Dentsu turns to Australia to find its new UK & Ireland chief executive

Dentsu International has turned to Australia to find its new chief executive to run the UK and Ireland.

Angela Tangas, the chief executive of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) for Dentsu International since 2019, will move to London and start in the UK&I role in September 2022.

Japanese-owned Dentsu International has been without a CEO in the UK&I, its second most important market after the US, since the end of 2021 after Euan Jarvie departed after three-and-a-half years in the job.

The UK operation has about 4,000 staff and Tangas will oversee its three core service lines – media, creative and customer experience management (CXM) – “with responsibility for further evolving Dentsu UK&I as the most integrated, experience-led network in the UK market”, according to the company.

Dentsu International credited Tangas with overseeing a “significant business turnaround” in ANZ – with a “focus on teaming, talent development, diversity and inclusion, underpinned by a strong commitment to social good.”

Tangas was born and raised in Melbourne and spent her career working in the ANZ market.

She brings experience beyond advertising as she previously worked at iSelect, a price comparison website, where she was group executive of its energy and telecommunications division, before joining Dentsu in 2018, initially as chief commercial officer in ANZ.

Tangas has worked through two major global restructures at Dentsu International before and during the pandemic as the parent company moved from 160 agency brands around the world to three core service lines and six key global agencies – Carat, DentsuMcGarryBowen, Dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar and Merkle.

She oversaw the consolidation of 26 agency brands in the ANZ market and a return to growth, driven by digital transformation work for clients, and she sees parallels with how the UK&I has simplified its business over the same period.

Tangas has a particular focus on “teaming” to get different parts of the organisation working collaboratively on Dentsu’s products and services.

She said: “I strongly believe in the power of teaming – bringing brilliant, diverse minds together to solve the problems of today and pre-empt the opportunities of tomorrow for our people, clients, partners and society.

“The UK market is one of the most innovative in the world with some of the most progressive consumer expectations of brands.

“The opportunity to lead this team of talented humans, partnering with some of the most exciting organisations to unlock a new set of value dynamics, is a very compelling opportunity.”

Giulio Malegori, EMEA chief executive of Dentsu International, said: “The UK&I is one of the largest and most significant advertising markets in the world and, following a period of intense simplification, the business is accelerating its growth potential.