President, Global Accounts
It’s not often that an agency in a mature region can speak of 10-fold increases over five years, but Omnicom’s Peter Magnani has the right to boast.
With a characteristic humility, he admits, “My track record of driving business growth in-market and internationally has been based on innovation by default, as Omnicom Media Group was one of the last networks to be developed, so we had a blank canvas to work with, which was both inspiring and a bit scary. Underpinning our growth has been the development of an entrepreneurial culture that demands creativity, which has led to the ongoing evolution of our products and services, most recently within the data/digital ecosystem.”
As President of Global Accounts, he outlines, “A few key innovative moves served as the catalyst for the significant growth of Omnicom Media Group’s London hub, which saw income increase 10-fold with staff numbers tripling between 2005 -10. Those key changes included the integration of digital services into OMD International’s core product offering, the creation of a strategic planning hub, and the acquisition of future-facing expertise. This product innovation was also the key driver of the agency’s emergence as Omnicom Media Group’s international ‘center of media excellence.’”
With a template for success established in London, the next phase of their growth strategy was to drive innovation and creativity across all aspects of business and territories in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Peter continues, “We created the ‘Innovation for Growth’ Program in order to drive creativity across the region and celebrate the inventiveness of all our people, irrespective of role. The Program comprises three elements: regular sharing sessions and workshops across the year, the Innovation for Growth Awards process and, finally, its culmination at an annual Conference and Awards Ceremony (to date held in London, Paris, Budapest and this year in Dublin). This program reflects all the aspects of our network that allow us to do great work for clients, both front and back of house. Innovation by office management, finance, HR and IT is shared and celebrated along with the more obvious client-facing disciplines. The awards are judged in commercial terms and have allowed the often unsung and more junior heroes of our business (and potential future leaders) to be recognized for the work they do on a daily basis, which helps us continue to grow profitably.”
Among the many initiatives that have been successfully shared and implemented across the last four years are the adoption of Strategic Planning Hubs (in Paris, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Milan and Dubai), Content and Design production facilities across all key markets, an automated finance billing system originated in Germany and an Investment and Accountability database originated in France.
A Londoner who’s worked in the UK, New York and Paris, as well as an early post-university stint in Brazil, he’s clear about how to best characterize “innovation.” He says, “In my experience, innovation is about people collaborating and a lot of perspiration rather than individual moments of inspiration. All of the best, most enjoyable and effective work I have been a part of has originated this way.”