Stephen Hall

Interesting debate where I was happy to contribute in The Drum article on the recent Goldman Sachs AI report which raises important critical questions on use of #AI investments in the creative and marketing industry. My POV on it.... The arrival of #AI in marketing is a double-edged sword. AI tools and solutions bring unprecedented efficiencies and possibilities, but their general availability also levels the playing field. The Goldman Sachs report’s skepticism about ROI for non-tech businesses underscores a critical issue: how can any agency charge a premium or maintain better margins when everyone has access to the same AI capabilities? The key lies in how these tools are applied. Agencies can set themselves apart by their unique approach to integrating AI into their operations, strategies, and creative processes. The real value moves from the technologies themselves to the expertise and creative application of those tools. At Omnicom, we call this "Elegance at Scale." The challenge is bringing creativity back to AI as brands demand more customized content at scale. Often, content studios and one-off tools slow down, become more expensive, and lose quality when scaling. Agencies that invest in customized data analytics solutions, proprietary AI applications, and skilled talent can offer faster insights, faster creative sprints, and lower funnel efficiencies. By rethinking their costing models from FTE to pay-for-demand, agencies can also provide tailored strategies that a highly qualified, AI-savvy workforce can deliver, making clients willing to pay a premium for these enhanced integrated intelligence services.

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I speak with strategists, lots of them, most days, most of the day. The consensus is as we approach a seismic event in the U.S. next week, is that a performance-oriented focus has seriously wounded the appetite for great strategic thinking. That's certainly borne out through job losses that I'm aware of over the last year. Yes, the media and advertising industry is in the midst of structural change. This will continue for a few more years. And yes, there is a pressure on the C-Suite to make those numbers, so if the business emphasizes annual bonuses, of course decision making emphasizes a more transactional approach both brand and agency-side. The good news - As well as an industry facing structural change we have all been on the wrong end of an economic cycle. The good news, high inflation and interest rates are heading in the right direction and coming into 2025 as rates start to come down, as the tide comes in, all boats will rise, getting work should be relatively easier. The Really Good News/Endless Opportunity For Strategists Each week I hear about new examples of agency strategists either building completely new businesses from scratch or working for start-ups, non-profits or brand-side. Many of you have fear that your skills are not transferable and so beyond the agency business your opportunities limited. This is not true. Absolutely wrong. You might not have the same title; You might not use all the skills you've used, day-to-day, but your skills, as long as you can communicate the value they deliver, will always be needed. I ask you, what business new or existing, doesn't require expertise either to identify and connect with a target audience? Yes, I hear you mention 'technology!' Yes, it can do a lot and no doubt will much more! My belief is that as important as data is, while we are trying to understand and influence the behaviour of audiences that are human, the best understanding and work (even if it costs more) will always come from an 'emphasis' on human engagement. The possibilities for smart strategists are endless. This is why I'm optimistic.

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Mega-mergers like Omnicom and Interpublic should raise serious concerns for companies navigating sensitive public policy and PR challenges. When a single corporate conglomerate owns agencies representing BOTH SIDES of a conflict, how can you be sure your strategy stays protected? Conflicts of interest and blurred lines seem inevitable. In the high-stakes world of public affairs and PR, discretion and loyalty are non-negotiable. That’s why so many organizations turn to independent firms like Sachs Media for: ✔️ Conflict-free representation ✔️ Strict confidentiality with no shared parent company ✔️ Direct, senior-level attention without competing priorities In a world where influence is everything, your voice should never be just another account on a balance sheet. Choose partners working only for YOU.

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We’ve all seen examples of brands or influencers who in times of crises opt to “turn off” the comments. It’s something we heavily recommend against in our risk assessments for new campaigns and this new study shows exactly why. As soon as you turn off the comments, the trust from your consumers drops. https://lnkd.in/e5a5YKNA It shouldn’t be a surprise, this is a pretty predictable outcome. But in times of crises, if you haven’t pre-planned, when reputations are on the line, it feels like an easy solution to make the pain go away. The lesson: ensure reputation and crisis planning is built into every campaign. With a clear stakeholder plan and pre-agreed responses to predictable hiccups. 9/10 you won’t need it. But for the one time you do - it’ll be worth the foresight.

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Wise words from a wise person! Longtime agency leader and fellow Applecarter Tej Desai on how media agencies can elevate their plans to align with what the CEO/CMO really want to achieve. Check it out!

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Thank you Tatiana Nery Lindenberg and Andrew Martschenko and our research partners NewtonX for these timely and critical insights as M&A starts to heat up again. The impact of the deal only BEGINS the moment the deal is done. Long term success depends on how the business and brand transformation is managed post deal. Let's talk!

