Agency Business

Welcome to Agency Business. Mollie Rosen , president of member experience at the 4As, joins Olivia and Brian this week to unpack the 4As' 2026 Look Ahead report and what it signals about the future of agencies. Agencies face two divergent but overlapping paths, according to Mollie. They can 1. Become platform- and technology-led or 2. Double down on creativity and strategic partnership. We explore...

This week Brian talks with Amanda Forgione, CEO of Morrison. We talk about many of the very human elements of running an independent agency with family roots in the industry, and contrast some of her agency's choices with those of the holding companies. The episode also features a brief mention of Olivia's new subscription PR model offering agencies a weekly hour of senior strategic thinking. For...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian talk with Steve and Robin Boehler of Mercer Island Group as the industry absorbs one of the most disruptive weeks in recent holding company history. The Bowlers break down Omnicom’s restructuring, including the abrupt shuttering of several legacy creative agencies, and explain why decades of diluted positioning left many large networks vulner...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian talk with Tombras president Dooley Tombras , who leads one of the industry’s few scaled, family-owned independent agencies. Dooley explains why Tombras built its full-service model by zigging against industry convention, how independence enables long-term investment in AI and first-party data, and why today’s consolidation cycle is pushing to...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian sit down with consultant and author Michael Farmer , who has spent three decades diagnosing the economic pressures inside agencies. Farmer explains why agencies still struggle to measure work, how rework distorts staffing needs, and how digital and social accelerated the long-running pattern of falling fees and rising workloads. He also outli...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian record in person for the first time with Doug Zanger , founder of Indie Agency News , a growing platform built to help independent agencies increase visibility and confidence. A former radio producer and trade journalist, Doug shares how his background shaped the creation of Indie Agency News, which is now more than 300 members strong. Doug e...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian interview Josh Rosenberg , co-founder and CEO of Day One Agency , the creative shop founded 11 years ago to bridge the gap between earned media and brand storytelling. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, Day One works with clients including American Express, Chipotle, Nike, Converse, and e.l.f. Beauty. Josh shares ho...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Brian interviews Mark Sherman , founder of Media Experts , Canada's largest independent media agency prior to its sale to Interpublic. Mark provides a wide range of perspectives on independent media agencies, how to make the most of selling an agency and how to make the most of buying one, too. Subscribe to the Agency Business newsletter for episode notes and...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian interview Paul Venables , founder and chairman of Venables Bell & Partners , the independent San Francisco agency known for its work with Audi, Chipotle, and Intel. Paul shares how “doing right by people” became both a cultural mantra and a competitive business strategy that’s guided VB&P’s decisions for nearly 25 years of independenc...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Olivia and Brian interview Robin Bonn , founder of Co:definery and host of The Immortal Life of Agencies . Robin advises agency leaders on positioning, growth strategy, and differentiation to help them define what makes their business truly distinct in a changing market. Robin explains why so many agencies confuse positioning with packaging, how differentiati...

Welcome to Agency Business. Olivia and Brian interview Andrew Graff , CEO of Boston-based independent agency Allen & Gerritsen (A&G). Under Andrew’s leadership, A&G has built a behavioral-science approach to creativity, focused on what drives human decision-making. Andrew explains why curiosity is essential to leadership, and why he calls himself a “chief executive intern.” He discusse...

Welcome to Agency Business. Olivia and Brian interview Rachel Huff , founder of Victoire & Co. and a leading agency search consultant. Rachel works with CMOs and brand leaders to run agency reviews and has a clear view of what clients actually value when choosing partners. She explains how brand marketers approach agency search and compensation models, and why many are leaning toward specialis...

On this episode of Agency Business, Olivia and Brian interview Luz Corona , editor of Campaign US. Luz leads coverage of advertising agencies across the U.S., shaping how the industry understands shifts in creativity, media, and marketing. She explains how Campaign US covers the ad agency beat with depth and context, including its signature “100 days” follow-ups on leadership appointments. Luz out...

