What you need to know:

• Danny Bass has started his second week as CEO of Dentsu Media.
• The former Snap, IPG Mediabrands, GroupM and News Corp exec says media is still a “fundamental ask” of Dentsu, which has been structurally simplifying and offering more in the way of business transformation products.
• Remote working makes it hard for an agency to develop a good culture, Bass reckons, and he says two or three days a week in the office isn't too much to ask for staff. 
• On talent, Bass says the industry needs to expand its hiring pools, which will create a more diverse - and reflective - workforce. 
• As the industry moves to decarbonise, Bass says there's a question of media plans being created for effectiveness or being net zero that still needs to be addressed. 
• Bass disagrees with RyanCap founder and former Dentsu CEO Simon Ryan that the days of global holdcos in Australia are over. 

Ask Danny Bass what Dentsu’s long term strategic goals are amid a groupwide re-emphasis on tech and consulting, and he’ll tell you – as of Thursday last week – that he’s “day four” and “not best placed to answer that”. But media isn’t going anywhere.

Dentsu Media’s new chief, a former exec at News Corp, GroupM, Mediabrands and Snap, who left the market earlier in the year to focus on his now thrice-flooded Berry Hill Farm retreat along the Hawkesbury River in Sydney, says booking media remains a “fundamental ask” of Dentsu’s clients, but being an advisor through deepening economic headwinds, an increasingly fractured media industry and a persistent talent crisis will also be critical.

Media agencies must hire from other industries or risk exacerbating flattening growth – there are 1,600 digital roles open at the moment in Australia, per figures Bass says were mentioned at Adweek. Agencies also must navigate the new normal of remote working, crunched ‘office’ culture and competition from Big Tech for people. For the record, Bass says he thinks two or three days in the office is a “fair ask”.

Bass respectfully disagrees with RyanCap founder Simon Ryan’s analysis that media agency groups will fail in Australia – “Would you be surprised if Simon said anything else? I’ll leave that there” – and says while carbon neutrality is coming for media, there’ll be a collision of results and sustainability demands in the short to medium term.

Dentsu’s media

In June, Bass announced he had resigned from Snap, the company behind Snapchat, where he had worked as a Director for the previous 10 months. He told Mi3 at the time it was a personal decision, and that he wished the team well as he focused on his 75-acre property. Fast-forward a few months, and the departure of Sue Squillace as CEO of Dentsu Media and Carat, with Dentsu ANZ boss Angela Tangas’ imminent departure to lead the UK and Ireland operation, left a big role to fill. Enter Bass.

“Dentsu has a clear growth strategy,” he says. “The chats with Angela and the team over the last couple of weeks really brought home to me how strong the new leadership team that has been put in place is. And if you look at the background of most, if not all, of those people are from non-traditional advertising and media backgrounds. It's presented a really interesting opportunity for me.”

Dentsu has been restructuring over the past few years – as have the rest of the holding companies. Reducing the number of brands, simplifying the positioning and brand proposition, and shifting to accommodate other market dynamics.

“It's focused on areas that clients not just want now, but we'd certainly one eye on the future as well, what they require, and having brands such as Merkle to support our media brands, Carat, iProspect and then the work that Kirsty (Muddle) has been doing with Dentsu Creative, made it an incredibly attractive opportunity,” Bass adds.

There’s an impression in market that Dentsu has been re-focusing on more consulting and tech services – Bass can’t speak to that perception.

“I mean, I'm here to lead the media division … Dentsu has assembled really innovative and interesting integrated teams across the business. I would say they're looking to solve client problems, create ideas, drive innovation, but also what they're doing on the people side I think is really interesting as well,” he says.

“I think the market has changed from – if you go back five or six years, what do people look to media agencies for? If you look at the volume from a number of years ago, that volume certainly isn't as big as it once was. But there's certainly more innovation, more creativity, more work done with clients in areas that even a few years ago were way out of scope.”

Dentsu is “and aways will be a media group”, he adds, but business transformation and a wider range of products are also on the table now.

“But we have developed, we will continue to evolve to reflect certainly where we want to go, but also what we anticipate clients will expect. Booking media is still a fundamental ask of any client, either existing or during a pitch. They entrust us with probably one of the two largest items on their P&L, and that's a great responsibility that we have to take very, very seriously. A lot of the conversations that are happening with clients around media spend are the same that have been happening for many years and I don't envisage that changing over the coming years,” he says.

