Rae Hames’ Post

I'm still not sure why there's so much surprise about the latest WPP consolidation move.... sure, they're burying "storied" agency names, but when is the last time you hired an agency for the name on the door? As literally every agency ever points out, what makes them *unique* is their people. You hire agencies for their killer creative/strategy/media director. You hire agencies to save money vs. hiring a full internal team. You hire agencies for project work. I'm not wildly confident of the future of the agency model - especially since so much of that killer top-tier talent will happily take on direct contract work with brands. They make good money without the agency burnout and brands save on agency markup costs - it's a win/win for everyone but holding companies, who - let's face it - are consolidating to stop the bleeding. Am I missing something here? I absolutely think there's a case to be made for specialized shops, but is anyone really expecting greatness from the mega-agencies anymore?