Is Dentsu about to put all its toothpaste back in the tube?
Taking a look at its go-to-market approach over the past 12 months, Mumbrella’s Calum Jaspan asks, is Dentsu about to fully integrate its media and creative services?
Looking back over 2022 at Dentsu, the tide appears to be flowing one way. This was emphasised when Dentsu Media CEO, Sue Squillace’s decision to depart the group was made public on Tuesday.
It came at an interesting time for Dentsu, with the national group CEO role soon to be vacant and a previously reported search for an agency boss at Carat also underway.
The network housed two of the market’s most dominant media agencies less than a decade ago in Carat and Mitchells. It has since refocused its portfolio, the former now its key agency now, with DentsuX and iProspect continuing to support it from the wings.
Towards the end of my time at dentsu (which was within recent memory), it felt as though ‘media’ had become a dirty word, something that just wasn’t discussed, or credited with being a major part of the business.
Whenever we had all hands Zoom/Teams calls, led by senior management, the focus was always on other parts of the business; CX, Creative, Operations or the various initiative du jour that was being pushed. Never the work of Carat, dentsu X, iProspect or Vizeum (when they existed).
The fact that ‘media’ had been relegated to at best a supporting role, whilst the narrative of marketing services was pushed hard is perhaps unsurprising in hindsight, and certainly not given this current context.
I’m still waiting on my promised pay rise from three years ago.
It sounds like a mess. Putting the toothpaste back in the tube is a Sorrel-ism from 15 years ago relating to putting creative and media back together.
The ceo has just announced that will happen (on mi3) but then there’s no follow up on how or when.
Weird.