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Paid vs Earned Media: What’s More Effective? 💡 #kamalaharris had $1 billion for ads in 2024, but #donaldtrump owned the conversation with earned media—dominating #podcasts, viral moments, and the news cycle. The result? He reached millions for free while Harris spent heavily to stay visible. The lesson for businesses? Paid media gives instant results, but earned media builds trust, credibility, and lasting impact. Combine both for the ultimate marketing strategy. 🏆 Which do you focus on more—paid or earned media? https://lnkd.in/gvG5v-PZ

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It was 2013 when the last mega-merger was proposed. I was working for one of the Omnicom agencies. The deal was ultimately canceled due to challenges that included cultural differences, complex financial structures, regulatory hurdles, and the need for leadership alignment. Will the deal work out this time? Combining the two holding companies will undoubtedly reshape the industry landscape, creating even greater economies of scale and the potential for enhanced client offerings. We have seen some encouraging changes in leadership and strategy at Omnicom and its agencies. I suspect those of us in the business would be interested in learning more about their industry aspirations, the “why” and the “how” for current and prospective clients, their intentions to work through real and perceived conflicts, and their thinking around employee rationalization. Good luck to everyone involved.  #agency #marketing #advertising

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"Neglecting measurement is like working ineffectively. If you can't show results, it's hard to justify continuing." Amen to that. Top article from Wavemaker that highlights some myths worth busting: 1) Does measurement stifle creativity? Not if you're measuring emotions. As my colleague Barney Worfolk Smith 🦩 likes to quote, the goal is 'just move me, dude'. We are helping brands understand that emotions felt at a high level moves the consumer to do something because the content becomes sticky, it creates a memory, and that memory creates the desired outcome. And yes, that's the same for B2B. 2) It's just for hero content. It used to be because testing was expensive. But the hero is the tip of the iceberg of what we test today because the model has changed. What used to cost thousands per asset to test is now a fraction of that. This means we're testing everything: static and video created internally and externally. At that price point, it makes sense to know how all of your content/ads are working, not just the hero. Otherwise, how can you truly benchmark your performance or feed the data back into a proper learning agenda? 3) It's too late to make changes. It is if testing is going to take 4 weeks, but what about if it's real-time? Testing can now be iterative not just because it's real-time (but also because of the cost model). You can refine the assets for the chosen media environment to ensure that it hits home. Not so long ago, it was purely a 'tick box' exercise, whereas we can now test multiple edits, not just the top 1-3. We've seen the impact this has: a real-time 11x increase in sales of the original vs. the optimized. 4) Testing is too expensive for MMM. This was true up until the application of AI. It's now completely feasible to add a creative signal into the model. With creative driving almost 50% of the campaign performance, this is a game-changer. 5) It's hard to prove that testing drives outcomes in the real world. The challenge for this is that brands didn't used to have or want to share sales data. This has changed rapidly. We're now working with brands to help model their sales data with our testing to help improve hard outcomes. We can show them what's working and help them use this data to predict future performance and power highly valuable insight that helps improve the content. As pointed out in the article, effectiveness and creativity go hand in hand. This is a fact. Because the data in the creative, when applied to the media mix, is pushing effectiveness through the roof. Creative data improves targeting, powers DCO by explaining not just which creatives to optimise for but why. What does this mean in the real world? As above at DAIVID 🦩 we're seeing improved performance for our clients on their media metrics and importantly, hard sales metrics.

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Hard to believe that this continues to be hotly debated and protested by both client and agency slide leaders. The answer seems obvious. I would argue against testing a Brand's positioning strategy with consumers. If the right leaders have the right inputs / data (especially consumer and competitive understanding), I recommend not testing a strategy per se. Rather, I encourage clients to move briskly into creative development and then test the creative. This serves as a disaster check on the strategy and also paves way to getting business building creative in market.

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As reported by Suzanne Vranica of The Wall Street Journal ( https://lnkd.in/gZSTV6BZ), the proposed merger between Omnicom and Interpublic Group (IPG) could create a $26 billion advertising giant. I couldn’t resist interrogating the major LLM "Answer Engines" for their perspectives. Here’s how they broke it down: WHAT’S COMMON All engines flagged the merger as a seismic move in advertising, with shared concerns about reduced competition, client conflicts, regulatory scrutiny, and potential stifling of innovation. The scale and synergy are undeniable, but so are the risks. WHERE THEY DIVERGED OpenAI's #ChatGPT 4 emphasized risks to innovation in a fragmented media landscape, while Google Gemini zeroed in on competition and creativity challenges with a sharp regulatory focus. Perplexity flagged potential harm to independent agencies, and Meta /AI described the merger as a "behemoth" with antitrust and talent integration hurdles. X's Grok leaned into its conversational style, calling it a potential "galactic empire" but questioning bureaucracy's toll on creativity. (Typical X reaction). Anthropic's Claude balanced concerns about client conflicts with optimism around digital/data synergies (and as usual noted its view is "hypothetical" given that it's training data is time-stamped.) The distinct styles and focus areas of each engine showcase how these "Answer Engines" interpret high-stakes corporate moves. AI, like advertising, thrives on perspective. Greg Kahn Shiv Singh Max Kalehoff Brian Wieser, CFA Rishad Tobaccowala Norm Johnston Paul Baier BrandRank.AI #Marketing #Advertising #eCommerce #AI Ad Age ADWEEK Drew Ianni Lisa Bradner Debra Aho Williamson

