In a conversation with strategy, McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull, Omnicom Advertising Canada CEO Bryan Kane, McCann Canada CSO Joshua Hansen and CCO Jordan Doucette discussed how the agency is leaning on AI expertise, global talent and specialist resources to reshape client relationships.
More than six months after its acquisition by Omnicom, McCann Canada and the holding company say the agency has moved past integration and into execution.
McCann’s focus, global CEO Tyler Turnbull tells strategy, is now on helping clients make better use of the network’s expanded capabilities after the shop was purchased by Omnicom as part of last fall’s acquisition of the Interpublic Group of agencies.
“It’s not on internal structures and changes,” says Turnbull, who moved into the global CEO position in December. “It’s more that, now, we’re able to roll up our sleeves and do what we all love to do, which is build great agencies and make great work.”
Left to right: Tyler Turnbull and Bryan Kane/Images courtesy of Omnicom
In Canada, that’s meant closer collaboration with McCann’s global network, while Eli Ferrara’s appointment as Omnicom’s head of AI has expanded access to emerging technological expertise. Omnicom has also integrated IPG’s data and AI assets into its Omni platform, giving agencies access to a broader set of planning and analytics tools.
“The feedback that I’m getting from clients is the benefit of more,” Kane says. “One of the things that they’ve really appreciated is the ability to tap into resources and specialist capabilities that lived outside of McCann previously … big does not lead to slow. Big creates scale, which creates velocity when done well.”
The executives say the expanded network has also changed how the agency approaches client work, allowing strategy, creative and specialist teams to collaborate earlier in the process and reshaping the way the agency develops briefs and pitches.
“Big does not lead to slow. Big creates scale, which creates velocity when done well.”
Kane says the access to those broader capabilities is changing the nature of client conversations, with agencies increasingly being brought in earlier to develop solutions to problems, rather than simply executing marketing briefs.
“It’s almost like clients are awakening to the fact that this might not lead to a communications outcome,” he says. “This could lead to a product innovation. It could lead to a whole array of things. And that, I think, is a big part of it, saying ‘You’re not just going to answer this with a 30-second television spot.'”
Turnbull says the shift is coinciding with a change in what marketers want from agency partners, with more clients looking to consolidate work among fewer agencies capable of solving a broader range of business challenges.
“One of the trends we’re seeing, in Canada and globally, is many clients are struggling to grow the way they once were,” he says. “I think what’s happening now is, because of this drive for efficiency, as well as more effectiveness related to growth, we’re seeing a bit of a resurgence of clients wanting to have that kind of end-to-end orchestrator.”
The new network framework is also changing how McCann develops ideas through its “Rumble” process, a five-day sprint that brings together strategists, creatives and specialists from disciplines including media, commerce, AI, experiential and PR. Clients brief teams on Monday, with strategy and creative work refined through the week before integrated recommendations are presented by Friday.
Turnbull says the Rumble process has now been used more than a dozen times across six markets, with Canadian teams playing a central role in supporting work for global clients.
“Sometimes it’s hard in Canada for people to feel like they’re going to get all the opportunities, so they leave the country.”
“[Rumbles] have changed some of our internal processes. It’s one community essentially,” says McCann Canada chief strategy officer, Joshua Hansen. “The amazing power of a network is, you get these opportunities, and you can bring learnings back into your own walls. How we’re collaborating between strategy and creative is just different. It just is.”
The new network model combines global scale with local expertise, with the setup, according to McCann Canada CCO, Jordan Doucette, it also gives employees more opportunities to work alongside teams and leaders across markets.
“Sometimes it’s hard in Canada for people to feel like they’re going to get all the opportunities, so they leave the country,” Doucette says. “We’re able to scratch people’s itch in terms of, ‘Hey, you want a big global opportunity? Do you want to be on a pitch? Do you want to go to a Rumble?’ I think what this has given us is opportunity for people. We can show people the work is meaningful.”
The updated infrastructure gives McCann Canada develop its home-grown talent alongside global expertise, while allowing the agency to attract top international professionals, like the Calgary office’s new executive creative Pablo Maldonado.
“Creativity is the most important thing, and the only way that we’re gonna get there is having the best talent,” Doucette says. “And the merger kind of accelerated that for us because we had access to a lot of global support in terms of creative leadership and we made a ton of amazing hires.”
