Latest news with #holdingcompanies
Fast Company
6 days ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Moving consumer experiences forward: What it means to be a modern marketing partner
The agency landscape is going through a period of significant consolidation and transformation. As holding companies restructure, independent shops get acquired, and traditional players merge, a new clarity about the agency model is emerging—one that goes beyond the industry's past identity crisis. After two decades of watching talent and attention shift toward Silicon Valley's tech giants, agencies are now positioned at the forefront of a profound shift back to human-verified solutions. This reset isn't about rejecting technology, particularly as AI platforms stand under the spotlight. But we all need to put AI in its proper place: as a tool wielded by human intelligence, creativity, and empathy. This is the moment to get this transitional period right. As brands navigate increasingly fragmented audiences and rapidly evolving platforms, they're seeking agency partners who know how to serve up real value, delivering answers in an AI-driven world, and pairing it with authentic design. Brands that inspire culture and build community will dominate. Fail to deliver on this, and your brand won't just fade—it'll vanish into irrelevance. Agencies, having weathered the tech industry's dominance, are uniquely positioned to deliver this balance. This moment demands that we rethink what an agency truly is. At Digitas, we've evolved from our roots as a 'direct marketing start-up' to become an established innovator, but our mission remains unchanged: inventing what our clients don't yet know they need. That forward-looking perspective has never been more vital than in our current rapidly evolving landscape. But as with any period of change, marketing professionals need to do a better job of clarifying what their roles and responsibilities are—and why they're important to clients and consumers. Let me lay the cards on the table: The term 'advertising agency' no longer captures the scope of what modern marketing demands. The very nature of marketing is experiencing a fundamental transformation surrounding the ways that brands connect with consumers across an ever-expanding array of touchpoints. This new reality requires a partner and modern marketing talent who can navigate the full spectrum of modern marketing. I'm talking about everything from commerce strategy to cultural storytelling, from data science to creative innovation—a veritable herd of unicorns at the helm. What sets agencies apart is our ability to serve every kind of client across any industry or location. I get it; who knows your brand better than the people working inside every day? Those benefits may be of limited value, however. After all, you and your internal stakeholders are not the audience you need to attract and maintain. Agencies bring together multidisciplinary talents and perspectives, synthesizing diverse skills and viewpoints. This ability to see across varying mindsets, cultures, identities, geographies, and business needs isn't just an advantage; the outside frame of reference is essential for marketing success in a complex global marketplace. Information is increasingly shaped and filtered by AI, calling on us to pioneer a new industry model, one that recognizes the need for human agents who know how to direct those virtual agents. Many advertising and marketing leaders have sought to assuage professionals' career fears by saying adoption of AI isn't about replacing human creativity; rather, it's about amplifying it. True enough. But after that, the details get a little fuzzy. THE MODERN AGENCY ADVANTAGE The future belongs to those who can harness AI's efficiency while maintaining the human touch that drives genuine connections and fosters transparency and community. We're moving beyond factory-oriented processes to create an environment where creativity flourishes in every aspect of our work, from media buying to data science. For the agencies that invested in data-driven marketing in a way that made it foundational to their work, that effort is paying off now as we move into the AI era. But data alone isn't enough. The real magic happens at the convergence of media, data, technology, and creative. This intersection is where tomorrow's marketing leaders are born, whether they start as data scientists, creative directors, or strategists. The modern agency advantage lies in our rejection of the assembly-line approach to marketing. Every function, from media buying to creative development, demands genuinely new thinking. When a data scientist joins our team, they're not just crunching numbers—they're becoming future agents of brands and learning to translate analytical insights into strategic guidance that drives business growth. Our strength comes from our ability to balance and integrate multiple disciplines. The market's priorities may shift—right now, technology and media are particularly hot—but success comes from combining these elements in ways that serve our clients' specific needs. It's not about choosing between media planning, creative, or digital capabilities. Everything we touch must support and reinforce the entire spectrum of marketing tools at our disposal. This integrated approach allows us to be more than service providers. We become true partners in our clients' success. By maintaining empathy for both the consumer and our clients' business objectives, we can make strategic recommendations that go beyond the expected. Sometimes that means advising against a Super Bowl ad in favor of performance marketing, or suggesting a shift in resource allocation based on data-driven insights. The promise of modern marketing isn't just about personalization at scale or the latest technological innovation. It's about understanding what makes someone feel like a super parent, an accomplished professional, or whatever aspiration drives their decisions. That understanding comes from a combination of contextual intelligence and human insight that no algorithm alone can provide. It also recognizes that the funnel as we've known it is dead. The funnel is fluid now. That means a consumer's experience exists within a networked ecosystem. To deliver on that, you need to balance tech, media, data, and intelligence. Agencies that thrive understand that. And those that can maintain their humanity while embracing technological advancement. We're not just adapting to change—we're actively shaping it to create the future of marketing one advancement at a time.
