Dentsu Aegis Network, the advertising agency group formed from the merger of Dentsu and Aegis in 2014, has combined its Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia finance, legal, IT and communications teams in a bid to cut costs.
The merger has led to a number of key staff leaving the business, including the regional chief financial officer of Dentsu, Theo Lau.
Also departing are Ujjwal Sarao, Dentsu’s regional talent management director for Dentsu Asia, Thijs Plug, the regional director of marketing and communications for Dentsu Aegis Network Southeast Asia, and Lavinia Rajaram, regional marketing and corporate communications manager.
Plug and Rajaram reported to the Southeast Asia CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, Dick Van Motman.
In an email to staff, Nick Waters, APAC CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, said that while the objectives set out after the merger of Dentsu and Aegis had been achieved, and success was not to be defined by cost savings, merging some of the APAC and Southeast Asia functions would create a more efficient working structure.
“It is the responsibility of management to run the business as efficiently as possible and eliminate duplicate costs in order to invest in productive areas of the business,” Waters wrote.
The departures will mean corp comms will now be led by Laura Green-Wilkinson, regional director of marketing and communications. Finance will be led by Steven McNaught, APAC CFO, and regional HR by Kinch Ong.
The email from Waters reads:
As you know Dentsu Aegis Network was created effective January 1st 2014. The strategic objectives for the merger were for accelerated revenue growth based on the combination of assets managed through the unique operating model.
These objectives are widely viewed to have been achieved so far on a global basis, and here in the Asia Pacific region.
The success of the merger was not to be defined by cost savings so whilst we have looked to find efficiencies from combining the businesses this has not been a primary objective. However, it is the responsibility of management to run the business as efficiently as possible and eliminate duplicate costs in order to invest in productive areas of the business.
With this in mind we have identified the opportunity to create a more efficient and effective working structure by consolidating the Asia Pacific and SEA functions – Finance, Legal, IT and Communications.
As a result Theo Lau, Ujjwal Saerao, Thijs Plug, and Lavinia Rajaram will be leaving the business. I take this opportunity to thank them for their contribution to the group.
Steve, Kinch and Laura will ensure that Dick and the SEA country teams remain fully supported in their functional areas. There is no change in the IT and Legal functional management.
Soon after the merger was completed in January 2014, Dentsu Aegis introduced a new regional structure led by Waters, with Van Motman running Southeast Asia as CEO.
The agency group has been on an acquisition drive in Southeast Asia since the merger, buying JaymeSyfu and Aspac in the Philippines, and Mangham Gaxiola and B2B agency Band in Singapore.
