The consulting industry has never been known for its reverence toward the advertising business, which may explain why the advertising business has spent the better part of a decade nervously watching consulting firms buy their way onto Madison Avenue.

Ndidi Oteh, who became global chief executive of Accenture Song in September, is the latest figure to navigate that uneasy marriage. She succeeds David Droga, the founder of Droga5, who sold his agency to Accenture in 2019 for a reported $425 million and has been running the combined marketing operation since 2021. Mr. Droga, whose creative reputation preceded him into the consulting world, will remain as executive chairman.

Accenture Song, which the parent company describes as its marketing arm, now claims roughly $20 billion in annual revenue — a figure that would have seemed fantastical to agency executives a generation ago, when the idea of a consulting firm competing for creative accounts was still largely theoretical.

Ms. Oteh told Adweek that she accepted the position on one condition: that she be permitted to develop and execute her own strategy, rather than simply maintain the course set by her predecessor. (Whether this represents a philosophical departure or merely the standard negotiating posture of any incoming chief executive was not specified.)

The transition comes at a moment when the large consulting firms — Accenture, Deloitte, and their peers — have established themselves as genuine competitors for marketing assignments that once belonged exclusively to the traditional agency holding companies. The holding companies, for their part, have responded by acquiring capabilities that make them look more like consultants.

It is possible that in another decade, the two industries will have merged so thoroughly that no one will remember which one absorbed the other. For now, Ms. Oteh has a $20 billion business to run, and a predecessor's shadow to step out of.

Original story published in adweek.com: "Agents and Creators: Ndidi Oteh’s Growth Plan for Accenture Song"