Media Agency Q3 Results & Pitch Horror Stories!

Senior advertisers are heading into another Media Palooza cycle in a market where holding companies are growing again, pitches are morphing and platforms like Instagram are fighting YouTube for TV time. In this episode, we unpack what that really means if you manage meaningful media money.

If you are a CMO, Procurement Director or Global Head of Media, the core question is simple: are you treating your next agency decision as a governance tidy-up or as a growth lever? This post is designed to help you use the episode as a working brief for your own gameplan.

The ID Comms Breakdown

Media agencies are reporting solid Q3 growth, with media now the profit engine of most holding companies. For CMOs and procurement leaders, the move is to treat media agency selection as a growth decision: clarify your growth agenda, tune your operating model, then adjust scope and pitch strategy to match.

What's going on?

Across the big groups, media is doing the heavy lifting. Publicis reports that Connected Media accounts for around 62% of net revenue and is growing at a high single-digit rate. Omnicom’s Integrated Media unit now represents more than half of core revenue and grew above 10% organically in Q3, while advertising declined.

That pattern lines up with what we are seeing in live engagements. Media is the growth engine that is funding broader marketing transformation. WPP is stabilizing, with media inching back to growth even as creative revenues fall. Havas is posting solid numbers, helped by a much stronger US performance. And Stagwell is behaving like a genuine global challenger, with strong organic growth and an aggressive new-business run.

At the same time, some of the most talked-about wins are happening without a traditional pitch. Publicis has picked up Microsoft, PepsiCo and LVMH in Asia-Pacific through no-pitch moves, part of a broader pattern described in Digiday and The Drum. That is the context for the ‘gentle ding-dong’ between Publicis’ Arthur Sadoun and WPP’s Cindy Rose about whether full-blown competitive reviews are still essential.

On the platform side, Instagram is testing up to 90-minute horizontal video in a push for TV viewing, as reported by The Wrap and analyzed by The Verge. That is not a gimmick. It is a signal that your media plans will have even more long-form environments to consider beyond YouTube, CTV and legacy broadcasters.

What are the implications?

First, media’s role in your P&L is only getting bigger. When 60 percent plus of a group like Publicis is effectively media-led, the level of attention, talent and technology flowing into that space is obvious. If your organization still treats media as a downstream efficiency play, you are behind the market.

Second, the way big accounts move is fragmenting. Some advertisers are ‘ditching the pitch’ and going straight to a preferred holding company. Others, as recent coverage in Digiday shows, are running tighter two-holdco shootouts instead of seven-way beauty parades. That creates more strategic routes to market than just a full RFP.

Third, agency economics are evolving. Historic commission models are being replaced or supplemented with fees tied to technology, consulting and outcomes. That means your agency may be less exposed to budget cuts than before, but also that you need more sophisticated conversations about margin, value and risk. A lazy fee squeeze will not unlock the value that Connected Media or integrated units are capable of creating.

Finally, the fight for attention is moving into the living room in new ways. Instagram’s move into TV-style viewing joins YouTube’s surge on connected TVs, where it already accounts for over 15 percent of US TV usage according to Nielsen data quoted by The Wrap. Your operating model needs to handle converged video planning, not siloed ‘social’ versus ‘TV’ decisions.

How should marketers be thinking?

In the episode, we are clear: treat this as a moment to reset how you use agencies, not just who you use. Start by defining your growth agenda in hard commercial terms. Where do you expect media to create incremental revenue over the next three years, and how will you know if it is working?

Then audit your own operating system. Which parts of the consumer journey can you genuinely own in-house and which require agency craft, tools and scale? It is fine to lean heavily on an external partner, but you cannot abdicate design of the system. Finally, decide how your scope of work needs to evolve next year. Get specific about data, measurement, commerce and content asks, not just ‘planning and buying’ as a block.

The punchline: whether you renegotiate, pitch or quietly reconfigure with your incumbent, you should be clear on those three dimensions before you touch a template RFP.

Q3 Media Agency Scorecard

From an advertiser’s perspective, the Q3 numbers are not about cheering for winners. They are a real-time read on where capability and investment are flowing in the ecosystem you depend on.

Publicis continues to set the pace. The group reported net revenue of €3.81 billion in Q3 2026, up 7.9 percent year on year, with organic net revenue growth of 5 percent. Connected Media delivered high single-digit organic growth and now represents 62 percent of group net revenue, per BestMediaInfo and the company’s own investor update.

Omnicom’s Integrated Media business generates just over half of its core revenue and grew more than 10 percent organically, even as traditional advertising declined, according to recent coverage on BestMediaInfo. Havas is posting mid-single-digit global growth but a much stronger US performance, with the US arm up around 7 percent in the latest quarter.

WPP remains in a stabilization phase. Media has nudged back into marginal growth, while creative revenues have dropped by just over 5 percent. Cindy Rose’s ‘Elevate 28’ plan was always about arresting decline before chasing outperformance. The trajectory is better than it looked a year ago, but the gap to Publicis and Omnicom is real.

Stagwell, meanwhile, is behaving like the category’s provocateur. With organic growth around 7 percent and roughly $170 million in new-business revenue in a single quarter, it is pushing hard to be seen as a credible alternative global system. For some advertisers, that is a useful lever in negotiations with the big three. For others, it is a genuine contender where a more tech-forward, integrated model is attractive.

