All of those leaders report directly to DeMiero, who said that when he got the job, Global CEO of UM Worldwide Eileen Kiernan gave him a remit to “double down on what’s working, but look at the model differently.”
The reorganization is meant to “bust silos” that divide practices in favor of a flatter, less geographically focused leadership structure to help with company culture and—in the long run—client retention, DeMiero said.
“We’re always looking for ways to take advantage of our capabilities in more seamless ways, so that your team can be more successful on behalf of your clients,” DeMiero said. “The intention of this is to create a flatter organization where teams are more empowered, more on the front lines of what they’re doing with the right tools to get done what they need to get done with the leaders who can create the environment where they can be at their best.”
Creating the chief planning officer, chief intelligence officer and chief client officer roles is meant to consolidate the agency’s work under one leader and make collaboration easier across the agency.
In the past, said DeMiero, UM might have had “a West Coast, Central, or an East Coast based team,” operating pretty much independently. “What we actually saw through the pandemic was that clients were less oriented around geography, quite honestly, and more about ‘How do I tap into the best in class talent from around the country?’” he said.
Under the new structure, regardless of where one works, ”you’re connected to a national practice” that “allows you to grow in your career by connecting with strategists from across the agency,” he said.
