Despite efforts at consolidation, traditional agency holdcos remain fragmented on the inside and often confusing to marketers on the outside.
WPP’s recent agency reorgs are classic examples of this phenomenon.
In 2018, WPP merged creative agencies VML and Young & Rubicam to create VMLY&R. Two years later, WPP combined its shopper marketing agency, Geometry, with VMLY&R to create a standalone commerce-focused business that operates as a separate entity within the broader VMLY&R network.
Then, last week, WPP blended VMLY&R with another of its creative agencies, Wunderman Thompson, to (re)create VML, which will now focus on brand experience, customer experience and commerce. (Got it?)
These aren’t bad moves. Cutting down the number of agencies under a single roof is “a valid strategy,” says Nick Emery, CEO of Brandtech Group-owned digital agency Jellyfish, speaking on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks.
Emery has a lot of insight into the agency holding company model after spending more than two decades as the global CEO of WPP media agency Mindshare.
The problem with intra-holdco agency mergers is less about what they do and more about what they don’t do, Emery says.
“It doesn’t put creative and media back together. It doesn’t necessarily have an open source solution for clients. And I’m not sure scale is really a significant advantage when it comes to creativity,” he says.
After leaving WPP around three years ago, Emery joined a different type of holding company, The Brandtech Group (formerly You & Mr Jones), as a founding partner.
The Brandtech Group positions itself as a tech holding company, rather than an agency holding company, that uses technology to enhance creativity. Since 2016, Brandtech has made 11 acquisitions, including fifty-five (data and tech consulting), Oliver (in-housing services), Collectively (influencer tech), Pencil (GenAI for ads) and Jellyfish.
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When the Jellyfish deal closed in June, Emery took over the CEO role. Though Jellyfish is under the Brandtech umbrella, its sister companies are never guaranteed to get looped in on work when clients come knocking.
“Running a company is always about, hopefully, marrying the needs of the individual with the needs of the company, and I think there is still too much self-interest in a business that’s meant to be about client service,” Emery says. “What I think makes us different is that we truly put the client’s interests at the heart of what we do.”
Also in this episode: The difference between performance marketing and marketing performance, a behind-the-scenes look at Brandtech Group’s acquisition strategy, the role of generative AI in media and marketing (minus the hype) and where the name “GroupM” came from. (Spoiler: Emery had a little something to do with it.)
For more articles featuring Nick Emery, click here.
