• Advertising Age, Sunday, October 4, 2009 9:49 PM

Of the 14 major media-buying and selling agencies, about two-thirds have installed new chiefs at the global or North America leadership levels in the past year and a half. All that change is creating a management flux that hasn't been seen since these firms were spun out a decade ago.

Some agencies have looked to put more digital-savvy leaders in control. Others have used the recession to accelerate succession plans for old management. Still others have simply been looking to put some oomph into limp new-business operations. In all cases, there is less room for purely relationship-focused management arrangements based on golf outings and the like.

"The cult of the individual is not as powerful. The marketplace is a lot less clubby and more democratic than it used to be," says Martin Cass, who replaced Scott Sorokin as U.S. president of Carat a year ago. The new guard generally tends to be more aggressive. Phil Cowdell, who filled the top spot at Mindshare in North America after Scott Neslund stepped down, says the role of today's media agency CEO is not sitting in the office managing profits and losses. He says now the job means being out front, solving client problems and having a point of view.

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