“However, the role of advisor, how we walk shoulder to shoulder with those clients and help them with business transformation as media continues to fragment, the role we play in that, but we'll continue to develop new products … working within the group to ensure that it's not just the media solution we put in front of clients, but through business transformation.”

Agency culture and talent crunch  

The way many businesses operate has transformed over the past two years, and not always in positive ways. There are thousands of vacant roles in the industry at the moment due to shortages of talent – about 10 per cent of digital advertising, according to the IAB, while remote working is changing the way agencies and clients interact. One of Mi3’s most-read stories in 2021 was Pedestrian CEO Matt Rowley’s take that remote working and Zoom drinks would destroy younger talent’s best years – Bass tends to agree. “I think building those relationships in the office together is incredibly important,” he says.

Dentsu has a very flexible approach, Bass says, but he admits he’s not across exactly where the competition sits on that front. Extended lockdowns have transformed ‘work’, and the ability that’s given new parents, remote staff and other people to work is “incredible”.

“But that's highlighting the short-term benefits that we've seen and I don't think those things will ever be unwound again – and that's a good thing. What we've not seen and what we're yet to see are the long-term effects of this change in working culture and I think that will only become apparent in the coming years,” Bass says.

“And that's around culture, that's around how a business can stay together, to grow together… it's not my decision, it's a group decision. But yeah, I would like to think two to three days [in the office] is a fair ask for people.”

Business culture, relationships with clients, and even gauging employee mental health is harder while remote. But crucially, skills and training are very difficult to replicate over a video call.

“I think about throughout my career sat next to experienced people, be they strategists, traders, leaders, executives or whatever, and you just pick that stuff up and you can't do that from home, you just can't,” he says.

“Making sure that people who want that experience and training to be better craft experts, you've got to make sure that we create an environment in the office that's safe and welcome and open, gives people a chance to be better media professionals.”

Media’s traditional talent hunting grounds – planeloads of young, talented UK people, for example – aren’t fertile enough, and it’s time to look elsewhere.

“Our traditional hiring pools, they're just not strong enough anymore… I don't think Australia is as an attractive destination as it once was. We've got to find a different way,” he says.

“We've got to be more open to getting people from different backgrounds into the industry. And I think once we do, we get a more diverse workforce, we get better thinking, wider thinking, more diverse in terms of ethnicity as well, different socioeconomic groups, and ultimately that reflects the buying, the consumer who we represent for our clients.”

Net zero

The push for the media industry to decarbonise has arrived, but Bass says it raises some tough questions and conversations. There is a focus on where media spend is going, driven as much by employees as it is by clients.

“The question is, when the final plan is being put together, is the ultimate decision based on net zero or based on effectiveness and results?” he says.

“And I think that's the thing that will need to be decided over the coming years. How important is the priority to focus on a more ethical and sustainable choice of media? Or will effectiveness and results always outweigh that decision?”

Holdco futures

Former Dentsu CEO Simon Ryan, who departed in 2019 and has since launched his own holding company, RyanCap, has told Mi3 and other trade titles consistently that major international holding companies and media agency networks are challenged and will struggle - similar to the lines from former WPP boss and S4 founder Sir Martin Sorrell. Bass, unsurprisingly, disagrees.

“Would you be surprised if Simon said anything else? I'll leave that there. I believe we do have a future. We have a very, very strong future. I think we have future proofed ourselves as an industry over the previous couple of years,” he says.

“That's not to say there's challenges ahead. We work in one of the most competitive markets in the world. We probably have one of, if not the, healthiest indie market in the world as well. And good luck to everyone in that space. It's all about making the industry stronger and a good place to work. But we've never hired more people than ever before. I'm sure if you spoke to the heads of OMG or IPG or GroupM, they would say the same.”

2022 and 2023 are set to be the year of retail media surging, cross pollination of different media channels and global players entering TV markets. It’s going to be more aggressive going forward, Bass says.

“I felt it just coming back in for the first few days, the questions around 'what's next year going to look like'. You've obviously got the run home and that's probably looking a little bit tight from what I can see right now,” he says.

“I think from a digital perspective, Mark Zuckerberg came out firing last week and was very clear on his expectation of the growth he wants to see. I think locally, TikTok are coming into probably the third full year in the market, and they've hired aggressively, and no doubt the demands to bring revenue to reflect that investment will be high as well. Then obviously all the local publishers and the amount invested in things like BVOD, et cetera. TV still goes strong. So it's going to be a very aggressive market next year, there's no question about that.