Nick Garrett’s Job Is to Turn “Disjointed Jigsaw Puzzle” Into “A Masterpiece”

​Nick Garrett has the biggest job in local advertising. He’s confident the opportunity is even bigger: to transform “a disjointed jigsaw puzzle” into “a masterpiece”, and ensure Omnicom is “ready for the next 10 years.”

In July, Nick was confirmed as CEO of Omnicom Oceania, a first-of-its-kind structure in a significant market for the holding company, combining Omnicom Media Group, Omnicom Advertising Group, PR, performance, and production under one P&L. Nick wasn’t planning to rejoin adland -- “I would only have gone back in[to] agency world to work with Omnicom” -- but the opportunity to “plug it all together to create something absolutely radical, absolutely amazing” was “tantalising.”

“It's a massive job for absolute certainty, but I think it's also probably the most exciting job in the market,” he tells LBB. “It's got the biggest opportunity to do something at scale and really redesign something.

“We've got the best clients. We've got the best agencies still, but most of them have been in such dramatic silos in Australia because Omnicom has never existed in Australia.

“It was like a disjointed jigsaw puzzle that could turn into a masterpiece, if you can put enough smart people around you and get people excited about creating something and building something that Omnicom has never built in any other market.”

The Priorities: Create Omnicom “Thread”, Culture of Generosity

The stakes are high. Nick reports directly to global Omnicom boss John Wren. Omnicom’s IPG acquisition has now cleared.

“My job here, big picture, is to redesign the model and transform us to be ready for the next 10 years," Nick says.

That redesign is based on zoning in on the white space potential for the creative product.

"The best ideas should be borderless and by that, I mean, have far more influence at an enterprise level internally and across every customer touchpoint, versus being constrained by media. I am excited to broaden our capability to help brands change what they do and go way beyond what they say.

“I hope, by doing that, it will enable us to do work that defines our market and the world, and be famous around the world for doing some of the sharpest, most differentiated, effective work on the planet."

If it works in AUNZ, the model could be adapted in other markets. “We're a small market. This is a very ambitious market. It's reasonably technically advanced, but it's small enough to be able to do something at pace.”

But it’s also a volatile market. Client pressures are growing, budgets shrinking, and media fragmentation, agency consolidation, indie proliferation, and AI transformation abound. 11 Australian agency CEOs have left their posts since February, a spate of CMOs have been impacted by redundancies, and Omnicom’s agencies are going through widespread change. That backdrop has convinced Nick, “We’ve got to solve bigger problems or accelerate the opportunity for clients in places I don't think communications can solve alone.

“Our purpose is to put CMOs and CCOs on a pedestal so they have the tools and the brains around them to be seen as genuine and authentic change agents around customer growth and innovation for an enterprise. And that is all doable, and it's all very exciting, but it won't be easy.”

In 2018, the then-Clemenger boss told Mumbrella, “The most dangerous seven words in the world are, ‘That’s the way we’ve always done it’. So when I get nos, when I get barriers and an over-sense of confidence that they’re not making mistakes or everything is okay, I worry."

Seven years later, he’s expecting each of his agency CEOs to prioritise the collective and “a sense of generosity.”

“Sometimes you're gonna have to give something away to get something back,” he explains.

“If it's right for our client, that's the right thing to do. Sometimes you might lose a little bit of revenue. You might have to bring a partner in.

“But that is absolutely essential … We've got to do what's right to help our clients move as fast as they can to get to the outcome we want. And that sounds really, really simple, but it's not, because we've been encouraging people to grow their business in isolation for the last 10, 15 years.”

He’ll be relying on his consultancy experience -- three years at Deloitte as worldwide lead for its marketing and commerce division -- to do it. “If I'd not left agencies to go into consulting, to have that broader mindset and aperture, I don't think I would have had the confidence to do the job. I know I wouldn't have had the skills to do the job.”

While he was busy working in one, ‘consultancy’ became a dirty word in advertising agencies. Nick wonders whether that’s because outside of Accenture and Capgemini, many of his competitors don’t “have any comprehension [of] what a consultancy is like.

“This fear and disdain they had for consultancies was a little bit ridiculous. But at the same time, most of the consultants wouldn't know any agencies, wouldn't have any interest in that side of the business. The P&Ls are too small.”

The sheer scale of Deloitte’s projects -- “major multi $100 million, billion transformation projects” -- and depth of specialist knowledge means he was advising clients on marketing structures, strategies, and capabilities. “You're playing in such a broad world, and you realise how small agencies and also sometimes marketing is in that world.

