He reminded Madison Avenue — and some of its biggest clients — that it’s not just about the science of targeting consumers, but the art of winning their hearts once you have reached them.
The result — new Omnicom media services network Hearts & Science — arguably was the most successful and talked-about agency startup of the year in 2016.
It landed huge assignments, including Procter & Gamble, making Omnicom the most successful of the major agency holding companies last year.
It was the latest in a long run of career achievements in which Hagedorn has straddled worlds: art and science; traditional and digital, etc.
Hagedorn, who has spent much of his career at Omnicom, has quickly risen within the ranks, ever since joining data and performance-centric Rapp & Collins as chief interactive officer in 2004, just as digital media was hitting its second major wave.
He rode it all the way, moving to Omnicom media flagship OMD as head of its digital operations before launching its own programmatic and data-centric solution Annalect — and that's before bringing some yin back to the yang — creating a truly converged solution offering the best of both worlds.