- Agencies need structural overhaul
Almost all the bosses agree that some kind of structural shake-up is needed in agencyland. Some describe concrete changes that have taken place. Burson UK has reduced its practice areas from six four under new UK chief executive Simon Redfern. The WPP agency will soon also put ‘a creative lead onto the exco of each of those functional practices’ to offer ‘more creative solutions’, he says.
At MSL UK, managing director Jo Grierson argues that agencies in a pyramid model, with a leader at the top, will not ‘exist anymore’; instead, agencies will become more linear in structure. Weber Shandwick UK CEO Helen Bennett describes this period as the ‘age of transformation’ where ‘people are looking at different operating models’. ‘Everything evolves,’ she adds. ‘Weber Shandwick was created off the back of a merger. Nothing stands still, but I think that’s a good thing.’
Meanwhile, early this year Edelman simplified its own structure by collapsing its specialist sister agencies and the previously standalone Edelman Global Advisory into the broader business. ‘Clients are breaking down siloes between comms, marketing, public affairs – and we’re reflecting that shift in how we operate and build our capabilities’, Says UK chief Ruth Warder.
- AI’s impact is starting to be realized
Had we run these interviews one year earlier, many of the AI initiatives discussed would have been embryonic or yet to be conceived. This year, the bosses are able to describe in some detail the work that’s been done to embed the technology. Some also describe concrete benefits. ‘We’ve built more than 350 custom GPTs in the UK alone, reimagining everything from idea-generation to budgeting,’ says Edelman’s Warder.
‘In some areas, we’re already seeing 40 per cent efficiency gains, which frees up time for the real creative and strategic work’, he added.
Andrew Feldman, chief executive at Teneo’s Strategy & Communications division, says its AI tools have got ‘a lot more sophisticated in the last six months’. Half the advisory firm’s US clients are using AI tools for investor relations work, and there are plans to use them more in the UK too.
On balance, the leaders mostly fall into the ‘AI optimist’ camp. John Waples, EMEA chair and UK head of strategic comms at FTI Consulting, says: ‘AI is going to gobble up big parts of our industry. But AI is not going to gobble up the areas which are higher-margin and growing. And in fact, AI will also help accelerate the products in digital, the products in analytics.’
Not that they’re unaware of the dangers of not adapting. ‘If we don’t lead the path on this, we’ll be redundant in a couple of years,’ says MSL’s Grierson, bluntly.
They also, generally, hold to the view that human skills will remain vital in an AI future. Bennett says: ‘It’s not that we see any less premium based on brilliant talent and brilliant brains, but having this is something we can use to deliver impactful solutions for clients. It’s something we’re quite energised by.’
- ESG remains lucrative
Have President Trump’s anti-ESG (environmental, social and governance) policies affected agencies’ work in these areas? Yes, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of work to do; certainly not in relation to the ‘E’.
Teneo’s Feldman says sustainability as a practice area has been ‘a bit crazy’ – aided, perhaps ironically, by the uncertainty caused by Trump.
‘It was all heading one way. People were talking to themselves about whether or not they were going to hit their various interim targets on the road to net zero, and now they’re wondering what those targets are going to be. That’s a very busy area of practice where we have expertise’, says Feldman.
Faeth Birch, chief executive, UK, Middle East and Asia, at FGS Global, takes a similar view. She says the ‘focus on ESG has moved more towards energy sustainability’ and ‘there’s still a lot of work to be done in that area’. ‘Corporates in general don’t swing with a political wind,’ she explains.
And for FTI’s Waples, the ESG retreat has been ‘certainly very real in the States’ but it’s ‘business as usual’ in EMEA.
- Influencer focus is ratcheting up
The importance of influencer work has expanded rapidly in recent years, and 2024 was no exception. It was the biggest growth area at Ogilvy PR, where UK managing director Nicola Dodd points to the success of its products such as Influence Shield, which combines influencer insights with brand reputation, and highlights the recent launch of a health influence division.
‘Those briefs tend to be in partnership with either PR or social, because the lines are just so blurred these days,’ she says, and added ‘I think influencer marketing will continue to grow. It will also need to keep growing up. In a complex operating environment, it really needs to be accompanied by solid brand reputation advice, and be really clearly measurable.’
Freuds CEO Arlo Brady says: ‘Today, everything that a PR agency does, communications and reputation work, is centred on influencers – with a wider definition of what that is, including all corporate comms.’
Using the example of LinkedIn’s uprising, he says: ‘If you don’t understand that new landscape, I think you’re going to have a hell of a lot of difficulty moving forward’.
And Burson’s Redfern lists influencers work among his priorities for the rest of this year: ‘Influencer-first work is really, really interesting. And I think I want to weigh into that and build that up’.
- DEI focus is still there
How about the industry’s own DEI efforts? While it’s unlikely we’ll see agency leaders admit to scaling these back, some still go out of their way to stress their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Grierson at MSL UK describes how the agency’s board is undertaking a six-month DEI training programme, comprising a mix of lessons, workshops, reading book clubs and observations; and its staff are taking part in their own training sessions. She describes the programme as ‘a journey’, revealing: ‘There’s been tears’.
Burson’s Redfern says the agency has ‘more work to do’ on its own DEI.
‘We’ve got a great team, a diverse team at mid-level. But I want to increase that level of diversity and leadership, for sure, and that’s something I’m going to give some serious focus to’, he said.
Senior sources at Brunswick, meanwhile, were keen to emphasize that agency’s long-standing relationship with the Taylor Bennett Foundation, which helps bring people from diverse backgrounds into communication industry.
