DAN’s new boss seeks success by keeping the customer satisfied

Henry Tajer steps into the top job at Dentsu Aegis Network today determined to creatively develop the agency’s digital talents.

Henry Tajer has been appointed as the new CEO of media and digital marketing agency Dentsu Aegis in Australia and New Zealand. Picture: Hollie Adams

Dentsu Aegis Network’s new local boss, Henry Tajer, has vowed to simplify the media marketing and advertising agency’s myriad of brands and operations as the ­industry faces intense competition from the tech sector.

Mr Tajer, 48, who has spent more than 20 years in the ad ­industry, most recently at tech giant Amazon, said “more and more so, clients want simplicity”.

“I don’t think our clients care that much about our brands, I think they’re more focused on their own brands,” Mr Tajer said.

“I think that’s an opportunity for us to get a lot more customer-centric, client-centric and understand what they’re trying to do and fit the capabilities in a more tailored way,” said Mr Tajer, who will take over as chief executive of Dentsu Aegis Network’s Australian and New Zealand operations from today.

The business comprises 24 brands in Australia, including Carat, Vizeum, Isobar and i-Prospect, with 1800 full-time staff.

Some of their major clients ­include retailers David Jones and Woolworths as well as Disney, Jaguar Land Rover and L’Oreal.

Mr Tajer said he will focus on developing Dentsu digital arm, building up staff talent as well as “nurturing ideas and creativity”.

The global ad industry is scrambling to beef up their digital capabilities as tech giants, including Facebook and Google, turn up the heat.

Indeed, Mark Read, who took the helm of the world’s largest ad agency WPP last September, is also pushing the rival group’s network of creative agencies, including its local offshoot, to work closer with their digital-advertising and data science companies.

Mr Tajer said there was no order from Japanese parent company Dentsu on what to do with the local business.

“Nothing has been asked of me to go out and do that. But common sense prevails always, and if we can simplify ourselves so that it enables us to grow and provide better capabilities and services, then we do that.

“We don’t want to be a burden to be dealing with, we want to be easy,” Mr Tajer said.

He said he would take as much time as he could to assess the operations and future opportunities.

“I’d like to think that within six months I’ll have a good sense of what the opportunities in the business are,” he said. “If I then can,­together with the team, put in place a strategy and plan to deliver on the opportunities over the next six to 12 months, then I think that would be a good outcome.”

Mr Tajer said the combination of Dentsu’s different businesses was the main driver to returning to an ad agency after a five-month stint at Amazon as managing ­director of media services.

“That portfolio of capability was really appealing. What I’m ­really excited by is how we can find a way to get all those different companies to work together and centre themselves around our ­client and their needs,” he said.

Of his brief time at Amazon in Australia, Mr Tajer said the operations were impressive.

“In that five months, I got a very small sort of peak at how platforms operate their business, the ways in which they make decisions, the mechanisms they put into their ­organisation to enable them to move quickly and to deploy ­resources to opportunities.

“The way Amazon do that and their approach is really impressive, if there are some of those issues I can take away with me, and apply those within the Dentsu organisation that would be a great thing for the organisation, the people involve and the outcome hopefully.

“An obvious example is ­enabling the workforce at Amazon to be agile and to move quickly by providing a number of services ­internally on a self-serve basis.

“Obviously tech players, like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Microsoft, can develop technology for themselves more readily, but it really highlighted the importance on leveraging technology to simplify some of the most mundane and repetitive tasks,” he said.

“There are a number of things that happen within agency structures that could be facilitated better through technology, but it requires investment.

“There’s a strong case to invest, I think the market is now ready for a little bit of internal innovation and internal investment to become better partners to clients and to become better places to work for the team and the talent pool.

“The biggest challenge for the ad industry this year as in previous years is managing, developing and nurturing talent.

“It’s all about talent — talent determines everything.

“My hope is we can stimulate and cultivate growth in the business as the business grows that means we’ll bring more people in.

“I’m sure, like most new ­incoming people into businesses, there’ll be some things I think may be best if we changed.”

Before Amazon, Mr Tajer worked at IPG Mediabrands for eight years, the last three years as CEO in New York. He also spent four years at media and advertising agency Universal McCann, as CEO of its Australian business and APAC president.

Mr Tajer will take over from Simon Ryan, who left in November to join online classifieds group carsales.com.au as managing ­director of commercial.

Dentsu Aegis has also poached ANZ’s Anthea Kane as its new chief financial officer, taking over from interim CFO Jeff Askew.