Guy Wieynk, the former UK and western Europe chief executive of Publicis Worldwide, has founded a creative consultancy, called Serum Consulting, that will work with both agencies and consumer businesses.
Wieynk stepped down from Publicis in December 2018 after four years. He was not directly replaced. Wieynk had spent most of his career, from 1998 to 2005, at AKQA, where he rose to vice-president, international.
Speaking to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10, Wieynk said he was currently working with two agencies – one product design and one digital – and a US telecoms company. He remains on gardening leave from Publicis until the end of June, but said it had been reasonable about allowing him to speak to clients, with permission.
Describing what Serum was aiming to offer clients, Wieynk said: "What a lot of clients seem to talk to me about is to get an independent view on how to approach digital, how to approach smart creative, how to bring data, media and creative together.
"Every brand and business has a problem and my job is to find the solution. It’s about understanding the problem and configuring the team around solving it."
Wieynk said he is currently helping one client with "a degree of insourcing" and acknowledged that this was on the agenda for other businesses: "I’m not saying internalising everything is a good idea, but it can work for certain brands."
He has one full-time employee, but indicated that he aims to expand Serum into a larger operation: "I can’t say I help companies grow and not be interested in growing myself."
Wieynk added that he was well-placed to help clients who "really want to understand what digital or mobile first means", pointing out that he had done this before for brands such as Heineken.
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