Wendy Clark poised to step down as global CEO of Dentsu International

Multiple sources have told Campaign that Wendy Clark is expected to step down as global chief executive of Dentsu International.

There was no confirmation that she is leaving her role.

Campaign has contacted Dentsu and Clark.

At the time of writing, Dentsu had not responded with a comment.

Clark also did not respond.

Doubts about her future in the role will come as a surprise because Clark has only served as CEO of Dentsu’s international business for two years.

She started at Japanese-owned Dentsu on 1 September 2020, after quitting as global chief executive of DDB, the Omnicom-owned creative agency, and is widely regarded as the most senior female agency leader in global advertising. She was previously a marketer at Coca-Cola.

As recently as last month, Clark took part in the Q2 earnings call for Dentsu Group Inc, the Japanese parent company.

Under Clark’s leadership, Dentsu International reported 8.4% organic revenue growth in the first six months of 2022, following a 9.7% increase for the whole of 2021.

Clark was also a highly visible presence at Cannes Lions in June where she announced the creation of Dentsu Creative as the company’s lead creative agency network and she spoke at multiple events and hosted speaker sessions with Ryan Reynolds, the Hollywood actor and entrepreneur, and Evan Spiegel, the chief executive of Snap.

Dentsu Creative Bengaluru went on to win Ad Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions – the first time a Dentsu agency won the prestigious award.

Dentsu is pursuing a “One Dentsu” strategy of bringing the Dentsu Japan and Dentsu International businesses closer.

Dentsu is the world’s fifth largest agency group with about 65,000 staff. The international business outside Japan employs around 45,000 people.