This week on Agency Business, Olivia Morley and Brian Wieser speak with Geoff Northcott , CEO of AKQA in EMEA. Geoff's been there 18 years, building a career at the intersection of creativity and technology. From launching Nike+ campaigns to opening offices around the world, his path reflects AKQA’s dual commitment to craft and innovation. Now leading one of AKQA’s three global P&Ls, Geoff des...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, James Dale , CEO and founder of Sine Group and Sine Digital , joins Olivia on the show. Dale’s path into agency life was anything but conventional. A former musician whose band once played at Glastonbury and toured with Band of Horses, he saw his career collapse when streaming upended the music business and data slipped away from artists. That experience led...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Pedro Lerma , CEO and founder of LERMA/ joins us on the show. Pedro shares his unconventional career journey—from selling radio spots in Wichita Falls to spending 23 years at The Richards Group, where he built both its digital practice and its Hispanic marketing arm, Richards/Lerma. He explains how that experience laid the foundation for launching LERMA/ as a...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, Brian interviews Kat Ott , president of Havas Chicago . Kat’s unconventional path into advertising—from professional ballerina to agency president—shapes her perspective as what she calls a “modern marketer.” She explains how Havas Chicago operates like a speedboat: integrated, mid-size, and agile enough to make quick turns that larger holding companies can’t...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week, co-hosts Brian and Olivia are joined by Chad Maxwell , president of Kelly Scott Madison (KSM) . Maxwell’s path into advertising started in anthropology, a background that still informs how he runs KSM today—both in understanding consumers and in building culture inside the agency. He shares how that perspective shapes hiring, talent development, and client st...

Welcome to Agency Business. This week Jason Mitchell , CEO of Movement Strategy , joins us to discuss how a social‑first shop scales from a college startup into a 180‑person creative agency. He explains why early pricing was a competitive advantage, how Movement Strategy grew from social AOR work into 360 creative projects, and why creator marketing works best when platform tools are paired with r...

In this episode of Agency Business, Haley Hunter , co-founder, COO, and CMO of Party Land , joins us to discuss building a comedy-forward creative agency that can still win serious business. Haley shares how Party Land has scaled from a scrappy indie shop into a creative force behind campaigns for brands like Liquid Death, Every Man Jack, JanSport, and Google. She explains how the agency’s clear f...

In this episode of Agency Business , Andrea Kerr Redniss , managing director and co-lead of marketing transformation at MediaLink , joins us to discuss how the firm has evolved from its relationship-driven origins into a full-fledged strategic consultancy. She shares how MediaLink works with Fortune 100 brands on marketing transformation, AI integration, and agency strategy—often in partnership wi...

This week on Agency Business , Olivia and Brian speak with Nadja Bellan-White , group CEO of M+C Saatchi Americas . Nadja explains how the agency is structured to compete across disciplines—from creative and PR to sports marketing and issues management—while remaining lean and independent. She outlines how the team scopes work through upfront strategy sessions and how a focus on speed, senior tale...

This week on Agency Business, Olivia and Brian speak with Emma Armstrong , CEO of FCB New York and global transformation officer at FCB. Emma shares how FCB’s structure gives local offices real autonomy, and how her newly formalized transformation role helps scale innovation across the network. She reflects on how her team built a strong creative reputation, why agency operations must evolve along...

This week on Agency Business , Olivia speaks with Chris Lowery , president of Chase Design Group . Chris shares how he helped scale Chase Design Group from a three-person studio in a Silver Lake house into a global design agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and the UK. He reflects on the company’s creative roots in music and entertainment, the influence of founder Margo Chase, and how th...

This week on Agency Business, Olivia speaks with Tim Ringel , global CEO and founder of Meet the People . Tim shares how his global performance marketing background and time at IPG informed his vision for Meet the People, an independent agency group now 800 people strong. The company’s pitch? A multi-agency model designed to preserve individual agency cultures while operating under a single P&...