Dentsu's Restructure: A Step Towards Growth with Merkury for Media

Since Michael Komasinski took over as Americas CEO at Dentsu, significant changes have been made to the company's structure. These changes include:

• Streamlining its media brands down to three: Carat, Dentsu X, and iProspect.
• Assigning new missions to these brands and appointing a new boss, Sean Reardon, who became CEO of Americas media practice.
• Utilizing Merkle, a data, tech, and media firm acquired by Dentsu in 2016, to create a suite of SaaS tools and products.
• Launching Merkury for Media, which integrates Dentsu’s media planning and buying with first-party data from Merkury to optimize business outcomes.

Merkury for Media is a product that aims to integrate all of Dentsu’s media for clients with first-party data from Merkury, a global data, identity, and insights platform. It is designed to optimize business outcomes across Dentsu's linear and digital media planning and buying by:

• Grounding tools in identity.
• Working across channels.
• Allowing for identity-driven connected experiences for clients.

This integration is part of Dentsu's strategy to move from ideation to execution and to address issues that arose in the media planning process and activation stages with their previous data platform, M1.

Dentsu's restructuring has had a positive impact on client acquisition. The new alignments and focus on integrating data and technology with media services have attracted new clients. For instance:

• Kraft Heinz moved its U.S. media duties to Carat, drawn by the personalization capabilities offered through the integration with Merkury.
• iProspect won new media business from Ferrero and Moneygram, leveraging its performance-driven heritage combined with Merkle’s data abilities.
• Dentsu X landed southern restaurant chain Zaxby’s as a new client and is rumored to have won the media business for Tropicana.
• Carat also secured the media business for Papa John’s.

These wins suggest that the restructuring has enabled Dentsu to offer solutions with less friction and a more compelling value proposition to clients.