably right), nor are they being given transparent accounting of what’s going on.

Wow, the keyboard warriors are out in full force today.

Henry has plenty of runs on the board, so I’m sure he’ll do just fine. There are plenty of issues and challenges to overcome at DAN, but he seems like the guy to give it a good crack. Welcome back to agency land, Henry.

After the bad run at global business (they just do things differently to Australia) – I wonder if any of his protégés will come back to roost. Mat Baxter seems to be cracking by taking an in incorrect aim at FB over something his major client (Amazon) was involved with. PR nightmare. Again, they just do things differently globally. Let’s see who returns now he’s back at an agency.
Bet there are some flutters at the other agency groups. Makes it more of a fair game and less about if you’re a big client you go to OMD (they literally tell you that there is nowhere else for you), if you’re smart you go to UM, if you actually look at the work and can forget about some of the past you may go to a group M company, if your competitors are at any of the above you end up at Zenith or Starcom. Makes it more of a level playing field. Henry knows how to win business on a local level.

Plenty of problems is right. But Mr Short Stint as the fixer though?? Maybe, none of the current lot can do it so maybe worth a crack. And he does have a stint on his resume from one of the FANG darlings so he’s obviously good because, you know, the Amazon rubbed off on him or something.

Maybe Carsales because Simon might’ve been offered skin in the game?
Maybe DAN because it was a better fit for Henry than Amazon?

I refuse to believe this until he updates his linkedin profile

One day when I become CEO, I’ll make sure to come back here and read the comments.

I wonder who is next…now with a new CEO

Watching Henry’s career moves is like watching Bandersnatch.. so many choices and moves

Perfect fit . DAN is a money extracting powerhouse. They need the best wheeler/dealers – Henry’s forte.

I agree with Jon. A perfect match. I see no one has commented on why IPG asked him to leave …

Congrats to Henry Tajer on the new role. Henry had transformed Mediabrands Australia to the 2nd largest PNL in the region. He could easily do that again with DAN. With the right talent and determination anything is possible.

Agreed

Henry’s a proven business operator and ready to transform DAN AUS into the leading multi-disciplinary powerhouse that it’s destined to be. Dentsu has huge global ambitions, a long time horizon and a good balance sheet to continue to drive a strategic M&A agenda.
It’s all good.

Congratulations Henry! Fantastic to see such a respected leader take the reigns at one of the country’s biggest agency groups.