Sam Holt, chief executive of Publicis Groupe’s Performics UK, has joined Omnicom Media Group UK as Chief Digital Officer.
Holt worked for Publicis Groupe’s performance marketing division for more than 17 years, with roles in China, the US and London. Named Managing Director of Performics UK in 2018, he became Chief Executive in April of last year.
He succeeds Henry Rowe, who has now taken on the role of OMG’s EMEA Chief Transformation Officer.
Read Campaign’s full report here.
See the official announcement from OMG below:
WITH NEW UK AND EMEA LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS, OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP FOCUSES ON ADVANCING AND ACCELERATING INNOVATION
Sam Holt Named Chief Digital Officer of OMG UK, Henry Rowe Moves Up to Newly Created Role as Chief Transformation Officer for OMG EMEA
London, UK (March 28, 2025) – Coming off a year in which it was s awarded approximately $7.7 billion in client billings – a performance that earned the #1 spot on the COMvergence global media agency total new business ranking by a margin of more than $1 billion – Omnicom Media Group today revealed new additions to its UK and EMEA leadership charged with building on that momentum in 2025.
Sam Holt
Chief Digital Officer Sam Holt joins OMG UK from his role as CEO of the performance marketing arm of Publicis Media UK. Over the course of an 18-year tenure with Performics, Holt held leadership positions across three continents, including tours of duty in the UK and China. In awarding Holt a second consecutive spot on its Power 100 List in 2024, Performance Marketing World said, “Sam is always future-facing, with the goal of pointing his team in the most profitable and effective direction.”
“Sam is an expert in his field and a recognized leader in the industry,” said OMG UK CEO Laura Fenton. As Chief Digital Officer of OMG UK, Sam’s capabilities and vision for an AI-powered, addressable future provide the perfect fuel for driving our product, our Agency as a Platform proposition, and growth plans forward.”
In his new role, Holt will collaborate with leaders across OMG UK agencies to advance and deliver industry-leading digital capabilities and solutions – powered by Omnicom’s Omni open operating system and enabled by OMG’s Agency as a Platform model that connects media, content, and commerce – that will drive brand growth for OMG clients.
Commenting on his new remit, Holt said, “As the new business results from 2024 demonstrate, OMG is leading the industry in delivering modern media solutions that keep their clients ahead of the next big shift in the marketplace. As AI becomes more prevalent and more applicable in clients’ businesses, spearheading its integration, along with OMG’s wider digital capabilities, across their roster of clients are just some of the opportunities I look forward to driving in my new role.”
Holt – who will be joining OMG in September – succeeds Henry Rowe, who is moving into a regional role as OMG EMEA’s first Chief Transformation Officer.
Explaining the impetus for the new slot on the org chart, OMG EMEA CEO Dan Clays said, “In an era of continuous and rapid marketplace disruption, transformation must move from vision to function – not only to drive and accelerate innovation, but to ensure that our clients across the region are deriving maximum benefit from the products and solutions that we’ve developed to help unlock growth in a complex consumer landscape.”
Henry Rowe
Rowe takes on the OMG EMEA Chief Transformation Officer role following four years as OMG UK Chief Digital Officer, where he played a lead role in shaping the strategic direction and evolution of the UK’s specialist capabilities across commerce and content, enabling the group’s Agency as a Platform proposition to UK clients.
As CTO, Rowe will work closely with OMG‘s global investment, EMEA specialist teams, and local markets to develop and implement the group’s innovation roadmap and facilitate collaboration across agencies, specialties, and markets to make centralized solutions more accessible; ensure that local market solutions ladder up to the center; and accelerate the innovation timeline from ideation to adoption to pan-market deployment.
“The CTO role demands an executive with the combination of collaborative skills, depth and breadth of knowledge, operational agility, and organizational rigor that enables continuous innovation, “said Clays. “Having worked with Henry during my time as OMG UK CEO, I am confident that he has the experience and expertise to ensure industry-leading capabilities that deliver impact for our clients across the region.”
Added Rowe, “Our brilliant OMG teams across EMEA have consistently led their markets in strategy, commerce, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. My priority will be creating the right architecture for consistent collaboration across this talented community, enabling solutions that drive business growth for our clients across the region.”
Rowe’s appointment, reporting to Dan Clays, is effective immediately, and will be concurrent with his CDO role until Holt’s September start date.
As reported by COMvergence, OMG outperformed all global media groups in EMEA for total new business in 2024, topping the regional ranking with $2.7 billion. Building on this momentum in 2025, OMG EMEA added Zurich and Tinder to its client roster in Q1; and at the recent Campaign UK Agency of the Year Awards, OMG agencies MG OMD and Hearts & Science took home the gold and silver awards, respectively, for Media Agency of the Year.
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