Accenture Interactive boss set to join marketing giant Dentsu Aegis

24 July 2018 Consultancy.uk

In the latest development in the on-going competition between the advertising and consulting world, global marketing firm Dentsu Aegis has headhunted one of Accenture Interactive’s founders. Christine Removille will take on the Presidency of Carat Global.

Altogether, Carat Global consists of 35,000 people spread across five continents, and works to deliver brand, media and digital communications solutions for its clients. Carat is a member of the Dentsu Aegis Network, a multinational media and digital marketing communications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese advertising and public relations firm Dentsu.

Christine Removille, who is currently the Managing Director for Europe, Latin, America & Africa for Accenture Interactive, will be installed as the new Carat Global President at the beginning of September 2018, following the departure of incumbent Will Swayne to a new global leadership role “focused on delivering integrated, digital economy solutions”, though Carat has not specified the exact title Swayne will hold. Removille, who has led Accenture Interactive from an office in Paris for eight years, is one of the founders of the consultancy's design wing. At Carat, Removille will play a pivotal role in supporting clients as the Dentsu subsidiary looks to put “customers at the heart of their businesses for the digital economy,” according to a statement from the firm.

The move will see Removille call time on a 20-year association with Accenture, having arrived at the firm in 1998, working her way up from Strategy Consultant to Partner over the course of the following 11 years. In 2012, Removille moved to Accenture Analytics, becoming Managing Director for France, Belgium, and the Netherlands for the next three years, before helping to launch the Interactive brand. While the change in scenery sees the end of one long-term business relationship, however, it sees the renewal of another, as Removille returns to Carat, where she spent the time between 1996 and 1997 as a Senior International Account Director, in charge of international media strategy for large Consumer Package Good Manufacturers such as Danone and the European Commission. Before this, Removille worked at Publicis creative shop Leo Burnett.

Removille said of her new role, “I am thrilled to become part of Dentsu Aegis Network to lead the next wave of transformation with Carat. My decision to join Dentsu Aegis Network was driven by their unique people-based data platform, the integrated operating model and completeness of marketing services. It is an exciting time and consulting talents combining business acumen, analytics and technology will add value in the agency landscape.”

Dentsu’s Peter Huijboom, CEO of media brands and global clients, said, “Christine is an energetic, transformative leader and brings a wealth of experience in building media and digital services and a deep passion for innovation and product development."

Removille’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the advertising industry, as the line between consulting duties and those of media agencies increasingly blurs. Speaking at a recent event hosted by the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, IBM iX executive Matt Candy, said that a standalone strategy is no longer sufficient as consultancies look to compete for clients in a crowded market. He elaborated, “[Strategy] now needs to be accompanied by creating and making, such that clients can touch and feel solutions, not just hear about what they could have. In consulting, we didn’t possess the storytellers, the artists, the creators and the makers.”

This is a process moving in both directions, however, and in terms of the agency world, Candy added that due to this trend, the sector had been forced to start to build consulting skills. This has already been exemplified by the beefing up of advertising giant WPP’s recently unified advisory organ, Kantar Consulting. Speaking at the time of its consolidation, Phil Smiley, Kantar Consulting’s CEO, had commented, “We live in a new era of consumption. Growth can no longer be assumed, yet there are more, not fewer, opportunities to build breakout brands and new lines of business. Future growth exists, but beyond the comfort zone of most organisations; it is more granular, less siloed and more opportunistic.”