TBWA Worldwide Enters the Third Phase of Strategic Overhaul

As TBWA Worldwide has increased the number of strategists/planners companywide by 34% over the past four years, the agency is entering what it calls phase three of their multi-year plan to commit to a “disruptive” future. “We believe better inputs—knowledge, data points, cultural strategy—are the fuel for better creative ideas and output, and by investing in these roles, our creative product only gets better,” Agathe Guerrier, global chief strategy officer, TBWA told Adweek. “We need people who can help our clients see around corners and understand what’s coming next so we can identify opportunities that break conventions of their categories and keep them ahead of their competitors.” Bringing in top talent This next chapter brings in two senior level executives to help bring Guerrier's vision to work with external data suppliers as well as partners like Gartner and Forrester to develop new and proprietary methodologies and create proprietary IP, among their other responsibilities. “They both are talented leaders in their own rights and have not been brought on board to execute set visions," explained Guerrier. "Instead, they will have a blank canvas to push us forward. We weathered the pandemic reasonably well and are now hiring like mad on the back of new business wins like Philips globally and Discover.” Alyson Stevens departs Publicis Media to join as global head of connected intelligence to oversee the shop’s intelligence and knowledge practices and to “connect the dots” between different sources of intelligence within the collective: TBWA\Worldwide, local agencies, centers of excellence, as well as cultural (Backslash), social (65dB) and data-based primary research. Michael Horn exits Huge to serve as global head of data product to integrate data and technology into the agency’s creative product and help to grow client business. His remit is critical as the company expands from working primarily as a communications partner to evolve into more of a “business partner,” advancing beyond advertising to brand orchestration and experience design. Horn’s global remit will also create data products and setting the data strategy across the global collective, not just for one office or region. Lastly, Horn will lead TBWA’s data global capabilities and partner with parent company Omnicom’s internal data suppliers and partner agencies—including Annalect, Omnicom Media Group, Omnicom Precision Marketing Group and Sparks & Honey, as TBWA further integrates Omnicom’s Omni platform into its ways of working. Building a disruptive culture Most importantly, both leaders will help build out what is called TBWA’s “disruptive” culture, coined by chairman Jean-Marie Dru, that identifies what everyone else is doing, defines a vision for the brand and develops a creative platform that breaks free of these conventions to grow the business. “We want to make sure our disruption is as progressive and innovative as possible,” Guerrier said. Guerrier emphasized TBWA is only in the “middle” of its strategy plan. The first chapter hired Guerrier and Emma Montgomery in March 2020 to oversee the global strategy departments. (Montgomery has since departed to return to her native Australia earlier in the year.) The next part—during Covid—reassessed the Omnicom-agency’s culture and plotted effective ways to build the “scaffolding” for this framework. Next, Guerrier and these two new leaders, Horn and Stevens, will recruit team members to their respective departments. The specialization on strategy, planning and data have given us an edge, she said. She points to research that finds strategists do not necessarily feel valued by their agencies: “It is important for them to see at TBWA, we are willing to invest in effort and invest in them.” Nancy Reyes Elevated to CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York

Leadership & Talent

TBWA Worldwide Enters the Third Phase of Strategic Overhaul

Omnicom agency concentrates on building out strategy, data and intelligence

Bringing in top talent

Larissa Faw

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Larissa Faw