Omnicom Media Group UK Hires Rowe and Collins to Further Strengthen Digital Capabilities

Omnicom Media Group UK has announced the appointment of two significant hires, Henry Rowe and Laura Collins, to further strengthen the agency group’s digital, data and tech capability. 

Rowe will take on the role at OMG UK of Chief Digital Officer and Collins has been appointed as Group Performance Director to further strengthen the groups capabilities and innovation across digital, commerce, data and technology.

Rowe joins from the digital marketing specialist’s agency Theorem, where he oversaw client operations, client strategy, product strategy and international growth. He led a team of over 1000 worldwide, working with customers including Netflix, Salesforce, News Corp and Amazon.

He brings more than two decades of industry experience to OMG UK, with roles including MD at Carat Digital and founder of digital media consultancy and advisory business FaR Partners, which he sold to Theorem in 2015. Rowe is also a mentor for Bloom’s cross-mentoring programme.

Rowe will operate across the entirety of the UK business, supporting agencies on client transformation and leading the ongoing development of the UK groups’ end to end digital capabilities, and group strategy.  He will operate as both Chief Digital and Chief Strategy Officer for the UK group and report directly to Dan Clays, OMG UK chief executive, sitting on the OMG UK Board.

Collins, who was named as Campaign magazine’s Female Frontier Honouree 2021 for her contribution to diversity and inclusion, joins from Merkle, where she was VP – Head of Media.  At Merkle, she developed the agency’s central search, social and performance offerings, having previously led similar initiatives at Periscopix.  As the UK Group Performance Director, Collins will work with the agency teams to drive OMG’s overall performance proposition, helping the agencies stay ahead of the market. She will report in to Rowe.

Dan Clays, OMG UK CEO, said: “We have exceptional digital talent operating both in the agencies and centrally at OMG and as we look forward to a widening set of services needed to support clients’ future  growth ambitions and communications needs,  it is imperative we continue to invest further in digital talent and leadership.

Henry brings deep technical expertise and experience through a strategic lens, and has operated in holding group businesses, independent, digital marketing services and consulted inside clients. Everyone he’s worked with – agencies, clients and partners – waxes lyrical about him, and he’s a strong believer in building brilliant cultures.  His appointment reflects our ongoing focus on having the most advanced digital, data and technology capabilities in market for clients, and development opportunities for our talent.   And I’m equally delighted to have Laura join us.   She’s an exceptional talent, with real expertise, who understands both the needs of the agencies and clients – and is hugely passionate about talent and an inclusive culture.

On his appointment Rowe commented: “The model of combining successful integrated agency brands with agile access to a range of central specialist expertise is both progressive and client-centric. I’m looking forward to developing and accelerating OMG’s capabilities across digital, commerce, data and technology to further drive transformation for clients. There’s a definite recognition that the skills and expertise needed to solve clients’ challenges are becoming more complex so it’s a really exciting time to be joining the business.”

Collins said: “As the industry recovers from a year of one seismic shift after another, we are on the cusp of untold opportunity and OMG is perfectly poised to lead that charge. Every agency in the group has a stellar reputation but in addition to this OMG is a business that’s connected, collaborative, and hungry to keep pushing boundaries together. I can’t wait to get stuck in to accelerating OMG’s digital proposition and aligning teams behind a common goal to deliver even more value to clients.”