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What the post title says. And by extensions, any targeting based on the various Gens - unless you are in the United States - is also being lazy. So do this instead... 1. Start looking and the psychographics of the target audience. 2. Look at their hopes, dreams, desires, pain points. 3. Understand their existing perceptions and behaviors. Then lock in! Yes, it is much more work that a simple age or sex or geographic segmentation, but if done correctly - you get tons of insights that lead to great ides that lead to effective creatives.

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Trend alert: "CEO selfie videos" are all over LinkedIn. LinkedIn posts from CEOs from major companies have risen 23% in the past year. CEOs are showing their human side with pre- and post- earning call selfie videos, sometimes featuring dogs and dad jokes. My take: There is no one size fits all approach to corporate communications. Many CEOs would be excellent at creating these videos, but it won't come naturally to all. Like they say in the commercials: Ask your comms team if CEO selfies are right for you!

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Why did WPP and Cannes invite Elon Musk to speak at Cannes? Musk has shown nothing but contempt for the advertising industry, expressed racist views, peddled dangerous conspiracy theories, and allowed hate speech and disinformation to run amok on the website formerly known as Twitter. At the beginning of their discussion, Read lamely said that he “didn’t agree with Elon on everything” which is about as hard-hitting as it got. You can watch the whole painful interview, which consists entirely of Read lobbing softball after softball to Musk, on YouTube. Here's the thing. If you’re going to put a malign figure like Musk on a stage—especially if you lead a company that claims to value diversity—you should hold him to account. So these are 10 questions Read should've asked. 1.       You wrote that “DEI is just another word for racism.” I couldn’t disagree more, and at WPP, we are strong proponents of DEI, and have invested heavily in it. Why do you believe it’s racist? 2.       Regarding DEI programs, you also wrote, “It will take an airplane crashing and killing hundreds of people for them to change this crazy policy of DIE [sic].” What evidence do you have that DEI initiatives make airline travel less safe? 3.       Your post about airline safety was a reply to a post that claimed, without evidence, that Black HBCU graduates have low IQs (“borderline intellectual impairment”). Do you think your amplification of racist views like that is responsible? 4.       Since Tesla is currently being sued both by the US Equal Opportunity Commission and by 200 Black employees for racial discrimination, don’t you think your company would benefit from more diverse representation and perspectives? 5.       You accused the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), one of the world’s most well-regarded organizations committed to fighting hatred—and one we have supported at WPP— of being “the biggest generators of anti-Semitism” on X. What is the evidence that this is true? 6.       You agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a “dialectical hatred” of white people, writing, “You have said the actual truth.” Why did you agree with that? 7.       You posted a video that promoted "the great replacement" theory, writing "This is actually happening!" Can you explain that? 8.       You often claim you are a “free speech absolutist.” But according to Bloomberg, you ordered a team to search Twitter employees’ Slack and social media postings and fired those who made “snarky comments” about you. How do you square that? 9.       Multiple independent studies, including by the EU, the ADL, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and Montclair State University have shown that hate speech and disinformation on X have increased dramatically since you bought the company. Why has that happened? 10. Why should brands advertise on X when the CEO amplifies content that almost no brands want to be associated with? #CannesLions2024 #WPP #Advertising #X

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My head is buzzing following yesterday's excellent symposium from Trust In Media Cooperative and Information Professionals Association on "Information Quality in the Age of Generative AI." Thanks to Ellen McCarthy and Brian Murphy for the invitation to speak - had fun comparing notes on disinformation's impact on crisis communications with David Acosta, Sharon Russell and David Kaufman. After a full day of other thought-provoking panels, a few stand-out takeaways for me: - "We're at the end of the era of one set of facts." - Sue Gordon - "We're still treating information like it's the age of the pony express," and assuming that all information should be treated with the same level of seriousness. - Sue Gordon - "You don't become a hero by telling someone you're not the villain." Government needs to become more trustworthy, start remembering who it is supposed to serve and stop talking to itself. - People are drowning in data and opinions and increasingly can't figure out what's true any more. - We need to approach disinformation problems as multi-channel and multi-modal from the outset to understand the true picture. - We cannot underestimate the importance of media (and information manipulation) literacy. The countries that are most resilient to manipulation are those that are doing the best job in this area. Hat tip to Michelle Ciulla Lipkin of the National Association for Media Literacy Education her outstanding reflections in this area. - When it comes to the role of AI in disinformation, the true threat is manipulation. AI is an accelerator and "has dramatically shifted the economics of disinformation." - John Kelly, Graphika

