It’s déjà vu at Dentsu, as the agency embarks on yet another chapter without its leader of two years.

“As we turn the page to our next chapter of our transformation, we have agreed it is time for Sarah Thompson to move on from Dentsu,” the company said in a statement to Media in Canada.

“Over the past year, we have boldly transformed our media offering to be more modern, and progressive—to create meaningful progress for brands, for our people and for the industry,” the statement read.

When former CEO Alex Panousis left the agency at the tail-end of 2021 – six months before Thompson took over the role – Dentsu similarly stated that her departure had marked the “next chapter” of a transformation plan.

“What attracted me the most to Dentsu was the opportunity to create something with all those assets and make a great place for everyone to thrive, our clients, our people and our partners. Dentsu has been leading in the attention economy and at the foundation of that is quality and accountability for media,” Thompson said at the time of her arrival in July 2022.

Prior to Dentsu, Thompson was CSO at Mindshare, where she oversaw marketing sciences, business intelligence, strategy, communications planning, content and new business. She also previously served as integrated CSO for Theo, a since-shuttered agency created for Rogers. Thompson was also a VP of strategy at Cossette, where she focused on creative and media integration, brand, CRM, and organizational design.

While at Dentsu, Thompson quickly brought in new business, such as Telus. Thompson has also been a passionate industry advocate for promoting investment in sustainable and responsible media, expressed most often as supporting local news and media investment in Canada. Thompson was on the task force that helped the CMDC create its “Canadian Media Manifesto,” a rallying cry to reverse the course of spend from global digital monoliths to Canadian supported journalism.

From a talent perspective, Thompson grew Dentsu’s leadership team. She tapped Jennifer Lewis as the new CCO of Carat; Sophie Labarre as CCO of Dentsu x; Lina Alles and Paul Reilly as SVP of trading and commercial and SVP client leadership (respectively); Alex Hargolies as VP of audience and insights; Nick Henderson, VP of performance; Tracey Johnson as CCO of iProspect; Charlie Farrel as VP of integrated search; and, finally, Moira Gilderson as SVP of future investments.

Thompson also helped with the launch of Merkury Local, a more holistic planning tool that improves the effectiveness of local media and its ability to reach consumers (not to mention harnessing the changing landscape of Canada, with 1.5 million immigrants expected to arrive by 2025), as well as launching the first end-to-end carbon calculator for media and creative. 

With files from Mike Connell and Lauren Richards.