Are global pitches that consolidate media partners a sign of things to come?

9th December 2021

 

Several global media reviews have prepared the way for blue chip brands to place all their eggs into one basket. In many cases this year, that has meant one holding group or media agency brand managing several markets, where previously they might have enlisted various agencies across a region.

The trend is not new, but appears to be gaining momentum with large multinationals.

But is this move to consolidate with single global agency groups a sign of things to come, or just a transitory phase?

Campaign asked agency leaders and new business consultants why global companies are consolidating and what this means for them.

 

Andrew Mortimer, Managing partner, The Aperto Partnership

What The Aperto Partnership is seeing is that as our clients’ business models are becoming complex, so are their requirements from their agency operating models. This may drive consolidation when there’s a greater need for more central control over media value, performance, data or technology, but equally can drive a desire to partner more specialist agencies.

We have seen some holding group “one stop shop” integrated models for media and creative challenged, as clients move back to selecting individual agencies and building hybrid teams.

The rise of nextgen digital specialists, whose capabilities closely align with ecommerce businesses and can offer global scale, is also a serious threat for traditional media agencies and holding groups, which have been investing heavily in their digital offerings.

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