Tiago Vargas, who took over the management of the company just over a year and a half ago, has the mission of integrating all the agencies
An engineer by training who began his career and spent a long time at Accenture, Tiago Vargas took over Dentsu Brasil about a year and a half ago with the mission of integrating all agencies. After this restructuring process, whose consultancy expertise was fundamental to implementing a model of operating under a matrix management, independent of brand and with capabilities, the executive states that the time is now for expansion.
This year, we aim to grow with new clients and everything else, but very much within the core services, creative, media and technology, he highlights. In the following interview, Vargas also talks about how his consulting mindset helped in reorganizing processes within the group and his opinion on how artificial intelligence will improve
productivity and next steps.
How was 2023 for Dentsu?
We had a good year. It wasn’t so good because it was the end of our reorganization process. But it was very good in terms of results. We passed on what we had committed to and now we have a really cool team, each one in their own place, knowing how to do the work in a very integrated way. And this is a year for growth. We have been in a recovery process for many years. We grew a lot through acquisition. And about four years ago the group began the process of reorganization, of downsizing. And a year and a half ago, when I took over, we combined all the brands and ended up with the Dentsu brand. And we removed all the positions that were duplicates in leadership. We simplified and added a reporting line and changed it to a matrix organization, independent of brand, what we call capabilities.
We have five: technology, media, creation, data & analytics and strategy capabilities. And a cross, which is the business area. And this cross precisely understands the customer’s pain. And, obviously, when you do this whole joining process, it takes a little while to start working in the best way possible. And this process took about six to eight months to start to get going, in terms of working as a team, especially to make pitches. But, at the end of last year, for example, we gained two clients (which cannot yet be revealed for contractual reasons). And we are participating in several pitches. Normally, the first quarter slower. But we’re with Ajinomoto and Amstel on Big Brother Brasil, which is pretty cool. So, we are very much in this growth vibe.
And is there any news on the team?
We just brought in Dolla (Ricardo Lima) as the new CCO to take care of the creation capability. And he’s not just a creative. He is a guy who will help the agency grow the creative area, who will go to the market to help open doors and manage the team in the best possible way. The great mindsight grow this year.
How many people are in the operation today?
Today, it has almost 500 people, considering the three companies that are also part of the group: Tag, DWS and Navegg. Navegg is a CDP platform and the largest audience provider for the digital world in Latin America. And there is the Tag team, acquired last year, which produces content on a large scale. Tag in Brazil has an operation of around 50 to 60 people, who create content for large clients, such as Unilever and other brands globally. Everything that Tag in Brazil does for Latin America is its specialty. And there is DWS, a software house, located in the south of Brazil, in Porto Alegre. It provides a lot of service to Europe, the United States and Brazil. So, everything technology, apps, web, innovation and AI is done within this hub. This movement of restructuring and integration of Dentsu’s global brands. In Brazil, we operate with Dentsu and iProspect. iProspect largely because of Heineken and because it has clients in the same sector.
And how did customers receive this integration?
Initially, everyone thinks there is a way to reduce costs. But, in the end, bringing the integration of brands within a single leadership gives a lot of face to the agency. Today, we don’t have a way of operating the media like NBS, McGarrybowen or Dentsu, we have just one way of operating the media, which is very focused on efficiency. We believe that average is all about efficiency. Innovation for the sake of innovation does not exist. There is innovation focused on seeking to optimize and improve the performance of a given medium, with a unique guideline. When customers started to see this activity, they understood that it made sense to go in this direction.
