Introducing Agency Business: A Podcast for Ad Agency Execs & Marketers
Welcome to the companion newsletter to Agency Business, a collaboration between Olivia Morley's FusionFront Media and Brian Wieser's Madison and Wall.
Alongside our newest Agency Business podcast, FusionFront Media and Madison and Wall are debuting a new companion newsletter today.
The podcast and newsletter cover the advertising business for agency and marketing executives, including how those executives run their businesses and navigate industry trends and challenges.
Although we’re sending out this week’s newsletter to the full FusionFront Media distribution list, you’ll need to sign up separately to receive the free weekly Agency Business newsletter going forward. You can access it and sign up below:
Welcome to the companion newsletter to Agency Business, a collaboration between FusionFront Media and Madison and Wall.
Agency Business features interviews with the senior executives involved in decision making at advertising-related agency businesses. Along with our guests, we also comment on the big industry themes illustrated by the prior week’s news.
In these newsletters, we will provide links to the latest Agency Business episode and our own well-informed hot takes on the news of the prior week. We will include a catalog of past episodes as well, as most of the issues discussed on the podcast will be evergreen. We’ll also include links to deeper research on the agency industry for corporate subscribers and advisory clients of Madison and Wall.
Our newest Agency Business episode is live today, featuring an interview with Kamran Asghar, CEO and co-founder of independent media agency Crossmedia USA.
Listen here: Episode 5: The Independent Agency Model with Crossmedia USA’s Kamran Asghar
Prior episodes feature Joanne Davis, who told us about the agency review trends she’s observing; Jay Pattisall of Forrester, who analyzed the Omnicom-Interpublic transaction; FerebeeLane founders Josh Lane and Matt Ferebee, who told us about growing their own indie agency and working with high-end brands; and Canvas Worldwide leader Paul Woolmington, who provided a fascinating look into agency history and the current market.
News of the week discussed in Ep. 5
Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide's internal merger
Our takes:
MW (Madison and Wall): Because of client focus on reducing costs for like-for-like activities, ongoing internal consolidation of agency brands is inevitable everywhere that agency brands aren't perceived as meaningfully differentiated by clients
FF (FusionFront Media): Since its own creative consolidation, Dentsu has seen some success with a similar model, indicating clients will choose consolidated offerings if it makes sense for their business. Whether Publicis will succeed (or not) depends on how well it integrates Leo Constellation with the broader group.
Stagwell buying ADK’s international operations
Our takes:
MW: International expansion is helpful for Stagwell, given its interest in serving larger clients, and at the same time, international success has proven difficult for agency groups based in Japan
FF: What stood out to me in the press release was the following: “With the addition of ADK GLOBAL, Stagwell now has a complete offering in APAC of media, creative, and PR for any local, regional or global client opportunity.” Achieving international scale has been a focus for Stagwell for a long time, and this move further underscores Mark Penn’s intention to take on more clients with global purviews.
And Dentsu losing Michael Komasinski to Criteo
Our takes:
MW: Although this seems like a great hire for Criteo, related to our comments on Stagwell-ADK, Dentsu has had an especially hard time with its international operations since the Japan-based management took more direct control
FF: Great for Criteo; big loss for Dentsu. Komasinski came to the holding company via its 2016 Merkle acquisition. When he took the reins as Americas CEO after a prolonged period of change inside the group, his leadership emphasized technology development, integration across the Americas agencies, and finally… some stability.
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