Nick Brien's guest appearances

Nick Brien

Ad Age Ad Lib

The Modern Retail Podcast

Great Minds

Richard Edelman

Jeff Goodby

Maria Bartiromo

Alicia Hatch

Leo Burnett

Wendy Clark

Antonio Lucio

Michael Ventura

John Seifert

Andrew McKechnie

Ken Auletta

Jaime Robinson

McCann Worldgroup

Paul Woolmington

Bill Koenigsberg

OwlTail

Investor, advisor, and board director Nick Brien joins Great Minds to discuss his career in the industry. Nick’s take on technology is smart and experienced as he looks back on his time as CEO of Dentsu International, Global CEO of McCann Worldgroup, and President of Hearst Marketing Services.

Investor, advisor, and board director Nick Brien joins Great Minds to discuss his career in the industry. Nick’s take on technology is smart and experienced as he looks back on his time as CEO of Dentsu International, Global CEO of McCann Worldgroup, and President of Hearst Marketing Services.

EP85: Nick Brien, Agency Leader, AdTech Investor and Board Advisor

“We’re not in the advertisement business. We’re in the engagement business,” says Nick Brien, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Americas. The advertising company was formed in 2013 to manage parent company Dentsu’s operations outside of Japan. Dentsu now generates more than half of its revenue — 59 percent last year — from outside its home market. Yet Dentsu and Dentsu Aegis Network are less known and less understood in the U.S. than the big holding companies WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and IPG. Dentsu, and therefore Brien, has a stated goal of becoming a 100 percent digital business by 2020. We get into that, his background in an industry that he says he loves, creativity (something Dentsu Aegis Network is not particularly known for), acquisition goals and why he’s tired of the narrative of the big bad consulting companies infringing on agency turf.

“We’re not in the advertisement business. We’re in the engagement business,” says Nick Brien, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Americas. The advertising company was formed in 2013 to manage parent company Dentsu’s operations outside of Japan. Dentsu now generates more than half of its revenue — 59 percent last year — from outside its home market. Yet Dentsu and Dentsu Aegis Network are less known and less understood in the U.S. than the big holding companies WPP, Omnicom, Publicis and IPG. Dentsu, and therefore Brien, has a stated goal of becoming a 100 percent digital business by 2020. We get into that, his background in an industry that he says he loves, creativity (something Dentsu Aegis Network is not particularly known for), acquisition goals and why he’s tired of the narrative of the big bad consulting companies infringing on agency turf.

Nick Brien, CEO Americas of Dentsu Aegis Network

Nick Brien, CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network, talks about holding the agencies to a higher standard on accountability, the impending consultancy competition and procurement.

Nick Brien, CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network, talks about holding the agencies to a higher standard on accountability, the impending consultancy competition and procurement.

Dentsu's Nick Brien: Performance based compensation deals are the future