Fast Company
08-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Why holding companies are losing their grip on brands
Ever notice that companies making the most money rarely talk about just money? Perennially successful companies are led by management obsessed with customer experience, product performance, talent, and culture. They focus on better, and healthy margins occur naturally from creating something so great that customers are willing to pay more. Even investment bankers talk about the client's business before they start counting the cash. A sure symptom of a company in trouble is when management meetings are consumed by margins, debates over timing for the next round of layoffs, or consensus on cutting back on bagels in the breakroom. When an outbreak of financial fever infects the biggest players in the category, it's only a matter of time before everyone feels queasy. This type of earnings epidemic is rampant across the marketing world, especially at the big advertising networks known for making brands famous. Old models are dying, legacy companies are being disrupted, and clients are desperately searching for something new. Most iconic advertising agencies founded during the Mad Men era sold their Madison Avenue marquees to holding companies years ago. In the short term, that seemed like a good idea, as holding companies offered more choice to potential clients—and Wall Street always rewards size—but in the long run, it hasn't worked out so well, either for agencies or their clients. Salaries have been flat or declining for almost a decade, margins are tighter than ever, and agency models are breaking faster than plates at a Greek wedding. Clients are reevaluating where they spend time and money. Navigating an ever-changing media landscape requires an adaptable model rarely found at monolithic agency networks. Too many platforms, not enough content, and no silver bullets left in clients' media arsenals, which once only consisted of TV, radio, and print. Holding companies are collapsing under their own weight, having bought too many redundant agencies during the boom years, only to find themselves with limited cash flow and no clear path toward reinventing themselves. Clients are finding big agency partners distracted or conflicted—unreliable navigators at a critical juncture. WHERE THE AGENCY MODEL WENT WRONG This malaise is a consequence of a flawed business model that's taken almost two decades to fail. The full catalogue of sins is too long to list here but includes splitting the media business from creative and production, charging for hours instead of services provided, cutting senior talent to make margins, and ultimately selling process over people. Marketing isn't a process; it's a meeting of minds, a collision of creativity, collaboration, and craft. Once you commoditize a category, it becomes a race to the bottom or a battle for scale, but now that a market reckoning has arrived, discerning clients are realizing that size isn't always an advantage. Creative agencies should be valued for the size of their ideas, not the size of their organization. Technology has levelled the playing field, so a chance for clients to work with experienced talent in close collaboration seems a better bet than paying for an army of eager but inexperienced foot soldiers at a global network. A BETTER WAY FORWARD FOR CLIENTS AND CREATIVES That's why there have been so many launches of smaller, independent agencies, as well as the arrival of VC firms onto the scene, investors looking to buy just the right pieces— no more and no less —required to build integrated campaigns for clients. Disruption means a chance to build something better, a model less familiar but more suited to solving modern marketing challenges. These emerging models are reshaping client expectations by offering expertise in often-neglected but critical moments of the customer journey. A renewed focus on in-store displays, product design, and activations are driving retail. Audience-obsessed media partners are helping clients choreograph their campaigns to ensure each ad isn't just a disposable one-off moment. Savvy strategists are reinventing brands from the inside-out by mining the DNA of what made that company special in the first place. That sort of introspection on what makes a company special is ironically what the agency business lacks right now, a reminder of the soul of the business—creative solutions to business challenges. Art as commerce. Media that matters, and content that people actually want in their feed. Agencies are in the business of helping clients grow their business. Holding companies are in the business of making money. Two entirely different goals which naturally lead to contradictory decisions. The consequence of almost two decades of compulsively buying agencies is that holding companies have run out of new sources of revenue, so two of the biggest players are now acquiring each other. Like two neutron stars colliding to create a black hole, it's unclear if anything good will escape this merger other than senior talent who don't fit below the bottom line. This is the proverbial last straw, the juniorization of an industry. Experienced talent is dismissed when too expensive, and junior talent becomes so distracted by rolling layoffs that they can't focus on the work. Clients responsible for big brands are unlikely to wait around for the dust to settle. They want a partner focused on their business, not one squinting at spreadsheets. Dinosaurs had their day but didn't evolve as the landscape changed, and that's okay, because as they decomposed, they ultimately became the fuel that powers our modern world. Even now, the diaspora of talent from decaying networks is reenergizing the marketing industry, and it's only just begun. FINAL THOUGHTS There's never been a more exciting time to work in marketing. Clients are eagerly searching for 'other' models—alternative approaches that brings top talent together. New ways of working, more investment in innovation, and a welcome return to people over process. If you take care of the people doing the work, usually the work takes care of itself. That's an easy investment that even the folks counting the money should want to make.
Bloomberg
24-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Billionaire Leaves Ownership of Thai Beermaker to Five Children
Thailand's richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi distributed stakes in holding firms which control about 66% of Thai Beverage Pcl to his five children, though stopped short of handing over full control of the drinks giant. The scions of the octogenarian billionaire put into effect a shareholders' agreement which will confer on their father 'the authority to manage and make all decisions in respect of the business and assets' of the entity, according to filings to the Singapore exchange late Monday.