“The consultants are very good at playing a broader strategic game. I use this as one of my mantras internally: ‘They don't say, I think. They say, I know.’”

Nick knows three things matter most: leaders worth following, a culture worth belonging to, and work worth doing. The best leadership coach he’s had taught him that. While each agency will decide on its own culture and work, “I don't want to look at our agencies and see, 'Well, that's not a culture worth belonging to,’” and “Omnicom has to have a thread [across] all of it.

“We will never not prioritise our brands. Our brands are absolutely pivotal, and our job is probably to finetune the differentiation of the master media and creative brands and agencies, because there's some amazing talent there, but it's also got to be powered by Omnicom. Omnicom should matter. It shouldn't be invisible.”

The Creative Agencies: “Immense Opportunity”, Greatest “Bench in the World”

​Colenso and Clemenger were among the world’s best agencies under Nick’s leadership. He says, “If the creative product is world-class and differentiated, then it's going to be sticky, engaging, [and] deeply effective. Obviously, it has to be delivered with absolute craft, aplomb, precision, and protecting an idea is the hardest thing in the world. It's harder than coming up with the original idea.

“I worked in businesses that were highly creative and have also been some of the most effective agencies in the world. So I'm not going to let go of that.”

Currently, the creative agencies -- TBWA, DDB, Clemenger, and Colenso -- are each experiencing a different combination of rebuilding, accelerating, making, and winning. Nick acknowledges, “One or two of the creative agencies have had a tough year or two. Some of their misfortunes have nothing to do with them. Or they've inherited some legacy challenges.”

In February, CHEP and Traffik were merged into Clemenger, necessitating a number of senior exits. CCO Stephen de Wolf is CEO Lee Leggett's most critical hire yet; he started just last week to deliver on global BBDO boss Nancy Reyes’ promise to restore Clemenger’s creative glory and combat a transactional culture. Nick and Wolfie worked together during Clemenger Melbourne’s heyday, and the Omnicom Oceania boss confirms his return is “going to be extraordinary.”

“His absolute passion, energy, modernity -- built into a team with some great clients, and I've met so many of their clients and see the love and trust there -- will be huge,” Nick says.

“There's a real opportunity for them to become the agency they've been promising for about a year now.

“And if you can harness the best of what BBDO has done historically, and the best of what made CHEP really interesting and dynamic, that's really extraordinary.”

Across the Tasman, “Colenso is obviously a passion of mine, as was Clemenger, but they've got a really different tone and feel,” Nick says of the agency he ran for five years.

“Si, Rob, and Ange are doing something right,” he adds of CCO Simon Vicars, CSO Rob Campbell, and CEO Angela Watson.

“They're winning a lot of business overseas. Their work is still great, and there's something in the carpet. There's something unique about them, and they're probably the most recognised brand we've got in our portfolio globally.”

At TBWA, regional CEO Paul Bradbury recently resigned after 20 years, making way for Kimberlee Wells to be promoted to a national role. The agency’s new business run includes Defence Force Recruiting, and Woolworths Everyday Rewards (the first win for Sydney’s new leadership team).

“TBWA in Australia has had a wonderful run. Kimberlee is going to make such a positive impact on a national team, and they've got their own journey of how they disrupt and transform their business, because they're a great creative company at the moment, but we'd love to see them get more aggressively into the digital customer space.”

And in New Zealand, “Catherine [Harris, CEO] and Shane [Bradnick, CCO] again have got extraordinary momentum, winning too many pitches compared to some of our competitors.”

DDB has experienced significant change, including the loss of long-term clients and executives, headlined by McDonald’s, Westpac, and AUNZ CEO Andrew Little. While the loss of those 54- and 13-year relationships, respectively, have hurt the Sydney business, Nick praised CEO Sheryl Marjoram for tackling “a really tough year with a smaller team now, but with passion, courage, resilience.”

In recent months, LBB revealed Sydney has won TK Maxx and DoorDash, but Nick confirms there’s more where that came from, DDB just isn’t “allowed to talk about a lot of it. But I reckon what they've been through, they've got the heart of the lion, and I'm excited to see where they go.”

DDB Melbourne is “winning business”, running Coles’ Smith St model, and building creative momentum, and Nick has faith in New Zealand’s leaders (CEO Priya Patel and CCO Matty Burton were promoted to regional roles upon Andrew’s departure).

“Matty and the team in New Zealand are doing some extraordinary things, and how they've diversified their business model and where they're playing with technology, I think they're one of the best kept secrets,” Nick says. “They should be so proud.”

