Following last month’s announcement regarding the new and improved Publicis Media Solutions hub under new leader Steve King, the industry’s third-largest holding company announced a series of executive-level promotions this morning that will fall, yet again, under the “restructuring” tab.
And now we know what happens to MRY and Moxie. Here goes:
- Kathy Ring will be CEO of the Starcom USA unit, replacing Lisa Donohue who was promoted to global brand president
- Sean Reardon has been promoted to CEO of Zenith USA as Lou Rossi becomes chief investment officer “across Publicis Media in the U.S.” reporting to Publicis Media Exchange CEO Dave Penski. He will, however, retain the CEO position at Moxie after replacing eBay-bound Suzie Deering.
- Former Huge global managing director Jason Whiting will be CEO of MRY as predecessor Matt Britton accepts the chairman role following a round of executive departures earlier this week.
- Starcom MediaVest global CFO Dan Mattei is now CFO of the Americas for Publicis Media while Starcom’s global head of HR Barbara Jobs takes the chief talent officer of the Americas title
Everyone mentioned above now reports to former Zenith North American CEO/current Publicis Media CEO Tim Jones. He writes, “I look forward to working closely with these leaders as we deliver upon the promise of our organization—a modern approach to gain efficiency and introduce structures for greater collaboration and effectiveness.”
Beyond the press release, what does this mean for Publicis?
It’s an aftershock of sorts stemming from the recent departures of roster clients Coca-Cola, Walmart and P&G, or the second wave of organizational changes following the thing we have no choice but to call “Mediapalooza.”
The holding company is attempting to shore up its operations in the interest of better returns for both clients and investors after losing a large chunk of revenue in the Americas — and based on this week’s news out of Leo Burnett Chicago, it would seem that every shop under the Publicis umbrella may be affected at some point.
Interestingly, this announcement follows an ID Comms study finding that 31 percent of clients and 20 percent of agency reps would describe the current state of trust in media agencies in general as “low or very low.”