Agency

Connected TV households now make up nearly three-quarters of all US households, but those penetration levels don’t necessarily add up to a huge advertising market—yet.

Millennials have been the focus of advertisers, retailers and media for over a decade, but as influential as this group has been, meeting millennials' expectations has proven difficult.  

In his latest blog post, Byron Sharp has some pretty strong words to say about brand tracking. As usual, there is lots in his post that is true and important to say, but not that much that is as new or challenging as the headline suggests.  by Josh Samuel

I was going to write about the Facebook/Google duopoly, but I got sidetracked by this question: If Google and Facebook are a duopoly, what is the market they are controlling?  by Gord Hotchkiss

One of the most significant ad industry events of 2018 to date has been Martin Sorrell’s departure from WPP. That has opened up discussions about what it means for the future of big holding companies and agency models going forward. Not only is there a trend towards “unbundling” agencies from behemoth holding companies, but “the agency model of the future” is a topic of constant speculation. With declining revenues, shrinking margins, and unprecedented competition, it seems a given that the agency holding company model is no longer tenable as-is, and the traditional agency model may not be either.  By Mark Duval / Duval Partnership

Small, independent teams are the lifeblood of the agile organization. Top executives can unleash them by driving ambition, removing red tape, and helping managers adjust to the new norms.  By Oliver Bossert, Alena Kretzberg, and Jürgen Laartz

In a previous post I mentioned that there were some disturbing trends lurking in WARC’s analysis of campaign trends from this year’s Cannes Lions. To my mind those trends say a lot about the sorry state of marketing practice today.  by Nigel Hollis