Eduardo Bicudo wants to take DAN to a new level of advertising business

Executive Eduardo Bicudo started managing DAN (Dentsu Aegis NetWork) last week. He brought together the leaders of 14 Japanese holding companies in the country, which have 1,200 employees, including mcgarrybowen, Amnet, Isobar, Lov, Posterscope, Pontomobi, iProspect, Cosin Consulting and NBS, both in person and streaming. In addition to hubs professionals dedicated to the General Motors and Heineken brands.

Negotiations for his hiring lasted about a year. He had no intention of leaving Accenture Interactive management in Latin America, but ended up facing the challenge of being present at a time of transformation in the communications industry. Bicudo also took into account his admiration for DAN, especially for the portfolio of companies and offers he defines as "interesting." The acquisition of consulting firm Cosin, in his opinion, is a disruptive sign at a time when advertising is being questioned. He also praises Amnet's trading desk services in the programmatic environment.

“The mission is to take this composition and take it to the next level. The changes that need to be implemented are tied to the consumer's transformation and how he makes decisions about brands. This changes the business, retail and consumer goods chain. Communication groups need to adapt to this change, which involves understanding 'omnichannel' and understanding the role of each tool in the consumer's journey, which can no longer be worked out in a generic way. They manifest intentions on all sides, ”he explained.

The integration of the 14 companies will be by processes and not by structure. “The model is to be agile with the assembly of squads where at the same table are different skills to solve a problem. And these heads can come from group companies. With GM and Heineken we are already in that direction. The question is how to scale and make it work well together, ”said Bicudo. “The responsibility is to find ways for revenue generation and growth for our customers,” he added.

“COMMUNICATION GROUPS NEED TO ADOPT THIS CHANGE WHICH PASSES UNDERSTANDING 'OMNICANALITY'”
Bicudo emphasizes that the consumer's new way of working needs to be aligned with financial resources and results. “This is a gap that the industry as a whole has always had. It had metrics to measure the efficiency of the industry itself. Yes, the campaign generated market share for the customer. But the shortcoming is in understanding the exact effects a TV commercial has on business. And when using TV there is a considerate firing in the consumer's mind and advertising needs to understand this journey and turn it into conversion. The plan is to generate cross selling businesses through systems that make our brands, which have their own dyes, work together, ”said DAN's new CEO.

Accenture Interactive's two-year leadership experience has provided Bicudo with new know-how to be used in DAN. “Consultancies start from business processes and strategies to reach the transforming element, which is the consumer. The large volume of consultancies is in the area of ​​finance and human resources. And with technology came to know the consumer who has net expectations in relation to brands and also what consumes. No more loyalty and new consumer habits of durable goods or not. Agencies have always been closer to the consumer, but limited to the communication platforms themselves. You need to understand the blends that digital can offer to transform business. It is as if the consultancies were in the pre-salt of the communication, that is, in the origin. The agencies come from understanding the dialog boxes, which is the media, ”said Bicudo.