For two years and counting, Dentsu has made incisive organizational changes that include replacing an entire cohort of senior leaders and molding a new corporate structure.

The reorganization is ongoing, with Dentsu Creative replacing its U.S. CEO Paulo Fogaca with its former New York president, Abbey Klaassen, on Nov. 8. Since the Dentsu Media’s iProspect experienced leadership changes this year, new executives are leaning into the agency’s performance-savvy reputation to underscore its integration with Merkle Media.

In August, Dentsu proper folded its performance creative practice into Dentsu Creative, and its media analytics practice into Merkle. It also announced that iProspect would absorb the smaller media practice inside its sister company, Merkle. The shifting structure impacted more than 1,000 Dentsu employees.

Winding down the Merkle brand returned media services to the group’s three media agencies: iProspect, Carat and Dentsu X. After the agency absorbed Merkle Media, the group promoted Liz Rutgersson from her role as Merkle’s chief media officer to iProspect’s North America CEO.

Bringing in former Merkle leaders signals that among the group’s technically full-service subsidiaries, iProspect will have the tightest grasp on audience targeting.

And with iProspect, Dentsu Media is testing out what happens when a performance-oriented media agency commingles with an audience management asset. For one, iProspect gained new clients, including Albertson’s, Ashley Furniture, Citizens Bank and Workday. Of the holding companies that own Merkle competitors, Dentsu is the first to structurally commit to this level of integration.

Rutgersson and iProspect Americas chief growth officer Amanda Moore, who formerly led Americas growth at Merkle, sat down with Adweek to talk about what’s changed at iProspect and Merkle, and their next steps.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Walk me through why integrating with iProspect was the right decision.

Rutgersson: Dentsu has been centralizing around three big offerings: creative, media and customer experience.

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