London, UK (18 June, 2019) – Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) has promoted OMD UK CEO Dan Clays to CEO of Omnicom Media Group UK. Dan succeeds Philippa Brown, who was recently named CEO of PHD Worldwide. Dan will report to Mike Cooper, Group CEO EMEA & Asia Pacific at Omnicom Media Group.
Concurrently, Tim Pearson, CEO of Manning Gottlieb OMD (MG OMD), becomes CEO of OMD Group UK, with oversight of the separate leadership teams of OMD UK and Manning Gottlieb OMD. Tim will report to Dan Clays.
Dan will assume responsibility for the collective success of OMG UK clients and agencies: OMD UK, MG OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science as well as for Specialist Services Annalect, OMG Programmatic, Fuse, Drum, OMG Ethnic and Benchmarketing.
Since joining OMD UK and the OMG UK Board seven years ago, first as Managing Director and since 2014 as CEO, Clays has overseen one of the most successful periods in OMD UK’s history, with over £200m of new business wins in the last 18 months.
Tim has been at Manning Gottlieb OMD for 20 years, becoming CEO in 2015. He has cemented the agency’s reputation as one of the most awarded in the industry, culminating in the agency being announced as Campaign’s Agency of the Year for 2018. Notable client wins last year included winning the UK Government’s buying account and the retention of Specsavers.
Of the appointments, Mike Cooper said: “We are extremely fortunate to possess outstanding media agencies in the UK that compete very effectively at the highest level and consistently win major awards. I’m delighted that we have some of the best talent in the industry and we can therefore confidently promote from within at OMG UK. Dan Clays and Tim Pearson are two of the industry’s finest leaders and have each demonstrated that in these transformative times speed, agility and innovation are key to success. “
Commenting on his new role, Dan says: “It is a fantastic opportunity to build on Philippa’s incredible success and leadership over many years in the role. I am excited to take on responsibility across four outstanding and distinctive agencies and also our exceptional Specialist Services. We will continue to embrace bold change to drive the growth of our clients’ business and create more opportunities for our talent across the UK.
Tim Pearson says “These are exciting times for media agencies and the opportunity to step up and assume responsibility for the entire OMD UK Group portfolio is one I’m going to relish. Both agency brands are strong and will continue to be independent of each other. I look forward to rising to the challenges this enhanced responsibility presents, to getting to know everyone at OMD UK and to working closely with Dan to drive further success.”
