Andrew Robertson takes over Omnicom Advertising as Troy Ruhanen retires

Andrew Robertson becomes chief executive of Omnicom Advertising with immediate effect, replacing Troy Ruhanen, who is retiring. Omnicom announced the change on 9 September.

Robertson moves across from the BBDO chair

Robertson has worked at BBDO since 1995 and was its chairman before this appointment. He now runs the whole advertising arm rather than one network inside it.

The handover is not phased. Omnicom put the change in place at once, which usually signals that the succession was settled long before it was announced.

Ruhanen leaves after more than 20 years at Omnicom

Ruhanen spent over two decades at the holding company and led Omnicom Advertising as president and chief executive. He said the business is in safe hands, and that he and Omnicom Group chief executive John Wren had planned the exit for some time.

The delay had a reason. Ruhanen stayed on to carry the unit through a period of heavy corporate change rather than leave in the middle of it.

The unit itself was built after the Interpublic takeover

Omnicom Advertising is new. The group created it late last year, after buying Interpublic Group, to hold the creative networks in one structure. Robertson therefore inherits an organisation that is still settling, not a stable one.

Consolidation at this scale keeps producing job losses across the industry, as WPP cutting up to 1,000 more roles this year showed on the other side of the market.

What a client should ask at the next review

A leadership change at the top of a holding company rarely alters day-to-day work on an account. It does change who decides which network keeps which client when two former rivals now sit under one roof.

So the useful question at the next review is narrow. Ask which entity your contract actually sits with after the Interpublic integration, who signs off on conflicts if a competitor lands in a sister agency, and whether the team on your business is staying put. Those answers matter more than the name on the top slide. Media reviews keep moving at speed as well, and PepsiCo handing its global media to Publicis is a reminder of how quickly a large account can change hands.