Dentsu Creative’s U.S. CEO Abbey Klaassen and Phil Gaughran, who leads global business strategy for Dentsu Creative and Dentsu Americas, are expanding their roles in the interest of creating a cohesive global brand.
They aim to grow Dentsu Creative’s international creative products and offerings and attract more business, amid a recent winning streak that includes the Lowe’s and T-Mobile creative accounts.
Klaassen will retain her current role, while also assuming a global brand president title. Gaughran will take on a new title, as president of Dentsu’s global creative product, growth and strategy. Klaassen’s role involves fostering relationships with an increasingly global client roster. She is also building a consistent standard and plans to showcase that a more streamlined, globally scaled agency can still connect with target audiences at a local level.
The leaders will closely collaborate with Yasu Sasaki, the holding company’s global chief creative officer and creative practice lead, and both will undertake increasingly global purviews. In their expanded roles, both executives will work together to streamline global branding and scale service offerings and strategies that historically varied based on geographic market.
Gaughran will oversee business growth and product offerings, and also lead the holding company’s branding and positioning. He plans to scale data, tech and AI adoption across Dentsu Creative by deepening the agency’s integration with its production company, Tag Worldwide, which it acquired last summer.
After consolidating the holding company’s creative agencies in 2022 to create Dentsu Creative, the company went through a series of leadership changes and strategic pivots. Klaassen assumed the chief executive role last November, replacing the agency’s former CEO Paul Fogaca.
Now moving “beyond” its transformation in the U.S., Dentsu Creative’s leaders told ADWEEK they’re turning their attention to international markets with an aim to create consistent experiences for Dentsu clients around the world. Dentsu Creative’s recent big-budget wins in the U.S. market follow a period of change that saw agency brands including McGarryBowen and 360i absorbed by the overarching Dentsu Creative brand.
The recent wins suggest the holding company’s new approach is gleaning some results, and its leaders are keen on driving more.
“Marketing organizations aren’t necessarily growing, which means they need more simple agency relationships. They don’t have time to manage 12 different partners,” Klaassen said of the previous consolidation, and the agency’s single P&L structure.