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🌌 Reflecting on the vastness of time and the rare chance of existence… Recently, while listening to an interview with Brian Cox, I found myself reflecting on just how improbable, fragile, and precious our existence truly is. Consider this: life on Earth has been evolving for around 4 billion years. For the first 3 billion of those years, only unicellular life existed—potential waiting to unfold. To put it in perspective, with the universe estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old, it took nearly a third of the universe’s entire lifespan for intelligent life to emerge on Earth. And somehow, amid a universe filled with chaotic, destructive forces, Earth avoided catastrophe after catastrophe, allowing life to continue evolving uninterrupted. Our species, Homo sapiens, is young—only about 200,000 to 300,000 years old. And most of our technology? A mere 250 years old, with rapid advancements occurring in just the past 50 years. When you pause to realize the odds, the rarity of intelligent life, and the astounding continuity needed for us to be here today—it makes you wonder: How unique might we truly be? And what should we do with the fleeting time we have? If our journey has taught us anything, it’s that life is a remarkable, once-in-a-universe opportunity. 💡 Feeling inspired to make the most of every moment. How about you?

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Some great reasons why magazine media fulfills both consumer and advertisers needs. Plus you’ll love this article from Peter Houston if you like Kermit the Frog too! 👇👇👇 #magneticmedia Magnetic Media UK #magzinesaregreat #advertiseinmagazinemedia

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#Speaker #Announcement #AdTech #Economic #Forum returns to the fabulous New York Times Center on March 19.  It's the best place to be if you're interested or vested in #adtech. Last April at our inaugural forum we brought 34 of the brightest minds to the stage to deliver #enlightenment 💡  #enlightenment is our primary unit of production. We produce it with four raw materials: #Content at the intersection of adtech, economics, and finance. #Conversation in the raw with zero no trade-press listening in. #Connecting with friends new and old. #Collaboration that turns into #deal making. If there is one thing that makes curating #ATEF worth all the effort it's hearing from so many people about the deals they got done by being there. When we produce #enlightenment, our guests get #deals done. Today we are announcing 12 #returning speakers and one #new speaker with several more speaker announcements happening over the coming weeks: Sir Martin Sorrell Brian Wieser, CFA Sanja Partalo Rishad Tobaccowala Joe Marchese Laura Martin, CFA, CMT Shweta Khajuria, CFA Eric Franchi Reed Rayman Brian O'Kelley Stephen Master Bob Lord and... Daniel Salmon #ATEF #NYC is invite-only or apply to attend. Are you in? https://lnkd.in/ewR6wpV3 If you're interested in #sponsoring ATEF NYC, reach out to me or Rob Beeler. We've curated a handful of creative sponsorships and we go "logo lite" at #ATEF so get involved soon and lock it in.

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A decade ago, I wrote this story in AdAge about 3 reasons the proposed Publicist/Omnicom merger at the time was good for small agencies. I had just come from the AdAge Small Agency Awards (we won a West Coast silver) where Dan Weiden gave a keynote advising the crowd to “sharpen their knives” 🔪 and feast on the mess the “wobbling drunkards” 🍸were strewing about. Reason #1. The Freedom. Freedom from the vested interests of the holding companies. This merger is not happening to provide clients with better outcomes. It’s too stave off the plummeting stock prices from these floundering giants and try to lock them into what they are calling “a platform” holdco. Small agencies aren’t beholden to seeking their clients what’s in the best interest of the mother ship. And neither are clients. Reason #2. The Fallout. Pepsi and Coke may or may not decide to put their concerns about conflicts of interest behind them. Certainly some brands will -- and others will not. That means that inevitably, there will be some degree of shakeout. And small agencies are widely perceived as viable alternatives for big companies to partner with. We’ll feast in those crumbs for sure. Reason #3. The Message. There’s a desire to communicate to the market that bigger is better, but that’s a tough pill to swallow in the age of “do more with less.” Today, the Omnicom IPG merger is about to take place. Swap out a few names and we could publish this again. It all still applies. https://lnkd.in/gNACFz7W

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