Other holdcos have pursued major media strategies, a high-margin business that helped Publicis rise to the top of the holding company. However, Stagwell has chosen to approach mainstream media through the properties he owns and operates. Even more unusual is investing in news and information O&O, which is not necessarily the most popular or safest option for brands.

Like all holding companies, the company aims to increase the scale and revenue potential of its customers. But Stagwell is choosing to focus on winning government contracts. Not unusually, Penn admitted in the next breath that Holdco is comfortable losing smaller customers, such as those with less than $500,000 in revenue.

“In today’s holding company environment, holding companies need to leverage all of their strengths and advantages to their advantage, and I think that’s what Stagwell is doing here,” said Jay Patisal, vice president and senior agency analyst at Forrester.

Digiday spoke to Penn, who explained that these measures are all part of his master plan. The conversation below has been edited for space and clarity and includes the perspectives of Patisal and Steve Bohler, co-founder of Mercer Island Group’s agency consulting firm.

It feels like they’re making a conscious decision to transition what was previously a holding company into an AI-enabled technology company.

I’ve always said that Stagwell’s goal is to grow into a global, full-service platform all the way to self-service. We focused on service first. We thought that was the best way to build relationships with customers that we would really need later on, and also the experience we needed to move further into self-service on the platform. The pivot I announced is the realization of a vision I have always articulated.

Working with a company like Palantir is completely different. It’s like hiring full metal jacket drill sergeant Coach your child’s soccer team.

[Laughs] This came out of a conversation I had directly [Palantir CEO Alex] Karp, about how to get the right combination. I also don’t think people understand that companies of all sizes now need to have this kind of marketing intelligence machine in place, a machine that can really scale the types of marketing efforts they do. So much time is spent on how AI will replace what was done in the past, but so little time is spent on how it will open up new things in the future that have never been done before. Because we couldn’t afford to do them, we couldn’t plan to do them, we didn’t really have the data available to do them. In cooperation with our team, [Palantir] We accomplished in days and weeks what would have taken us months.

Mr. Boehler observed: It makes perfect sense that Stagwell would choose a partner to help with this. Holdco as a group would like to believe that it is a technology company, but in reality it is less an innovator of technology than an applicator of technology. For America’s big brands, which already tend to overspend on performance marketing, it’s risky to hear the siren song of yet another holdco taking a novel approach to marketing that moves away from brand, recognition and reputation and digs deeper into data.

You mentioned on the earnings call that some customers saw a demo of the platform built with Palantir. Did any of them have any qualms about letting their data fall into Palantir’s hands?

Privacy is one of the key elements that we build into our systems, whether it’s Palantir or other partners. Clients want to make sure they have a firewall in place around their data. This is a key component in the development of this system.

It also announced its intention to pursue more government contracts to enrich its customer base. Is it because this administration is more in line with your political beliefs (and media investments, such as RealClear Politics, which is considered conservative)?

they are unrelated. Once you reach a certain size, you become eligible for all kinds of government contracts. for example, [Stagwell’s marketing and PR agency] Allison won several contracts in California. We were able to qualify for the agreement once we became a substantial holding company of nearly $3 billion. And both of these contracts are on the digital transformation side, because the government needs an incredible amount of digital transformation efforts, and also on the marketing side, especially in terms of public information about the program.

Also, in order to attract them, we needed to bring in expertise that understood accounting, which we did about a year ago and are starting to see results. There are probably six or seven big deals coming up next year, but those are the exclusive domain of the holding company’s competitors, and we intend to play in that space. That’s a good margin [clients]but they also typically have very good levels of multi-year stability, and typically have good scope and scale measures as well.

Patisole observed.: I don’t know that it is unusual compared to other holding companies. It’s natural for companies to seek growth opportunities in sectors in which they don’t have a fair share.

In addition to securing better fares through scale, Stagwell is pursuing an owned and operated strategy between RealClear Politics and the ReachTV airport network with major media outlets. Could you please explain why you are going in that direction?

A, I think news and information is underrated. B, to realize the vision here, we have unique connections and combinations to feature news. And C, we’re leveraging more technology and owned media in response to what we think are key ways to grow in this market, rather than scale.

Mr. Boehler observed: Strategies that allow you to increase the score difference are interesting. I think there are two aspects to that. First, this is, for the most part, a unique proposition today. On the flip side, for many brands, this raises the question of how they would feel if their agents became media outlets. Like principal purchases, they are generally accepted by many and rejected by others.

color code by number

As the holidays approach, here are some of the latest statistics on consumer spending between now and the end of the year. The National Retail Federation predicts: U.S. holiday sales will exceed $1 trillion based on 3.7% to 4.2% growth projections by 2024. And when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday in particular (two of the biggest shopping days of the year), Optimove’s analysis of 2024 data looking at the purchases of 2.4 million shoppers shows that holiday growth is driven by loyal customers, not acquisitions. This means that new customers, existing customers, and VIP customers spent more money last year. Average order value for existing customers jumped 173% on Black Friday and 114% on Cyber ​​Monday.. The average order value for new customers increased by 11% on Black Friday, but only by 2% on Cyber ​​Monday. VIP customers had the highest overall order value, but their growth was more modest, increasing by 27% on Black Friday and declining slightly by 6% on Cyber ​​Monday.

takeoff and landing

• have purchased a majority stake in goalie advisorsis a German-based corporate and financial communications company with expertise across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It will be incorporated into H/Advisors, Havas’ global strategic communications consulting firm.
• PMG We’ve launched a publicly available intelligence platform covering the holiday shopping season called . Insights revealed. Leverage consumer, performance data, and trend analysis from the Alli operating system.
• Alan Cohena longtime media and marketing executive who co-founded an independent media agency giant spoonpassed away last week at the age of 69 after a long battle with illness. Cohen’s family is requesting donations to help cure his PSP (progressive supranuclear palsy) in his memory.
• Move account: public relations Acquired global media AOR assignment unilever‘s ice cream division has been spun off and consists of the following: Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum and croissant brand. This win includes digital, video and OOH planning and purchasing. WPP Started media planning and buying work for medical-related companies. Reckitt Across 21 markets in Europe, we target brands such as: Durex, Gavisconand finish Like everyone else…independent acadia won media and analysis assignments for mission pet healthreplace the incumbent cardinal Based in Atlanta… Brainlabs’ Exverus Acquired media planning and buying duties for club pilates Campaign produced by zambezi Agency … Independent crafts and commerce Landed Media AOR work for three packaged goods clients: Dog food brands name name;refrigerated dough brand juice roll;Frozen meat is also good really delicious food …media agency media lab Started planning and purchasing of environmental charity projects for British media. WWFHe is responsible for driving ROI, brand activity, innovation, and integration across teams.
• Personnel changes: Happodo agency Kepler promotion remy styles While being promoted from North American CEO to Global CEO Mallory Simmons From EMEA President to EMEA and APAC CEO… brain lab We have hired two new managing directors. Liz DeAngelis He is responsible for programmatic and media and comes from Monks University, where he was Vice President of Digital Media. Michelle Wiltz He joins from Stella Rising, where he was responsible for paid social and director of social commerce… Media Platforms glass view Recruits its first ever highest-profit office in james moorePeople who came from the same role in Simpli.fi.

direct quote

“If you want to be a valued partner for an agency, it’s about business first and foremost. Marketing is a tool to grow your business, and I think that’s where a lot of agencies miss the mark.”

— Zambezi CEO Gene Freeman on the launch of the agency’s Brand Performance Gap tool.

speed reading