Dentsu consolidates more Australian operations into Merkle and Isobar

Dentsu is continuing to consolidate in Australia, folding more of its data-driven customer experience and B2B marketing operations into both Merkle and Isobar. 

Amicus Digital, Davanti Australia, DWA and Gyro will now all reside within Merkle Australia, which will become the network’s go-to-market brand for Salesforce CXM solutions, along with B2B marketing capabilities.

Meanwhile, Accordant, Dentsu’s data-driven customer experience consultancy, will integrate into Isobar to form a specialist Adobe practice, underpinned by creative, marketing and technology services.

The aim, says Dentsu ANZ CEO Angela Tangas, is for clients to have easier access to solutions that involve everything from enterprise technology, CRM, digital platforms, loyalty and commerce solutions, to data and analytics, business transformation strategy, and B2B marketing.

“Customer behaviours and expectations changed in 2020, and we can only expect to see more brands shifting their focus on creating and realising intuitive customer experiences," Tangas said. “Merkle and Isobar’s growth is being driven by organisations needing help to transform their end-to-end customer experience. This is where competitive advantage can be maximised and we’re already seeing increasing demand for our expertise in strategy, digital and data transformation, and CX technology.

Merkle Australia's managing director Blair Cooke will continue to lead the CX management firm along with commercial director Jessie Mitchell. Merkle’s B2B capability will now be led by DWA managing director Samantha Cunliffe and Gyro's Christine Mills as creative business director.

Dentsu also announced some new strategic hires in Australia, notably new Melbourne general manager Richard Phillips who joined recently from Wunderman where he served as COO.

Accordant co-founders Steve Knowles and Scott King are each taking on newly created roles within Dentsu Australia. Knowles becomes chief growth officer, with a focus on connecting Adobe CX capabilities with clients, while King becomes vice-president of enterprise solutions for Isobar in ANZ, also leading Adobe capability practices. 

These latest moves follow other consolidations in Australia since Tangas became ANZ CEO just over a year ago. Last August, Vizeum was folded into iProspect, and earlier this month various sports businesses were brought under the umbrella of Dentsu Sports International, as part of a global realignment.