Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. has named Blake Cuthbert CEO of OMD for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Cuthbert joins OMD from the London office of global management consulting firm Bain & Company, where as an Expert Partner he advised international clients on developing brand, creative, technology and media strategies. He succeeds Guy Marks, who last month was named CEO of Omnicom Media Group EMEA.
For Cuthbert, the appointment marks a return to both the agency world and Omnicom, where for close to a decade he worked seamlessly across the creative, media and technology spaces within the DDB and OMD agency networks. Rising to Chief Digital Officer of OMD EMEA, he led the development and expansion of OMD’s digital capabilities across 63 markets.
Joining Bain & Co at the start of 2019, Cuthbert launched the EMEA hub for FRWD@Bain – the company’s marketing and e-commerce capability that accelerates and scales marketing transformation for the world’s leading brands, enabling long-term sustained growth. As a Bain & Co Expert Partner, Cuthbert worked side-by-side with global marketing leaders to design, build, and scale future-facing marketing strategies.
“Blake’s Bain experience has given him in-the-room visibility and insight to the challenges that global brands face, and the solutions they require to achieve both results and business transformation,” says OMG EMEA CEO Guy Marks. “This experience, combined with his agency knowledge, makes him uniquely qualified to develop and scale these solutions to drive business outcomes for our clients in a dramatically evolving marketplace.”
Adds OMD Worldwide CEO George Manas, “At a time when marketing transformation is a top priority for businesses, Blake’s experience will be an invaluable asset in growing this increasingly important service area and elevating the agency/client relationship from transactional to transformational. He’s the right leader at the right time as OMD EMEA looks to leverage the momentum built over the past year.”
Cuthbert takes on his new role at OMD EMEA as it comes off a record performance year in which it tripled its YOY new business billings, topping the 2021 COMvergence Net New Business ranking in the region; and earning the top slot on the RECMA Diagnostics Report, which named OMD as EMEA’s best performing media network.
“The one core thing that I have learnt when working with Bain’s clients is the importance of adopting new ways of working in cross functional teams to deliver bold marketing ambitions,” says Cuthbert. “As CEO, my priority is to combine OMD’s deep expert talent, the Omni platform, and our clients ever evolving capabilities to drive maximum business impact.”
Summing up his thoughts as he takes on his new role Cuthbert says, “I’ve watched how OMD has continued to grow and transform in the years since I’ve left – I couldn’t have picked a more exciting time to return.”
Cuthbert will be headquartered in London. His official start date is May 9.
