Dan Clays Named CEO of Omnicom Media Group EMEA
Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. has named Dan Clays CEO of OMG EMEA. In his new role, Clays – who has been CEO of OMG UK for the past four years – will oversee strategy, operations and the development and adoption of transformative capabilities to support OMG agencies – including OMD, PHD, Hearts & Science, and the Annalect data and analytics division – across EMEA.
Clays succeeds Guy Marks, who was recently named CEO of PHD Worldwide
“In leadership roles at both OMD and OMG UK over a decade that has seen seismic technological, economic and cultural shifts, Dan has consistently driven business growth for our clients and agencies by keeping our offer several cycles ahead of the next disruption,” says OMG CEO Florian Adamski. “OMG has been the UK’s #1 media group in new business for the past two years because of his commitment to making OMG the UK’s #1 media group in future-fit talent, tools, and technology for years to come. In his new role, that commitment – combined with his road-tested expertise and vision – will assure both market- and industry-leading capabilities and client service across all OMG EMEA agencies.”
During his tenure as CEO of OMG UK, Clays has played a key role in advancing OMG’s Agency as a Platform approach that connects media, content, and commerce to drive sales and grow share for Omnicom clients. In that capacity, he led the expansion of Omnicom’s Transact connected commerce consultancy in the UK, paving the way for the ground-breaking retail media partnership between OMG and Tesco announced last month; and helped establish OMG’s TRKKN analytics and cloud consultancy in the market. Concurrently, he oversaw the development and launch of OMG Impact, a first-to-market measurement tool built by OMG for the British government – and now available to the private sector – to score media owners on various environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
Under Clays leadership – a key tenet of which is total immersion in the client’s business – OMG UK agencies earned $1.3 billion over the past two years in total new business won (including British Airways, British Gas, Comparethemarket, Jaguar Land Rover, Peloton and Virgin Media 02) and retained (Channel 4, John Lewis Partnership, and UK Government), making OMG the fastest growing media group in the UK – as well as the only group with double-digit billings growth (17%) in 2022. Also, on Clays watch OMG’s youngest network – Hearts & Science – has become one of the UK’s fastest growing agencies, and currently leads the market in incremental new business wins for 2023 to-date.
“In today’s challenging marketplace, clients are looking for a media partner that can help them translate radically changing consumer behaviors and new commerce models into business growth – and no other global media group has been more effective than OMG in assuring its agencies have the capabilities, services and skill sets they need to meet this mandate, “ said Clays. “As the EMEA CEO, my priority will be to build on Guy Marks’ success by ensuring the future-fit offer and transformational technology that will drive growth for our clients, our agencies and our talent across the region.”
Clays, who will be headquartered in London and will report to Adamski, steps into his new role October 1st. His successor as CEO of OMG UK will be announced in the coming weeks.