New York, USA – In a significant shake-up in the advertising world, Alex Lubar, the global CEO of DDB Worldwide, is leaving the Omnicom-owned agency to take the helm as CEO of Fundamentalco, a growing brand-consultancy firm.
Fundamentalco, founded in 2024 by Jonny Bauer, is a strategy consultancy that emphasizes brand thinking as a core driver of business value — not just as a marketing afterthought. The firm works closely with private-equity firms and their portfolio companies, advising on brand strategy as part of enterprise value creation.
In his new role, Lubar will report directly to Bauer, who will transition to the role of executive founder. To support its expansion, Fundamentalco has brought on Quilvest Capital Partners as a strategic capital partner.
According to Lubar, the decision to leave DDB and join Fundamentalco was driven by his desire for a different kind of challenge: one that would give him deeper engagement with senior client leadership — often at the level of CEOs and boards — rather than just traditional agency work.
He praised what Bauer has built at Fundamentalco, calling it “fundamentally different… strategically driven, technologically enabled, and built for execution.” For Fundamentalco, Lubar’s arrival is more than a headline hire. His deep experience in agency leadership is seen as instrumental in scaling the firm’s integrated model, which combines brand consulting, creative execution, and AI-enabled solutions.
Lubar’s departure comes after a rapid rise in his career: he joined DDB in late 2022 as president and chief operating officer, following more than a decade at McCann Worldgroup, where he held key leadership roles — including president of McCann North America and CEO of McCann London. In October 2023, Omnicom promoted him to global CEO of DDB.
Moreover, his exit from DDB also comes amid broader turbulence at Omnicom. The holding company is poised to complete a major acquisition of the Interpublic Group (IPG), a deal that would create the world’s largest ad conglomerate.
