Jun 11, 2026 · 36 min · 13 segments
Most agencies remain constrained by legacy structures, short-term KPIs, and slow-moving processes. But a new generation of independent agencies is proving there's another way. In this episode, we…
Ali ReedGuest
Ian WhittakerHost
Justin Le BonHost
Do you think that as they focus their business, Holco's on media, which is where they make most of their money, if not all of their money, they move away from creative because creative is actually incredibly challenging to make any money from.
there has been the right amount of focus on the things that clients have been asking for.
And clients are also under a huge amount of pressure where there's also different types of clients.
There's all sorts of different brands that are now asking for support from agencies that would never been able to before because of the access of the platform technology and being able to go to market much more quickly.
And, you know, I don't want to get into untransparent, you know, proprietary buying or anything like that.
We've got we've all got different ways of making money as part of the agency ecosystem.
Do I think that it's going to continue to go this way? I do, unless I think something changes in terms of how we as an industry really stand up for ourselves in terms of what we value.
And we sort of stop the race to the bottom around commoditization of what we deliver and the value that we bring to clients.
And I think that's more of a whole coat problem than I think it is an indie problem.
And I think, you know, Ian, I know you've talked about this as well, most recently.
We have given away too much for free and we have created part of the mess I think that we're in.
We're passionate about this industry and we do want to do great work and we do want to get paid well for the work that we do and be recognized at that level.
you know, the power of the brand, the power of the results that we get from a performance agency, whichever side of the fence that you sit on.
Do you think that as they focus their business, Holco's on media, which is where they make most of their money, if not all of their money, they move away from creative because creative is actually incredibly challenging to make any money from.
there has been the right amount of focus on the things that clients have been asking for.
And clients are also under a huge amount of pressure where there's also different types of clients.
There's all sorts of different brands that are now asking for support from agencies that would never been able to before because of the access of the platform technology and being able to go to market much more quickly.
And, you know, I don't want to get into untransparent, you know, proprietary buying or anything like that.
We've got we've all got different ways of making money as part of the agency ecosystem.
Do I think that it's going to continue to go this way? I do, unless I think something changes in terms of how we as an industry really stand up for ourselves in terms of what we value.
And we sort of stop the race to the bottom around commoditization of what we deliver and the value that we bring to clients.
And I think that's more of a whole coat problem than I think it is an indie problem.
And I think, you know, Ian, I know you've talked about this as well, most recently.
We have given away too much for free and we have created part of the mess I think that we're in.
We're passionate about this industry and we do want to do great work and we do want to get paid well for the work that we do and be recognized at that level.
you know, the power of the brand, the power of the results that we get from a performance agency, whichever side of the fence that you sit on.
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