The Future of Agency Identity
Holding Companies, Consolidation, and the Changing Nature of Creative Work
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“The work of an advertising agency is warmly and immediately human. It deals with human needs, wants, dreams, and hopes. Its ‘product’ cannot be turned out on an assembly line.” (Leo Burnett) The word agency once described a creative nucleus—a place where artists, writers, and strategists collaborated to transform ideas into cultural symbols. That definition now stretches across continents and corporate hierarchies. Advertising today is shaped not only by creativity but by consolidation. Holding companies such as Omnicom, WPP, and Publicis Groupe preside over networks of agencies that operate like federations of specialized expertise—data analytics, media buying, experiential design, and brand storytelling under one global roof.
This paper explores what agency means in a world increasingly defined by scale and synergy. Drawing on Contemporary Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications (Arens & Weigold, 2021) and three recent scholarly analyses of agency sustainability, structural evolution, and future trends, I argue that holding-company consolidation simultaneously amplifies and threatens the creative essence of advertising.
The Evolution of the Agency Model
Historically, agencies emerged as intermediaries between newspapers and advertisers—space brokers who earned commissions for purchasing ad space (Arens & Weigold, 2021, pp. 132–133). Over time, they evolved into creative partners, integrating art, copy, and strategy into unified brand narratives. But as global markets expanded and media channels multiplied, even large agencies could not independently manage the complexity of modern communication. This led to the rise of holding companies, which centralized finance, human resources, and global client management while allowing subsidiary agencies to focus on creative specialization (Arens & Weigold, 2021, pp. 134–138).
Economists Silk and Berndt (2004) analyzed this transformation as a response to cost economies: by integrating multiple services under one corporate umbrella, holding companies achieved efficiencies of scale and scope across international markets. Yet, as they observed, those efficiencies also came with a trade-off—an increasing distance between creative decision-makers and corporate strategy (Silk & Berndt, 2004).
This tension defines the contemporary agency landscape. On one hand, consolidation allows for collaboration across disciplines and borders; on the other, it risks diluting local culture and creative independence. The “agency of record” has evolved into a distributed network, where autonomy is negotiated rather than assumed.
The Present Landscape: Consolidation and Connection
Holding companies have now become the infrastructure of the advertising world. Each network—Omnicom, WPP, Interpublic, Publicis, Dentsu—houses dozens of agencies that share data, clients, and global resources. As Arens and Weigold (2021) note, this structure enables strategic integration and cross-media collaboration while maintaining brand-specific teams (pp. 134–136).
Recent scholarship suggests that this integration is both evolutionary and precarious. Mokoena (2023) describes the challenge of sustainability in agency culture, arguing that while technological transformation has created new efficiencies, it has also destabilized creative labor and identity. Agencies within holding companies must balance “industrial scalability with human authenticity” (p. 1208). Likewise, Kumar (2016) observes that the future of advertising lies in its capacity to merge analytics with artistry—to build systems that learn from data but speak with emotional resonance.
These observations echo a broader truth within the industry: consolidation has not diminished the importance of creativity but has changed its context. The work is now more collaborative, faster, and deeply intertwined with technology. A creative director in Dallas may now partner daily with strategists in London or analysts in Singapore. The agency has become both local and global—a living network of talent moving at the speed of media itself.
However, consolidation has also transformed how agencies think about talent, collaboration, and culture. The creative process is increasingly cross-border and cross-disciplinary. A strategist in Dallas might partner with a copywriter in London and a data analyst in Mumbai. This distributed model can be both liberating and disorienting; it demands agility and digital fluency but sometimes dilutes the intimacy of the creative exchange that once defined agency life.
Interview Findings and Industry Perspective
In a June 2025 interview with Campaign, Omnicom CEO John Wren described his vision for what he called a “bigger, better Omnicom” following the planned acquisition of Interpublic Group. His reflections encapsulate the larger conversation about the role of holding companies in redefining creative work. Wren argued that consolidation is not merely a financial strategy but a creative one—a way to build a “more complete ecosystem of services” for clients that increasingly expect seamless integration between data, media, commerce, and content (Wren, 2025).
