Given the macroeconomic context, media markets analyst, Ian Whittaker, reported that U.S. corporate profits have doubled from $2tn to $4tn in the past four years alone, and this is why the advertising market is so strong: corporates spend on advertising. The era of cheap labour and low inflation is over, with prices expected to rise by 2-4% around the world for at least the next five years. In inflationary times, brands need to invest in advertising to maintain competitive advantage, and those who ride out the current tough trading conditions will do so through a combination of agility and finding and sticking to a clear strategy – a singular goal.  

Olivier Gauthier, Founder & CEO of COMvergence, assessed developments and competition in the agency landscape and what this means for brands. Diversity is decreasing, with Omnicom’s merger with IPG due to conclude and create the largest single holding company in 2026. Dentsu is expected to divest its operations outside of Japan. As a result, the top three – Omnicom-IPG, WPP, and Publicis – will account for more than 70% of the new Big Five’s revenue. Publicis will continue to outperform the market, winning more new clients and retaining more existing business. This is largely at the expense of WPP Media. 

Talking about the metrics that matter, Ebiquity’s Dr Nick Pugh highlighted the twin dilemmas of information overload and analysis paralysis facing advertisers in the prevailing market. There has been an explosion and fragmentation in the data available, with 230% more media and marketing data available today than just five years ago. With 50+ measures to choose from – most of them meaningless, vanity metrics – it’s no surprise, as Nick said that: “Two-thirds of marketing leaders can’t prove overall investment impact.” 

To put the “K” back into KPI, marketers need to focus on maximising profit and ROI, that fine balance between effectiveness and efficiency, and create aggregated, weighted scores to allow them to assess the impact within and between channels.