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2024 brought a variety of twists, turns, and evolutions for everyone in the advertising industry—but for agency leaders, it was a particularly bumpy ride. Agencies confronted mounting signal loss, the rise of AI (and clients’ expectations around its usage), ongoing media fragmentation, and a variety of transformative regulatory developments all against the backdrop of significant economic and financial pressures. Indeed, as one agency CEO put it, “The business of agencies right now is staying in business.”
Of course, as agency leaders know, many of these challenges can be reframed as opportunities. By understanding the conditions and forces driving these changes—where they come from, why they matter, and how to adapt—leaders can guide their organizations toward an evolved agency model, one that delivers differentiation and resilience in a competitive landscape.
To that end, we’ve put together a list of seven resources that provided agency leaders with the guidance and insights they needed to thrive in a year of constant change, highlighting lessons from 2024’s defining shifts to set the stage for a successful 2025.
For this report, Basis surveyed agency professionals across the US to identify how they feel about their work, their agencies, and the industry as a whole. The findings paint a clear picture of the biggest challenges facing agencies today, including AI, client relationships, investment priorities, emerging trends, and more. With insights segmented by leaders and non-leaders, this comprehensive resource offers a clear-eyed view and actionable takeaways from today’s agency landscape.
Five industry veterans who have collectively witnessed decades of change in the agency landscape share their insights on what industry leaders need to know about this moment, and how they can guide their organizations towards positive change. This conversation focuses on four key trends: The shifting landscape of online search, the maturation of connected TV advertising, evolving sentiments around AI, and the rise of commerce media.
Creating an evolved agency requires embracing a modern martech and adtech stack. To effectively adapt to shifts like the rise of AI, increasing signal loss, and new digital advertising regulations, agency leaders must take stock of what aspects of their tech stacks are working, what aspects aren’t, and what new technologies are needed. This article explores how leaders can approach this transition, diving into the importance of interoperability, robust training and resources, and automation in service of increasing efficiency, driving revenue, and reducing team burnout.
Of course, even the perfect tech stack can only take you so far, and the best agencies rely on a phenomenal team of advertisers to implement that tech in innovative and creative ways. In an industry with particularly high rates of employee churn—especially when it comes to junior-level employees—talent retention remains a key focus for agency leaders. And with a whopping 70% of agency professionals feeling that their jobs are more difficult now than they were two years ago, agencies should focus on reducing points of friction and finding ways to meet their teams’ evolving needs and expectations. Here, we explore the three key strategies for achieving these goals.
Close to half of agency professionals say their agency’s relationships with their clients are more strained today than they were just two years ago. In this article, Basis EVP of Client Development Michael Olson, Group VP of Client Strategy & Insights Kelly Boyle, and Client Strategy & Effectiveness Lead Lauren Johnson share strategies for fostering more trusting, fruitful, and longstanding client partnerships.
Commerce media is on the rise, social media continues to fragment, and the convergent TV landscape is transforming, bringing new layers of complexity to an already complex media environment. At the same time, clients are seeking expert guidance around which platforms to invest in, how to maximize their first-party data across disparate platforms, and more. In this episode of the AdTech Unfiltered podcast, host Noor Naseer and guest John Lods, CEO of agency Arm Candy, explore how agencies can navigate this complexity to accurately and efficiently assess emerging technologies and provide data-driven strategies that drive success for their clients.
2024 was defined by a significant amount of hype surrounding AI—particularly generative AI—and its applications for advertisers. Still, only about a quarter of businesses across industries are finding and scaling value from their AI tools. This piece explores proven applications of AI, with a focus on planning, optimization, and workflow automation, as agencies strive to unlock greater value from AI in 2025.
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Want to gain a competitive edge for your agency in 2025? Reality Check: The 2025 Advertising Trends Report details four major trends that are set to shape the industry in 2025 while providing insights around how advertising leaders can navigate them successfully.