OMD's Recently Appointed COO Ponders Over the Evolving Advertising Sector's Job Description
A New Global Executive Role at OMD
In a bid to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving media landscape, advertising agency OMD has appointed Ellen Griffin as its new President and Global Chief Operating Officer (COO). This strategic move aims to create effective working models for clients that can adapt to the complexities of the industry.
Griffin's role, part of the Omnicom network, is a global position that focuses on pulling capabilities and talent together from across OMD and the Omnicom network. Her primary objective is to design and implement future-ready, customized operating models that integrate multiple capabilities and platforms across the network, addressing diverse regional requirements and business challenges.
The focus of this executive is on the agency's services, platforms, and technology. She is expected to find new technologies and ways of working, coordinating capabilities and talent across OMD and the Omnicom network, and creating processes and ways of working that lead to efficiencies and support growth.
The role is similar to that of a COO in a business, aiming to support the growth and efficiency of the agency by implementing new technologies and ways of working. Griffin is tasked with aligning diverse teams and capabilities, breaking down silos across client services, technology, data, creativity, and commerce to ensure a unified, streamlined approach to delivering value to clients globally.
Griffin's role also involves partnering closely with other C-suite leaders such as the CEO, CTO, CMO, CFO, and General Counsel to ensure operational strategies support broader business goals, technology adoption, marketing effectiveness, compliance, and financial discipline.
In a fragmented and technology-driven media landscape, the global COO serves as a linchpin for operational excellence, innovative client solutions, and cohesive global delivery. For example, Griffin's role at OMD involves harnessing Omnicom’s full capabilities to support clients in markets including China, Korea, and North America, combining media, data, CRM, commerce, and creative services to solve complex business problems and unlock growth.
The new role is expected to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of OMD's operations for its clients, helping the agency navigate and make use of new technologies in the media landscape. This executive is expected to focus on creating ways of working across a given agency's services, platforms, and technology, ensuring resilience and competitive advantage for clients by adapting organizational structures and workflows to keep pace with accelerated disruptions and challenges in the marketplace.
- Ellen Griffin, in her new role as Global COO at OMD, will focus on finding and integrating new technologies to drive growth and efficient operations across the agency's business, ensuring resilience and competitive advantage in a technology-driven media landscape.
- Griffin's objective in this global executive role, as part of the Omnicom network, is to design future-ready operating models that integrate multiple capabilities and platforms, addressing diverse regional requirements and business challenges, thereby driving growth and finance for the agency.
