#mediasnack

Tom and David map the future of the global media agency landscape, asking a provocative question: who will survive the coming consolidation? With Omnicom poised to acquire IPG and Accenture lurking in the shadows, the industry is entering what they call a “red ocean”—an era of brutal competition, strategic mergers, and existential decisions. In this special episode of MediaSnack, they dissect the business models of the Big Three (Omnicom, WPP, Publicis), challenge the strategic positioning of smaller players like Stagwell and Havas, and predict whether Accenture might make a bold acquisition play that reshapes the category entirely. From platform power plays to exclusive content deals with brands like NFL and Netflix, Tom and David make sharp predictions for the next 12 months—and the next five years. In this conversation, you’ll hear: What the Omnicom–IPG deal signals about agency consolidation Why WPP may be undervalued—and a prime target How principal-based buying is reshaping agency business models W

My guest for this episode is Belinda Smith, Global Head of Marketing Intelligence at EA (Electronic Arts) one of the world’s largest video game and entertainment companies. For the last couple of years, before she moved into her new Marketing Intelligence role, Belinda was the Global Media Director of EA and to those in the know, she has been one of the real pioneers of what has become called “the in-housing of media”. And you will learn in this episode why she detests that phrase, as do I. I first met Belinda a few years ago at an excellent ANA Media conference where she was speaking  about EA’s plans to build their internal media capabilities. This was in 2017 and up to that point I had not heard someone talk about in-housing (that word) with such a clarity of vision and so articulately. Since then, Belinda and her team at EA went on a fascinating journey which she details in this episode, some things worked, some did not and needed refining. It really is a masterclass for anyone thinking abo

Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode, is Amy Williams, Founder and CEO at Good-LoopFind out:- What is Amy's role at Good-Loop and what is she most proud of professionally?- What does she see are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?- What does she do to unwind and recharge?- Plus Amy's best industry leadership tips and more!You can find Amy here: linkedin.com/in/amy-williams-And more about Good-Loop here: good-loop.com -----#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry. Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  Marketer? For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get

Marketing Procurement For Business Growth: #MediaSnack 151 by ID Comms

#MediaSnack 125: BLOCKCHAIN: 4 things marketers will do - by ID Comms

What DOES it take to write the perfect media brief? We were inspired to focus on agency briefing by a piece of recent research issued by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) the global marketing trade body. The research asked leading marketing and agency professionals to rate the quality of briefing. It was a revisit from the same study in 2014 and shows a small but positive improvement in sentiment around the quality of briefings. You can read the full research in a blog post by WFA Head of Marketing Capabilities Rob Dreblow here:http://www.wfanet.org/blog/knowledge/how-does-your-agency-rate-your-brief/It prompted Tom and David to consider what is required to succeed in briefing agencies, especially in media which, as a marketing discipline, has got way more complex. They suggest that writing briefs according to a good template and format itself is not the major challenge and is just the tip of the pyramid. The real challenge is engineering an agency (or a roster of agencies) to be properly set up for s

#MediaSnack 123: Will DoJ investigate US media? by ID Comms

In this episode of #MediaSnack we are joined by Bill Duggan, Group EVP at the ANA, to hear more about the recent report, ANA Procurement 2022: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Bill shares how this year's report highlights changes in marketing procurement since the last report in 2010 and how advertisers can use these findings to continue improving procurement processes. Download the report here: https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/i...#MediaForGrowth#MediaSnack is brought to you by ID Comms, the award-winning growth consultancy specializing in media and advertising. Advisors to the world's most ambitious brands.-------Welcome to #MediaSnack, if you are new to the channel it's great to have you join us! #MediaSnack is a LIVE weekly show where we unpack questions you all have about media, agencies, marketing, and more.  Please subscribe above to get alerts of all upcoming weekly episodes.If you liked this episode please give us a thumbs up, it really helps other people like you find this channel.

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we take a look at what it takes to market successfully in China and how the landscape is increasingly dominated by platform giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu. These three giants are frequently compared to the famous Western (American) platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon but there lies the challenge. China is a major consideration for most global marketers, not least because it represents still a significant growth opportunity, averaging 7% GDP growth per year and with the total spending power of middle class growing even faster still. Goldman Sachs estimate that China's online retail market will more than double in size by 2020 - to $1.7trn so for western marketers this growth is too good not to take seriously, but for China the same rules of digital marketing do not apply largely because the platforms you need to use are different in China that most Western markets. We consider what's commonly referred t

Media For Business Growth: Media Operations #MediaSnack 161 by ID Comms

Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Florian Adamski, Global CEO of Omnicom Media Group.Find out:- What is Florian's experience in the industry?- What he sees are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?- What does he do to unwind and recharge?- Plus best industry leadership tips and more!You can find Florian here. -----#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry. Thanks for listening, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  Marketer? For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

In this special #MediaSnack episode, Tom Denford and David Indo revisit one of their boldest predictions: the WPP 2.0 Playbook. Originally recorded when Mark Read stepped in as CEO, the episode laid out a proposed restructure of WPP’s sprawling agency network. Now, with major changes finally underway—including the retirement of the GroupM brand—Tom and David break down what they got right, where they missed, and what it all means for media leaders today. It’s a rare moment of reflection in an industry that’s always sprinting forward—plus insight into how the same themes now shape the Omnicom-IPG merger and the future of agency holding companies. Watch the original WPP 2.0 Playbook episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSdrpMylNrE How to Navigate Media Chaos and Come Out Ahead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXT0eLAI4KA Why a Renegotiation Might Be Your Next Winning Move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWR5nZkgndM #MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve be

