The CSO as Connective Tissue: Why Dylan Williams is Joining DEPT

One of advertising's most decorated strategists, Dylan Williams, is taking up the post of CSO for EMEA at DEPT.

Having worked at some of the industry's iconic agencies such as Droga5, Mother, and BBH, he arrives at 'the Growth Invention company' as it speeds up its AI-focused trajectory. Most recently he served as a managing director at Accenture Song.

"There are plenty of brilliant strategists in this industry, but most of them have built their careers either on the brand side or the technology side. Dylan has spent thirty years doing both," outlines DEPT's EMEA CEO Joanna Trippett.

Outside of advertising, Williams has completed Harvard's Science and Implications of AI executive programme. He has also sat on the European Client Council of Meta and the Effies UK Council, as well as having advised the British Government on tech start-up ecosystems.

Williams and Trippett discuss the appointment and what it means for DEPT moving forward.

Dylan - congrats on your new role. What brought you to move to DEPT as its EMEA CSO?

Dylan Williams: In a word — planning. I did what planners do. What do I mean by this? Well, I was fortunate enough to be part of BBH in the Nineties, Mother in the Noughties and Droga5 in the Teens. You couldn't tell the cultural or commercial history of those decades without referencing the work that each of those companies put into the world. That was the search criteria again. Which company has the potential to be the seminal agency of the Twenties?  I canvassed the opinion of lots of people in the industry and DEPT kept surfacing as a company that had that potential. Why? Because one cannot talk about brands anymore without understanding technology. Nor talk the commercial potential of technology without knowing brands. DEPT has been doing both since its inception. I then spent six months talking to various DEPTsters at a global and local level and I really liked all the people and the culture they've collectively created. After that it was an easy deal to make. I’m now set on helping fulfil the ambition we all share.

Joanna - a CSO is always a key hire. Why is Dylan the right person for the role?

Joanna Trippett: Because he's genuinely rare. We have an enviable client base and bringing someone in who we truly believe can be a partner to accelerate the growth of our key clients like Lufthansa, PepsiCo, Mammut, eBay, and Stokke was pivotal to us. There are plenty of brilliant strategists in this industry, but most of them have built their careers either on the brand side or the technology side. Dylan has spent thirty years doing both, and doing both at the highest level. BBH, Mother, Publicis, and Droga5 represent very different kinds of strategic challenges. What convinced me, beyond the track record, was spending time with him and realising that the way he thinks about growth is exactly how we think about it at DEPT: tech and marketing are not separate conversations. They never were, but in 2026 the cost of treating them separately is higher than it has ever been. Dylan gets that instinctively.

What does this hire say about the continued aspirations of DEPT?

JT: It says we are serious about our ambition and serious about the kind of work we want to do here. We are not a network agency trying to protect legacy structures. We are building something that puts genuine strategic thinking at the centre of an AI-first offer, and to do that credibly you need people who can hold the whole picture. Dylan gives us that. The ambition has always been there. Dylan is part of how we accelerate and make it real for our clients and their customers.

What does it take to be a CSO at DEPT? What roles does AI play?

JT: You have to be genuinely comfortable with uncertainty. You need to be the kind of person who finds the current moment exciting rather than overwhelming. At DEPT the CSO role is not about producing beautiful strategy decks and handing them over. It’s about being in the work, right alongside technology and marketing teams, connecting thinking to execution and impact in a way that actually moves the needle. And you have to take AI seriously, not as a talking point but as something that fundamentally changes what is possible for clients. That combination is hard to find. Dylan has it.

How do you see 'The Growth Invention Company' framing influencing your work for the business?

DW: Growth Invention is the most interesting frame. I studied Growth Modelling at LSE — mainly Robert Solow and Paul Romer - and my interest was reawakened by Kate Rowarth with the introduction of her Doughnut Model. Defining growth, achieving it, and achieving it in the right way, will determine all our futures. Something that, as a twice accredited B Corp, DEPT is living out.

The framework itself helps provide laser focus on outputs and outcomes. Growth isn’t a particularly useful objective. And it’s a meaningless strategy. But it's absolutely the right outcome. Objectives need to be set, strategy developed, and output produced that ensures a growth outcome is achieved. A great strategist connects all this and increases the probability of it all happening. I’m also struck by the underlying premise of the Growth Invention Framework. It's the right one for every company today. Don’t wait for your future, invent it.

Is there a particular piece of work that you admire from the agency and if so, why?

DW: I really like the Nvidia Signs work that uses AI, machine learning and computer vision to transform cameras into sign language coaches for the parents of deaf children. Launched with zero paid media yet generating 1 billion earned impressions,  20 million people reached in the first week and an AI movement in sign language recognition launched. 'Flat Eric' was the right work for me in the Nineties. This is the sort of work I want to be doing in the Twenties.

Joanna, how will Dylan fit into the current leadership set up for EMEA?

JT: Dylan sits at the centre of it. I lead the region and we have brilliant market heads, client leadership and craft leadership both in the region as well as our local markets.

What Dylan brings is the connective tissue: a strategic layer that works across everything. Ensuring that we continue to push the dial for our clients in a way that is meaningful to business performance, but is also genuinely differentiated in the market. This is not a role that sits above the business looking down. Dylan will be in the room with clients, working alongside our market leaders, making the work sharper.

Where do you begin from here?

JT: Honestly, we've already started. Dylan and I have been talking about clients, about the region, about where the real opportunities are, and that energy is exactly what I was hoping for when we made this hire. Everything we do is in service of growth, that is what Growth Invention means in practice, and having Dylan alongside us means we can pursue that with a lot more force. We are going into this together, which is the part I'm most excited about.

DW: I’ve been out of the game, though an interested observer, for four years. I’m itching to put my boots back on and get muddy. I’ll play where Joanna tells me to and let's see if I’ve still got a stepover or two in my locker.