Publicis Groupe Germany appoints Dennis May and Christoph Pietsch to bolster creative and growth leadership

As part of its commitment announced Autumn 2019 to establish itself as one of the most creative agency groups in Germany, Publicis Groupe has appointed two of the most renowned talents in the industry. Dennis May, 40, and Christoph Pietsch, 34, will start in Düsseldorf in February 2021, in the respective roles of Chief Creative Officer and Chief Growth Officer of Publicis Groupe Germany. Both will operate at the group level and report directly to Frank-Peter Lortz, CEO Publicis Groupe DACH.

May and Pietsch move from Omnicom agency DDB where May was Chief Creative Officer and Pietsch in the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Together they were responsible for the agency reaching the top of the German creative rankings in 2019. In January they received the "Agency Men of the Year" award at the Horizont Awards.

Dennis May, responsible for shaping the creative product of DDB and its rise to the number one creative agency in Germany, will resume the new CCO role at Publicis Groupe Germany for the creative direction of its agencies, including Digitas Pixelpark and MetaDesign as well as customized Power Of One agency models including iBeauty (L’Oréal) and AXA next (AXA). A special focus of May's work will be on the further development of Saatchi & Saatchi, the group's core creative brand, which he will continue to develop together with CEO Christian Rätsch.

Christoph Pietsch will drive the business development of all agencies across Publicis Groupe Germany, building on the significant success of Power Of One in the local market to help facilitate more marketing, business and digital transformation for clients. In addition, he will be responsible for the group's development and communication of new products and services, indispensable to clients.

Frank-Peter Lortz, CEO Publicis Groupe DACH: "In the course of our reorganisation last autumn, we clearly formulated the objectives of our group in Germany. We want to be the best partner for our clients in their marketing, digital and business transformation. We have the most powerful solutions for our clients, proven this year with pitch wins including Oppo, Lidl, Mondelez, Radeberger and AOK. With Dennis, we will quickly progress into the most creative level in Germany. With his strengths in product and business development, Christoph will further expand our already strong position as a partner for marketing transformation. We bring the best in class talent and look forward to working with them.”    

Arthur Sadoun, Global CEO Publicis Groupe: “It's great to welcome such outstanding talents as Dennis and Christoph to Publicis Groupe. They will take our creative product, but also our product portfolio as a whole, to a new level in Germany. I'm already looking forward to working with both of them on global projects as well.With these two new appointments and successful track record for Power of One in the market, Frank-Peter and his leadership team are well equipped to bring together our unique set of capabilities to help our clients to be recovery ready in the strongest way possible.”