Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Restructures by Clustering Markets
The change is the first reorganization of the network after the appointment of Robert Senior as its chief executive.
The change is the first reorganization of the network after the appointment of Robert Senior as its chief executive.
Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide’s new chief executive (CEO), Robert Senior, is taking the agency in a new direction by abandoning its traditional geographical regional structure and clustering marketers into “established” and “dynamic” markets.
The corporate restructuring includes the elimination of Senior’s own role as CEO of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Chris Foster’s old role as CEO of Asia-Pacific. Foster, who is based out of Singapore, will now lead the established markets, which include the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, China, and Australia, while Justin Billingsley, who had been the agency’s chief operating officer (COO) of EMEA since 2013, has been promoted to CEO of dynamic markets (the remaining markets). He will also lead the network’s mergers and acquisitions going forward.
“The brands we serve live in a flat, borderless world and our agency must too,” Billingsley said in a statement. “To cluster markets based on what they mean to our clients, versus where they are, is smart and I am energized to be leading our Dynamic Markets, from which the majority of the next half a billion middle class consumers will come.”
While the restructure may seem like a surprise move, Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi isn’t the first to go in this direction. Interpublic’s media agencies UM and Initiative adopted a cluster-market model several years ago.
In addition to Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide’s corporate restructuring, a number of agencies made top management changes at the beginning of the year. TBWA promoted Rob Schwartz to CEO of its New York office; JWT elevated Lynn Power to president of its flagship office; Arnold New York hired Sarah Bamber as its new head of strategy, and Young & Rubicam Chicago replaced its chief creative officer Bill Cimino with two executive creative directors, Jeremy Smallwood and Pam Mufson.
Do you think the restructure is a smart move on Saatchi & Saatchi’s part? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Image via Flickr.
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