Michael Griffin promoted from Adlucent CEO to SVP of Acquisitions and Data Strategy at Advantage Solutions, Adlucent’s parent company

Adlucent, a leading digital advertising and analytics agency, announced it has named Ashwani Dhar Chief Executive Officer, promoted from his former position as Chief Client Officer of Adlucent. Dhar succeeds Adlucent founder, Michael Griffin, who will move into a role within Adlucent’s parent company, Advantage Solutions. As SVP of Acquisitions and Data Strategy, Griffin will focus on growing the business through acquisitions and developing a comprehensive data strategy for the enterprise.

“We are excited about what our future holds with Ashwani’s strong vision and so many amazing opportunities ahead.”

This strategic transition marks a promising new beginning for Adlucent, as they commit to an integrated digital marketing approach while remaining true to their roots as a leading performance-based agency. Since its founding, Adlucent has become a top-tier, award-winning digital agency through Griffin and Dhar’s leadership and has created a culture that cultivates a pursuit of innovation in an environment that finds and fosters digital marketing professionals. Accolades the agency has earned over the years include being Amazon’s first paid search agency of record, acting as Google’s largest PLA manager in North America and managing over $1 billion in annual advertising spend for some of the biggest names in retail including The Vitamin Shoppe, JOANN, The Container Store.

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“Ashwani and I have been working towards this transition over the past few years. Building a company from the ground up that is so rich with talent, technology and culture has been an incredible experience,” says Griffin. “Ashwani has been working by my side during Adlucent’s most formative years, and there is no one I trust more to continue leading the company in its next phase of growth.”

Having joined Adlucent in 2008, Dhar is uniquely positioned to guide Adlucent through innovation and growth that will best serve its clients. In his 11-year tenure, he has expanded the company’s customer base more than ten-fold. He has an industry-leading client retention rate and has seen the company through the addition of four core service capabilities, as well as the agency’s first acquisitions. Dhar has been an integral part of Adlucent’s history and will carry this legacy into the company’s future.

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“Michael is an exceptional business leader, and friend, who has built Adlucent into an agile and resilient company, well-placed to win in this fast-changing, dynamic industry,” says Dhar on working with Griffin. “With the company motto ‘Better Every Day’ ingrained into everything we do, from the top down, I am looking forward to pushing Adlucent to take on new opportunities and challenges with this continued vision.”

As CEO, Dhar will lead the day-to-day operations of Adlucent with the leadership team, as well as motivate the company and partners to pioneer new digital strategies for clients. Having earned the respect of clients, partners, and Adlucent employees over the past 11 years while managing sales, marketing and client services, Dhar is equipped and ready to take on the challenge of his new role as CEO, leading Adlucent to its next chapter.

From its founding as a bootstrapped startup to becoming a leader in the digital marketing industry, the team is proud of the unique culture it has cultivated and the many successes achieved for its clients. As Griffin sums it up, “We are excited about what our future holds with Ashwani’s strong vision and so many amazing opportunities ahead.”

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