Wren emphasized that the true measure of success will not be the number of agencies under one banner, but how effectively those agencies collaborate. He described the merger as a way to “reduce redundancy, share intelligence, and elevate creativity through scale,” asserting that global clients now operate “at the intersection of technology and storytelling.” Central to this evolution, he noted, is artificial intelligence—not as a replacement for human creativity but as a “co-pilot” that can accelerate insight and execution. This framing echoes what Arens and Weigold (2021) describe as the modern agency’s balancing act: maintaining creative authenticity while embracing technological transformation (pp. 133–134).
Wren’s interview also revealed a subtle philosophical turn. Rather than presenting Omnicom as a monolith, he positioned it as a network of connected specialists, each empowered to innovate within a shared infrastructure. “We’re not erasing individuality,” he said, “we’re creating a framework where creativity travels faster.” This statement mirrors current scholarly perspectives that predict a shift toward horizontal leadership and cross-agency collaboration as the defining model of twenty-first-century advertising (Mokoena, 2023; Yoon, 2022).
Taken together, Wren’s comments illustrate how the industry’s top leadership views consolidation as both a creative opportunity and a structural necessity. His belief in “scale with soul”—a term he used to describe Omnicom’s post-merger vision—captures the paradox at the heart of the modern agency: global yet personal, data-driven yet human-centered.
Theoretical Lens: Agency as Human and Structural Power
To understand the meaning of agency today is to consider both structure and spirit. In organizational theory, agency refers to a system—a corporate entity that functions as part of a larger hierarchy. But in human terms, agency is the power to act, imagine, and influence. In the advertising industry, these meanings collide.
Yoon (2022), in her introduction to The Future of Advertising special issue, describes this collision as “a dual movement—toward automation and toward human imagination” (p. 150). While holding companies automate media buying and analytics, the creative impulse remains inherently human. The future of the agency, she argues, depends on maintaining equilibrium between data precision and emotional intuition.
Arens and Weigold (2021) suggest a similar balance, noting that the most successful agencies continually adapt their structures without sacrificing their creative cultures (pp. 133–134). Horizontal collaboration—where power is shared rather than centralized—may provide the solution. This emerging leadership model mirrors the evolution of creativity itself: fluid, distributed, and sustained through trust rather than hierarchy.
Future Directions and Predictions
Across all four sources, one prediction is clear: the future of agency identity will be defined by adaptability. As technologies evolve and holding companies expand, the survival of creativity will depend less on structure and more on philosophy.
Technology will continue to reshape collaboration. Artificial intelligence and automation will drive precision targeting and content generation, but they will also elevate the value of human insight.
Talent will redefine the structure. Agencies that empower multidisciplinary, flexible teams will outlast those that rely on rigid hierarchies.
Trust will sustain the culture. In a data-saturated environment, clients and consumers will gravitate toward agencies that create with integrity.
Mokoena (2023) argues that the post-pandemic era demands a re-centering of “human creativity as a renewable resource” (p. 1211). The agency of the future, then, is not just a business unit—it is a living organism built on empathy, collaboration, and ethical imagination.
Conclusion
The meaning of agency has expanded alongside the industry itself. Once defined by geography, now defined by networks; once anchored in personality, now in platforms. Yet, its heart remains human. The rise of holding companies has not erased the creative spirit—it has challenged it to evolve. The question is no longer whether agencies will survive consolidation, but how they will continue to express individuality within it. As structures grow larger, true agency—human agency—becomes the rarest and most valuable resource of all.
References
Wren, J. (2025, June 23). John Wren on his vision for a bigger, better Omnicom. Campaign. https://www.campaignlive.com/article/john-wren-vision-bigger-better-omnicom/1898727
Arens, W. F., & Weigold, M. F. (2021). Contemporary advertising and integrated marketing communications (16th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Kumar, V. (2016). Conceptualizing the evolution and future of advertising. Journal of Advertising, 45(3), 302–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2016.1185983
Mokoena, A. (2023). A framework for the sustainability of advertising agencies in the digital era. Journal of Marketing Communications, 29(8), 1205–1222. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2021.1989613
Silk, A. J., & Berndt, E. R. (2004). Holding company cost economies in the global advertising and marketing services business. Review of Marketing Science, 2(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.2202/1546-5616.1015
Yoon, S. (2022). Introduction to the special issue on the future of advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 41(2), 149–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2074557
