A disjointed Wavemaker reinvents itself

Wavemaker's 2020 reinvention was not spurred on by the pandemic, like many of its counterparts. It was driven by global CEO Toby Jenner, who immediately set about reinventing the agency positioning, leadership structure and planning framework when he joined towards the end of 2019 following an 11-year stint at sister agency MediaCom.

Jenner's ultimate goal was to create more unity across Wavemaker's markets—a recognition that it was relying on a handful of strong markets rather than driving consistent performance across all. This spurred the creation of a regional leadership team in APAC.

Beyond a new leadership structure, Wavemaker 2.0 involved a new proposition, called “positive provocation”, that sought to clarify what the agency stands for, a new global OS that brought the agency’s products and tools into one system, as well as a “provocative planning” process.

How did all this flux affect business growth and staff? Our full Agency Report Card on Wavemaker—with the overall grade plus a detailed analysis and scores for management; innovation; clients and business; creativity; and people and diversity—is available only to Campaign Asia-Pacific members.

Become a member to get access to all 39 of the 2020 Agency Report Cards, plus many additional benefits.