Independent agency leaders have warned the media industry is entering a difficult 12 months as AI rapidly reshapes agency capabilities, while arguing that trust, relationships and the craft of media will become increasingly important differentiators.
The comments came at the Independent Media Agencies Australia’s (IMAA) ‘Indies Up Close’ event in Sydney, which brought together around 100 agency leaders and industry partners.
The panel featured Equality Media + Marketing founder and managing director Marilla Akkermans, Hatched Media managing partner and CEO Stephen Fisher, Thinkerbell CEO and partner Margie Reid, and Enigma chief media officer and partner Justin Ladmore.
Akkermans admitted to the audience that “we’re all in more of a mess with AI right now than we’re willing to admit”.
“Trying to train and get everyone onto one platform is huge and I think we’re trying to fast forward to solutions, cost savings and innovation and have totally skipped training our teams and identifying how it’s actually going to be the most useful to our businesses and our clients’ work.”
She also warned that the next 12 months would be challenging for agencies as marketers face tighter budgets and greater pressure to demonstrate performance.
“The sector is in for a rough ride over the next 12 months,” Akkermans said. “I’m preparing to walk the tightrope between promoting proactive thinking and the value of brand in a tight market, while navigating the commercial reality that most clients will have less money and more pressure on them to perform.”
Akkermans said bespoke thinking and agency relationships would therefore become “increasingly important”.
And Fisher highlighted one of the biggest opportunities for media partners lies in demonstrating that they are willing to share the commercial risk.
“More and more clients are willing to invest with partners that put skin in the game – the opportunity for media partners is to think about how they can work this way,” he said.
Fisher argued that independent agencies now have the capability to compete with larger holding company agencies, but said trust remained a critical point of difference.
“The opportunities for the indie sector are limitless. Indies are now as capable as any offering in the market, and we have two collective superpowers: we’re trusted because of the relationships we’ve built over the journey, and we care deeply,” he said.
“Trust is the gateway to growth and is the most undervalued opportunity.”
He added that AI and technology were rapidly narrowing capability gaps across the industry.
“Capability is critically important and AI / tech is compressing capability gaps so rapidly, but if you’re not trusted to deliver that capability, then you’re done,” Fisher said.
Reid similarly pointed to the confidence clients place in independent agencies, while acknowledging that AI is already touching almost every part of the agency business.
“We continue to leverage the reasons why clients are turning to indies – it’s the confidence and security we are able to provide our clients,” Reid said. “We have a big focus on AI, in the same way as any new tech or platform. There is almost no part of our business that is now untouched by AI.”
Reid said the speed of change meant agencies would need to continually evolve their capabilities.
“The reality is that the model we have today won’t be the same in 12 months’ time,” she said. “The flow-on effect of the changes resulting from AI will be profound.”
Ladmore went further, arguing that the historical technology and data advantage of holding companies has largely disappeared.
“The capability gap between indies and holding companies has largely disappeared,” he said.“We can now access the same world-class data, technology, research and measurement, but move faster on where we invest and how we apply it.”
But Ladmore said access to the same tools did not mean agencies would produce the same outcomes.
“For me, that makes the craft of media more important than ever,” he said. “Yes, the tools are increasingly available to everyone, but how you use them is what creates the difference.”
He said those same principle applied to AI too.
“AI will commoditise the process, which makes the craft, human creativity, relationships and decision-making even more valuable,” Ladmore said.
The second panel of the day shifted the conversation towards media investment, with This Is Flow head of investment Sue Cant, Half Dome strategy director Adrian Cosstick, Yango general manager of product and operations Robert Nagy, and Love Media managing director Rob Wall discussing what buyers want from media partners.
For Cant, the definition of campaign effectiveness is changing, with clients increasingly focused on business outcomes rather than media delivery metrics.
“Clients are increasingly asking a better question than ‘did the media work?’ They’re asking, ‘what did my investment actually do?’” she said.
“It’s no longer enough to come back with ‘we delivered the impressions/hit the CPM/delivered the reach etc’. Those things tell me whether we delivered the media plan. They don’t necessarily tell me whether we delivered the business outcome.”
Cant also cautioned media partners against relying too heavily on their own measurement.
“I think media partners need to be careful not to mark their own homework,” she said.
“Clients increasingly want independent measurement, incrementality and a much clearer connection between media exposure and business outcomes.”
Nagy said Yango takes a “solution agnostic” approach to investment, with the agency willing to challenge a brief where it believes another approach could deliver better results.
“We pick the right channels, partners, tools, and strategies to answer the brief depending on what the client needs to achieve, even if that includes challenging the brief itself,” he said.
“Relationships are important, but generally we’ll always go with the best solution for the client.”
Wall was similarly blunt about what media owners should bring to the table.
“When we’re deciding where to recommend a client’s investment, it’s the genuine ability to answer the brief that carries the most weight,” he said.
“It’s all about the strategy – what is the client asking us to do, and how will we achieve it?”
He warned media owners against simply recycling sales pitches or relying on previous wins when responding to agency briefs.
“What media owners see in our briefs is what has already been decided and signed off by the client, so don’t try to sell us what you simply want to sell or repeat how you won the last brief,” Wall said.
“We want to see a genuine answer to the brief.”
Cosstick meanwhile highlighted an increasing opportunity for media agencies and commercial partners to contribute to the creative and communications process as campaigns become more complex across channels.
“Don’t underestimate the ability of formats, integrations and talent to iterate on a brief’s creative and brand platforms,” he said.
“The more we can collaborate with the strategy and production capabilities of our partners, the better.”
IMAA CEO Sam Buchanan said the event was designed to give agency leaders and commercial partners a more direct view of the pressures facing the independent sector.
“Our members are navigating significant change – from economic pressure and increasingly complex client demands, to new business challenges, evolving media behaviours and the rapid adoption of AI,” Buchanan said.
“At the same time, our partners are looking for a better understanding of how indies operate, what we value and ultimately, how they can work with us more effectively.”
“Our first-ever Indies Up Close event enabled us to open the conversation.”
