Dentsu APAC restructures agencies amid tough conditions

Josh McDonnell
By Josh McDonnell | 22 January 2019
 

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) APAC has restructured its operations impacting its three major media agencies, Carat, Vizeum and Dentsu X, as well as its other agencies including Amplifi and iProspect.

The decision will result in redundancies mainly in the Singapore arm of the business with 2% of staff impacted.

Outgoing DAN APAC chief executive Nick Waters said the changes are a direct response to challenging market conditions and client expectations.

DAN's core agencies will now be grouped into new sectors, the Brand Solutions Group, One Singapore Media Group and the Client Solutions. Each group will be managed out of Singapore.

The brand solutions side of the business will include staff from Carat, Vizeum, Dentsu X and iProspect and will be primarily focused on new business and product development. Headed up by former iProspect APAC CEO Joanna Catalano, the team will support agencies with pitches throughout APAC.

Former Carat APAC CEO Jonathan Chadwick will lead the media group sector, which has been designed to bring together Carat, Vizeum, Dentsu X, iProspect and Amplifi into a single media unit.

The client solutions group will primarily be focused on improving relationships across DAN while incorporating new capabilities.

While multiple staff were made redundant as part of the restructuring, Waters said that the impact was centralised to the Singapore market, denying that it would impact any other local markets in APAC. The move also included the decision to dissolve the roles of multiple APAC CEO positions.

The news continues to build upon what has already been a week of change for DAN, with the Australian business appointing media agency stalwart Henry Tajer to CEO across AUNZ.

Tajer steps into the role as DAN looks to improve on its traditional media businesses, following a "sluggish" 2018 plagued by account losses and people moves. Today, Tajer outlined his plans for the business in an exclusive interview with AdNews.

DAN has been approached for further comment on how these regional changes will impact the local Australian market.

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