The indie agency takeover: From flagship to footnote
Shai Luft, chief operations officer and co-founder of Bench Media, explores the problems that arise when independent agencies are swallowed by corporate machines.
The Australian media agency landscape is changing faster than the latest viral TikTok trend.
Independent agencies, once the lifeblood of innovation, agility, and client-first service, are being swallowed by global agency groups at a rapid rate. Recent acquisitions such as Atomic 212° by Publicis Groupe, Sparro by Brainlabs and Hotglue by Havas are likely to follow a well-worn pattern that has played out time and again: an independent powerhouse is absorbed into a corporate machine, its identity slowly diluted, and eventually, it becomes just another line on a balance sheet.
For advertisers, these acquisitions may appear to offer access to global resources and broader expertise. But beneath the surface, there’s a familiar trajectory that raises important concerns: loss of independence, shifting priorities, and a gradual erosion of the qualities that made these agencies successful in the first place.
Indie agency independence? Don’t make me laugh, indies are the dodgiest out there when it comes to media arbitrage and rebates.
If you can offer “better service” at the same price as a global agency, then you must be stinging the client in the background.
Shai talks of all the things that happen at a global agency but has never worked at one.
Love the idea that indies only make decisions based on what’s best for the clients never the bottom line. Laughable . Also shockingly a lot of indies build themselves up with express intention of selling. Weirdly founders want to make some money. I’m not sure if this constant slew of indies versus networks is a conserted PR push but some of the stuff in these articles is a joke. As Coady said last year there’s room enough for all of us. Also indies “we’re good cos we’re not that lot” isn’t a strategy.
You managed to write that whole article and didn’t mention The Monkeys once?