Insights

There is a first principle that should govern every business: serve your client. Acknowledge that without them, there is no revenue, no growth, no company. Clients are not a line item. They are the entire business model. It sounds obvious. Yet, for decades, the advertising agency world - and the holdco ecosystem in particular - has built an operating model on something close to its exact opposite. The Art of Inception The industry has long been defined by a peculiar reverse

The pilot phase has concluded. The window for unstructured experimentation is closing. As we move into 2026, the mandate for agency leadership has shifted: AI must transition from a novelty to a measurable driver of operational efficiency and client value. Fresh data from Mediaocean’s 2026 Advertising Outlook  and Adweek  confirms what many of us have sensed: we're at an inflection point. While investment in AI is accelerating, the industry faces a significant dichotomy: Expe

Ai as the Silent Operating System The Industry Is obsessed with the wrong thing. If you scan the marketing press, the narrative is singular and deafening: "How can we use AI to generate the perfect image, the perfect video, the perfect copy?" Agencies and holding companies are in an arms race to sell clients on this promise of "perfect AI content." Pitch decks are filled with before-and-after reels. Case studies celebrate how a campaign was "100% AI-generated", "AI agents bui

How do you make sense of the AI noice and your convoluted landscape? This week, as global elites gather in Davos to discuss the future of AI and technology, there's a familiar pattern playing out: a lot of talk, a lot of predictions, and very little accountability for actual delivery. It's the perfect metaphor for what's been wrong with AI adoption in agencies and businesses over the past two years. The parallel is striking. Just as Davos brings together the 1% to theorize ab

What can Michael Jordan and data monetization have in common? "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." - Michael Jordan Your agency has talent. Creative excellence. Strategic thinking. Perhaps award-winning campaigns. You win games, you land clients, deliver projects, generate impressive work. But are you winning championships? Championships (ie: any of your major strategic objectives) require something more than just talent. They require an inte

Agencies are currently caught in a value trap: investing heavily in AI capabilities to stay relevant, while simultaneously facing fee compression from clients who expect that technology to lower their bills. The value you're creating with AI is being immediately captured through pricing pressure, while the costs keep piling up on your P&L. This isn't sustainable, and it's getting worse. A typical agency employee now juggles subscriptions to ChatGPT Plus, Midjourney, specializ

A Practical Guide for Agency Leaders Ready to Embrace AI with Confidence The conversation in agency leadership meetings often sounds the same: "AI is impressive, but can we really trust it with client work?" "The results are inconsistent." "Our teams aren't adopting it because they don't believe in the output quality." These concerns aren't unfounded. AI can hallucinate facts, miss creative nuance, and produce work that feels generic. But dismissing AI entirely means watching

We're in the midst of an AI gold rush, but too many are panning in the wrong river. Every week brings another announcement from OpenAI,...

We're living through one of those rare moments when everything we thought we knew about business is being rewritten. And if you're like...

The next generation of advertising agencies is here. The advertising industry stands at a critical juncture. While agencies rush to...

In the relentless rush toward AI adoption, most organizations are playing the wrong game entirely. They're obsessing over what...

Everyone's talking about the same MIT study showing enterprise AI failures, but here's what's fascinating: every industry expert is...

According to a recent MIT study, 95% of generative AI projects in businesses fail to deliver meaningful results. This failure rate should...

My mind keeps going back to a conversation with a CTO who proudly announced their company had deployed "thousands of AI agents" across...

We're rich in tools, yet increasingly poor in genuine connection and impactful results. Every day we consume large volumes of content -...

Attention tracking vs the 3 pillar approach In the relentless pursuit of capturing audience attention, marketers and content creators...

New AI Clothes, Old Mindset The advertising industry is experiencing its most significant transformation since the digital revolution,...

The phrase "AI native" has become the latest corporate mantra, echoing through boardrooms and strategy sessions worldwide. But beneath...

The statistics can be daunting. While exact figures vary, it's widely acknowledged that a significant majority—some reports suggest as...

Last week, I wrote about the Cannes 2025 paradox—how the advertising industry celebrates while facing fundamental challenges. The...