Peter Horgan Becomes CEO of Full-Service Indie, JOY: “Independents Are On The Rise”

The former longstanding boss of Omnicom Media Group, Peter Horgan, has switched to an indie, becoming CEO at full service agency JOY. 

He finished up at OMG in March after announcing his departure late last year, and nearly 22 years with Omnicom. In July, Omnicom confirmed it was restructuring the local business – combining media, creative, PR, performance, and production under the umbrella of ‘Omnicom Production’ and led by Nick Garrett. 

Peter has held a minority stake in JOY for two decades, and said, “Independents are on the rise, and they’re a whole new challenge for me. I’m looking forward to seeing what a freer, more entrepreneurial model can achieve for clients."

The Australian agency landscape has been reshaped by former holdco executives being lured away by the promise of independence. In joining an existing shop though, Peter bucks the founder trend.

When he starts in the new role on October 1st, he will rejoin former OMG colleagues Des Odell, (founder of Resolution Digital and former CEO of OMG Digital) who became a partner last month, plus  Philip Pollock (former chief operating officer of OMG Digital ANZ), and Matthew Keegan (former national managing director of Resolution Digital) who both made the move to JOY in May. 

Peter will bring the Mecca account (formerly held by OMD) with him to JOY. Last week, the beauty brand – founded by his sister Jo Horgan – posted record 2024 revenues of $1.28bn.

As well as Mecca, JOY works with clients including Vitaco, AMP, and RAM. In July, it won the media account of online bookmaker Picklebet; Kerfuffle – the indie launched in May by Peter’s ex-Omnicom colleagues Ant Keogh, Paul McMillan, and Michael Derepas – handles Picklebet’s creative.

Peter’s stake in the agency has been held in a trust controlled by his wife and was disclosed to Omnicom when he first started in 2003. Today, his wife works for JOY in the finance team.

Peter said he has “had a long history with JOY professionally and personally and I am excited by what we can achieve and build together.

“The agency has added high level capabilities and connections in performance to complement its existing media, creative and brand strengths, making it a serious scale-up opportunity.

“The team has a very ambitious agenda for the agency and its clients, plus a renewed sense of energy and urgency.

He added the agency has “invested in a truly connected proposition to help maximise client outcomes in a way we can be proud of.

“I plan to use my profile and experience as an accelerant for JOY, its clients and its people.”

The agency’s co-founder, Simon Rush, called ‘Horgs’ “one of the most successful leaders in the industry”, and called out the “growth built on media transparency and accountability” he achieved at OMG.

“While we’re not looking to recreate a holdco, we are looking to rapidly accelerate our growth on the back of some key investments, particularly in digital and data capability,” Simon said.

“We’re particularly excited about the difference he will make for our clients and our people.

“We couldn’t think of a better person to lead our ambitious growth plans than Horgs.”

In an interview with Mi3, Peter added, “I think it is the time of the indies. They’re on a good run, and I think that is because clients perceive that they are uncompromised or un-conflicted in terms of doing the right thing by clients [versus holdcos’] global mandates on profitability.

“That is not an evil thing, it is just reality – it doesn’t always play out that way – and I think Omnicom is still one of the good ones. They have good governance around what they do, what they don’t do and what they disclose.

“So while things like the [Omicom-IPG] merger make structural sense for a holdco … it’s not necessarily done with the primary interests of the clients as their north star.”

Peter’s departure as OMG CEO was the first in a series of big changes at Omnicom’s top levels.

Alongside the creation of Omnicom Oceania, all three of its creative agencies have been impacted by leadership shifts this year. DDB’s regional leader Andrew Little departed after 25 years, his TBWA counterpart Paul Bradbury resigned after a 20 year run, and Clemenger’s merger with CHEP and Traffik triggered a series of moves. Lee Leggett became CEO while Dani Bassil exited, while group CEO Les Timar and chair Robert Morgan stepped down after 27- and 46-year tenures, respectively.

In July, CEO Nathan Birch left Interbrand (an Omnicom branding consultancy housed within DDB in Australia) after eight years.

Peter’s long stretch at OMG featured 15 years as CEO. He started by leading OMD Australia in 2011, before being promoted to run the broader OMG business across Australia and New Zealand in 2016. He is a board member of marketing industry body, the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), and was previously chair of media agency body, Media Federation of Australia (MFA), for 11 years.