‘THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE FAST’

The Dentsu Aegis Network recently acquired a creative agency, moved into new digs and announced some big plans for the future. Damien Venuto chats to chief executive Rob Harvey about where he’s headed and why he’s moving at such speed.

Dentsu Aegis caught the attention of everyone in adland this year with the acquisition of indie agency Barnes Catmur & Friends. It was a move that seemingly came out of nowhere, and signified that the agency had some big intentions for the local market.

Barnes Catmur added another dimension to an agency group that already included media agencies Carat and Vizeum, search and performance specialist iprospect and lifestyle marketing brand MKTG.

“The acquisition of Barnes Catmur really raised our profile,” says Dentsu Aegis chief executive Rob Harvey as we sit down for yarn about the business.

“This was the first big public move in terms of gaining new capabilities through acquisition.”

The allusion to more acquisitions isn’t a slip of the tongue, with Harvey openly admitting that he’s already eyeing out a few other possibilities.

“Barnes Catmur fills in one of the gaps we see, but there are a number of markets that we’re going to have to enter if we’re going to build a business fit for the future,” Harvey says.

After the Barnes Catmur deal became public, the most well-circulated industry assumption was that Dentsu was looking to establish a full-service agency, but Harvey says it isn’t that simple.