—De Bonis succeeded Max Baxter after IPG cited Huge as one of the causes of its recent organic revenue declines—
By Brandon Doerrer
IPG digital specialist agency Huge has promoted Lisa De Bonis to CEO.
De Bonis previously served as chief product officer since September 2022. She started at Huge as chief experience officer in September 2021 and served as managing director at Accenture Interactive in Europe prior.
After starting her career in France, De Bonis worked at Mother London before co-founding the UK digital shop Work Club, which Havas bought in 2014. She served as digital strategy partner and then executive digital director and partner at Havas London before joining Accenture.
As CEO, she will set the overall strategic direction for the nearly 1,000-employee company, a Huge spokesperson said via email.
Huge declined to share information about her successor as chief product officer.
De Bonis succeeds Max Baxter, who served as CEO since June 2021. He joined to turn around the struggling digital agency by focusing it more on data and technology, which resulted in layoffs in July and February. His work to turnaround the agency was the subject Michael Farmer's recent book Madison Avenue Makeover, which was a sequel Farmer's well-read Madison Avenue Manslaughter.
Baxter also spearheaded Huge’s early investments in AI, such as the June launch of its data-sifting tool Living Intelligence Value Engine (LIVE). De Bonis oversaw the development and deployment of LIVE.
De Bonis’ appointment follows two consecutive quarters of organic decline for IPG, which recently reported a revenue dip of 0.4% YoY in Q3. The holding company cited decreased spending from tech clients and underperformance by digital specialist agencies including Huge as the causes.
Huge declined to provide details regarding Baxter’s next role. Baxter could not be immediately reached for comment. In a press release, he stated that he’s relocating back to Australia for “family reasons.”
IPG will report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for 2023 on Feb. 8.
This article originally appeared at Campaign US.
