Nick Garrett, former Clemenger BBDO CEO, has returned to Omnicom as CEO of Omnicom Advertising Group (OAG), a newly-created role.
He will reunite with Stephen de Wolf. De Wolf announced his return to Clemenger as national CCO on June 17, after one year at BMF. Garrett will report directly to global Omnicom chairman and CEO, John Wren. Garrett’s realm will include media, PR, performance, and production. Omnicom Media Group has been run by COO, Kristiaan Kroon, since the departure of long-serving CEO, Peter Horgan, earlier this year.
Garrett returns to Omnicom after four years at digital creative consultancy, Deloitte Digital. He joined in late 2021 as brand and creative partner to enhance its creativity. Within his first year he joined the Global Leadership team, before becoming the company’s global CMO.
Before joining Deloitte, Garrett spent almost a decade leading BBDO agencies, Clemenger and Colenso. During his time as CEO of Colenso BBDO New Zealand, the agency nearly tripled in size and was twice named the most creative agency in the world. In 2015, he moved to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. Under his leadership, Clemenger became the first Australian agency ever to be named Creative Agency of the Year at both Cannes Lions and D&AD, while also becoming #1 in the WARC 100 as the world’s most effective and earning the title of Global Creative Agency of the Year. He has been Director – Brand Leadership of The Lion’s Share, working with brands to support wildlife, and a board member of women entrepreneurs’ support group, Global Sisters, both since 2018. he has been a non-executive director of Good Citizens, the movement to untrash the planet, since 2019.
OAG was created last August to house Omnicom’s creative agencies, including TBWA, DDB, and BBDO. It is headed up by global CEO, ex-TBWA CEO and fellow Australian, Troy Ruhanen, who started in January. In February, Clemenger announced its merged with CHEP Network and Traffik, that became effective in March. CHEP CEO Lee Leggett became CEO of the new entity; Clemenger CEO, Dani, and CCO, Adrian Flores departed. Robert Morgan retired as Clemenger Group chair on June 30 after 46 years; Clemenger Group CEO, Les Timar stepped down on June 27. CHEP CEO Lee Leggett became CEO of the new entity.
Last month, Omnicom moved to buy out Clemenger fully and take over the 13.16% of shares currently spread out between approximately 350 employees. Omnicom’s BBDO Worldwide currently owns a majority stake of 86.84%. And Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) is expected to be finalised in the second half of 2025.
The other agencies under Garrett’s leadership have also undergone significant changes across the top tier. DDB AUNZ CEO, Andrew Little, stepped down in March after twenty years with the agency; Priya Patel was promoted to regional CEO and Matty Burtonto AUNZ CCO. TBWA AUNZ CEO, Paul Bradbury, overhauled his Sydney leadership team in February, appointing Elektra O’Malley managing director; Michael Hogg, CSO; and Matt Keon, CCO.
Garrett commented, “My time in the consulting world showed me just how big the opportunity is to add creative problem solving and brand thinking further upstream into business strategy, and how agencies can positively influence more of the customer eco-system beyond marketing and comms. There is a huge amount of white space to grow into, and I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to the Omnicom family to continue to drive growth at an accelerated pace.”
John Wren added, “We have the advantage of best-in-class capabilities and talent across practice areas, built on the foundations of world-leading data, AI, technologies and tools. Nick’s deep knowledge of Omnicom and his advisory experience make him the ideal leader to orchestrate these capabilities and drive the growth ambitions of our clients.”