How To Evaluate Media Agency Performance #MediaSnack Ep. 150 by ID Comms

Never miss your #MediaSnack - subscribe for updates every FridayOn this week's #MediaSnack we look at the gathering rumours (and plausible evidence) that one of the major advertising holding companies will be an acquisition target by one of the big consultant or audit firms. These whispers first became acknowledged in Cannes this year when a few people were suggesting a WPP / Accenture merger was being discussed, which WPP quickly refuted. We take a look at two companies that might be in the mix of acquisition talk, Accenture Interactive the 'agency'-like division which has been on an acquisition spree in recent years, most notably buying some creative agencies like Karmarama outright.We compare the relative sizes of Accenture and Publicis to highlight that the consulting giant does indeed dwarf the French marketing services group both in revenues and headcount by more than 4 times. The fortunes of the company are equally different, Accenture has seen a progressive rise in share price over recent years in a s

Welcome to #MediaSnack Meets where we meet the individuals and organizations doing great work to inspire success and drive change within the global media and marketing industry. My guest for this #MediaSnackMeets episode is Freddie Liversidge, VP of Global Media at HPFind out:- What is Freddie's experience in the industry?- What he sees are the industry's biggest challenges and how we might address them?- What does he do to unwind and recharge?- Plus best industry leadership tips and more!You can find Freddie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freddie-l...-----#MediaSnack​ Meets is a regular interview with the curious media professionals who are reshaping the global industry. Thanks for watching, if you enjoy #MediaSnack​ Meets please give us a thumbs up (it really helps) and do share links and tell others. Subscribe to our channel to stay updated.  Marketer? For tips, guides & other amazing free resources for marketers, get started at: www.idcomms.com

My guest for this episode is Belinda Smith, Global Head of Marketing Intelligence at EA (Electronic Arts) one of the world’s largest video game and entertainment companies. For the last couple of years, before she moved into her new Marketing Intelligence role, Belinda was the Global Media Director of EA and to those in the know, she has been one of the real pioneers of what has become called “the in-housing of media”. And you will learn in this episode why she detests that phrase, as do I. I first met Belinda a few years ago at an excellent ANA Media conference where she was speaking  about EA’s plans to build their internal media capabilities. This was in 2017 and up to that point I had not heard someone talk about in-housing (that word) with such a clarity of vision and so articulately. Since then, Belinda and her team at EA went on a fascinating journey which she details in this episode, some things worked, some did not and needed refining. It really is a masterclass for anyone thinking abo

On this week's #MediaSnack we consider how strategy is more important these days than media buying in determining success and giving a competitive advantage to marketers. As we continue our theme of looking at the key areas of change a year after the ANA's Media Transparency Report, this week we focus on 'Media Thinking', which includes a strategic approach to media, the quality and process of good strategy and planning and what actually drives business success for marketers. For the last decade, the media industry has been on a race to the bottom, obsessed about lowering the price of media and treating it more like a commodity rather than a lever for growth. The entire media industry has been largely engineered around this concept: Giant media buying agencies, giant media selling companies and giant media auditing companies. This has created an asymmetric marketplace with far more many advertisers on the 'buy' side than there are agencies and vendors (who have largely consolidated into a handful of dominant

Back from the Croisette, Tom shares his first-hand takeaways from Cannes Lions 2025 with David. While the festival had all the usual glamor and platform presence, this year’s true themes came down to three A’s: Appreciation for the power of community, a renewed focus on Agencies and their evolving role, and the real-world applications (and noise) surrounding AI. Together, they unpack what stood out, what fell flat, and what media leaders should really be paying attention to as the second half of the year kicks off. 00:00 – Setting the Stage: Why Cannes Still Matters03:32 – Appreciation: The Role of Creativity and Craft07:29 – Agencies: Still Central to Media’s Future13:48 – AI: From Sizzle to Substance18:15 – Final Reflections and What Comes Next #MediaSnack is presented by ID Comms, the global media consultancy helping brands achieve better media results. Related links: The New Vibe: Cannes 2025 and the Evolving Landscape of Agency and AI https://www.idcomms.com/blog/the-new-vibe-cannes-2025-and-the-evolving

The Top 10 Review Of The Year 2018 #MediaSnack 141 by ID Comms

On this week’s #MediaSnack, Tom and David take an opportunity to look back across 2016 as a landmark year and indulge in looking ahead to 2017 in what they believe is likely to see a pivotal change in the future of the media industry. They review their experiences this year, notably the ongoing impact of the ANA’s media transparency investigation, which is still causing after-shocks around the world (see last week’s #MediaSnack for details of the latest media transparency scandal, this time from Japan). The full results of the ANA shining a light on “non-transparent practices” are still to be seen, but ID Comms can feel the wind of change about to sweep the industry, driven largely by a mindset change amongst some major advertisers. Brands that may have been neglecting their media investment and not providing sufficient oversight and governance have been woken sharply by the ANA findings and global press coverage, and now they are starting to think differently. This is apparent in the number of brands taking