While the IPG merger is yet to take effect, he adds he “really respect[s]” the efforts of FCB New Zealand, led by Paul Wilson. “They're very mature, very smart. He's added a sense of modernity and energy into what was one of the best strategic, adult agencies, and having creative and media … has been phenomenal.”

Reflecting particularly on the network’s pool of chief creatives -- Stephen de Wolf, Simon Vicars, Brigit Alkema, Matty Burton, Psembi Kinstan, Matt Chandler, Gary Steele, Shane Bradnick, Paul Reardon, Matt Keon, and Russ Tucker -- Nick says, “You look at that set of names and you go, 'Holy shit, that is the best set of creative minds'.

“If I look at this team and the brands and the people, I don't think there's any bench in the world, any part of Omnicom, any Publicis, any WPP, whether America, Europe, Asia Pacific -- I'll get some grief from some of my new Omnicom colleagues, no doubt -- that can say I've got a bench with as many world class creative people on it as we've got at the moment.

“I just see opportunity, momentum. They are some extraordinary, passionate, creative minds with immense opportunity ahead of them. I know most of them personally. I've worked [with] a lot of them. I'm very proud to be part of their team, and I'm excited by their future.”

To “democratise creative thinking” beyond that potent group of CCOs, Nick has established a creative council, tasked with helping Omnicom Oceania's team feel like “ideas people” working in “a culture of curiosity and possibility.”

“It's got two purposes: To make the work better, and … start democratising the creative energy to 5,000 people.” Some members won’t originate from the creative department.

The council is a response to the knowledge that “the best strategy in the world counts for nothing if you can't transform a culture and get people excited,” even if you’re a leader who has witnessed large-scale change management projects “up close” at Deloitte, and “transformed a couple of agencies on a much, much smaller scale.”

The Indies: Will Plug In, Deserve to Be “Applauded”

Nick isn’t threatened by the influx of Australian indies or the trend of top holdco talent switching sides. Some are Nick’s former colleagues, like Tightknit Studio’s Evan Roberts (ex-TBWA and Clemenger), or Kerfuffle’s founding trio (ex-Clemenger) fronted by Ant Keogh. Long-term OMG CEO Peter Horgan joined a full-service indie and confirmed, “independents are on the rise.”

“There's some brilliant people … who probably wanted to have a shot at it at the right time in their career, also do it their way, with their own fingerprint ... they didn't want to die wondering," Nick says.

“And I think that should be absolutely applauded. Credit to every one of those indies for going out and being brave and having a swing at it. I think that level of diversity can only be good for the industry.”

More choice of agencies can only be a good thing if Omnicom is to honour a commitment to being “customer-first.”

“Whatever shifts are happening is because there's an unmet need,” he continues.

“There are a lot of teams of twos, threes, and fours that are going out who can now credibly service a client at a certain level, and the client wants absolute dedication … And I think that's a good thing. If clients want to work with smaller teams, then they absolutely should.

“The media indies or the full service indies, if you were building something from scratch, why wouldn't you?”

He notes the complexity and intensity of marketer demands makes the scale and sophistication of Omnicom Oceania’s ecosystem attractive. His “healthy provocation” to indies: Agencies need “the best strategy bench and [to] really challenge clients”, and if they fail to offer data, commerce, technology, and media capabilities, “it’ll be very hard to service a really big client if that client doesn’t have all the capability in-house.”

The more a client splinters its agency roster, the more complex the system the marketer needs to create and manage. “There'll be an increased level of cost and complexity by having more agencies to work with in an era that requires serious technology orchestration investment to make it work. Some clients will be very good at it. Some won't.”

​Speaking to LBB a year ago, global OAG boss Troy Ruhanen promised the business would flex. “When agencies get greedy and they overpromise and underdeliver, that's when we're vulnerable … so I'd rather be with other people that can help deliver on certain things.”

After all, the type of model pioneered by Telstra’s +61 -- unifying Omnicom’s OMD and TBWA, and independent studio Bear Meets Eagle on Fire -- has led to a run of “stunning work,” Nick says, that is market- and world-leading.

“They're actually transforming that business, and it's not just from a marketing perspective. It has far broader impact.”

Accordingly, Omnicom Oceania will be built on a foundation of “generosity, connection, and collaboration,” meaning it “will be open for independents to plug into.”

“We're doing some partnerships with independents. That's going to increase quite rapidly, particularly when we're not the master creative agency on the media side of the equation. So when we're designing ecosystems, if the client feels there's a capability missing or they're not interested in a complete Omnicom solution, which is totally okay, we will have an open, flexible ecosystem that allows indies, if they've got the best specialist capability, to plug in. And I don't see that as a threat. I think that's in service of doing the best work for our best clients.”