Bhavana Smith, chief client officer

Usually when you hear about consultancies in the marketing and advertising space these days, it’s in the context of them luring talent away from agencies or making full blown acquisitions. But last year when MediaCom was looking to hire a new chief client officer, it went right into the lion’s den. In hiring Bhavana Smith, a six-and-a-half year Accenture vet, the WPP media network is seeking to burnish its digital transformation capabilities—and take a page from the consultancy playbook.