For CMOs and procurement leaders, the practical implication is simple. You are choosing between ecosystems, not just agency badges. The mix of media, data, tech and consulting revenue inside each group tells you where their best people are pointed. Your next scope and fee model should reflect that reality rather than pretending this is still a pure ‘planning and buying’ decision.

Three Moves To Make Before Media Palooza

The next wave of Media Palooza will reward advertisers who show up pitch-ready and punish those who stumble into a beauty contest without a clear brief. There are three moves we are seeing the best clients make now.

First, define the role of media in your growth agenda. Do not settle for generic language about brand building or performance. Quantify how much incremental revenue you expect media to unlock over the next three years and where that will come from. The brands we work with who do this well can point to specific growth bets in markets, channels or segments, not just an aggregate budget line.

Second, diagnose your operating model with brutal honesty. Map who actually owns strategy, data, martech, commerce and measurement today. Are you expecting your agency to run everything because you lack internal capability, or because it is genuinely the most efficient design? In many of our current projects, the most valuable output is a clear view of which responsibilities must move in-house and which should stay with the agency, before anyone mentions a pitch.

Third, clarify next year’s agency scope of work in detail. That means real numbers of campaigns, markets and assets, but also expectations on using intelligent operating systems, handling direct platform deals, and integrating emerging channels like Instagram long-form video. When Instagram is testing 90-minute horizontal content on TV apps, as The Wrap reports, that is not just a social add-on. It is part of your converged video plan.

We should also be honest about the human side. In the Halloween spirit, we share pitch horror stories from both agency and client sides. From a president accidentally soaking an agency lead in coffee before a regional final, to an agency building a full supermarket bread aisle that half the clients never saw, the lesson is not to chase theatre. The agencies that win are the ones that keep it human, respond calmly when things go wrong and stay focused on the decisions that matter.

Before you join the next Media Palooza wave, ask yourself three questions: do we know exactly why we are changing, do we know what ‘good’ looks like for our next operating model, and do we have the governance and benchmarks to hold any new partner to account? If any answer is unclear, fix that before you touch a briefing deck.

If you want a confidential, independent view of your media gameplan and the options to protect your competitive advantage in media, get in touch with ID Comms. Sometimes the best move is not another pitch, it is a smarter strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Are media agencies really in better shape now?

Yes. Q3 2026 results show Publicis, Omnicom and others posting solid organic growth, with media-led units driving most of the gains. Media is again the engine of holding company earnings.

2. Does that mean I should spend more on media next year?

Not automatically. It means you should be clearer about how media contributes to growth, and then invest behind the channels, partners and capabilities that move real business metrics, not vanity impressions.

3. Is ‘ditching the pitch’ now a smart option for big advertisers?

For some, yes. A no-pitch move to a preferred holding company can work if you already have deep intelligence on the partner and a clear transformation agenda. For others, a structured but tighter pitch is still the right level of diligence.

4. When is a full competitive pitch still necessary?

When you lack confidence in your incumbent, do not have a clear alternative, or need a reset on governance and performance across multiple markets. In those cases, a well-designed pitch is still the cleanest way to test capabilities and chemistry.

5. How should procurement rethink value in this new environment?

Shift from blunt cost-cutting to total value creation. That means interrogating how agency tech, data and talent translate into incremental revenue, and designing fee models that reward outcomes, not just cheaper CPMs.

6. What should I ask my incumbent agency before deciding to pitch?

Ask for a frank view of where the relationship is strong or weak, what they would change in scope and ways of working, and how they would align to your growth agenda. If the answers are vague, a more formal review may be needed.

7. How do Instagram’s long-form video tests affect my plans?

They are another sign that social and TV are converging. Treat Instagram long-form as part of your overall video and attention strategy, not a separate ‘social’ line item owned by a different team.

8. What is the biggest mistake CMOs make going into Media Palooza?

The biggest mistake is treating it as a timing trigger rather than a strategic decision. Joining the wave without a clear growth thesis, operating model design and scope of work almost guarantees a cosmetic outcome.

9. How should I involve finance and the C-suite in these decisions?

Bring them in early around the growth agenda, not just at the end to sign a contract. When CFOs see a clear line from media investments to value creation, they are more likely to support bolder moves and smarter fee models.

10. How can ID Comms help with my media gameplan?

ID Comms helps advertisers define their media growth agenda, diagnose operating models, design scopes and run or avoid pitches with confidence. If you want to protect and extend your competitive advantage in media, get in touch for a confidential discussion.

Episode Transcript

Most of the agencies and agency groups have now shared their Q3 results, so we're gonna dig into those. Uh, we'll consider if there are any implications for advertisers going into Media Palooza next year. So who's, who's strong, who's winning, who's not. Um, and some questions about whether the entire nature of agency pitching is changing. There's some recent high-profile agency moves that we've talked about on MediaSnack recently, and there's been some debate about whether a competitive pitch process is even, uh, has even a, has a role to play. And there's some leading CEOs that are publicly disagreeing about this, so we'll get into that.

Um, and then stay to the end, because in the spirit of Halloween tomorrow, we're gonna share some of the best pitch horror stories that we've either experienced and cringed at, or enjoyed, uh, or been made aware of over the years. So some of these are quite excruciating. So stick around for that.

Live. from New York- And live from London ... it's MediaSnack Live. Hello, I'm Tom Denford in New York. And I'm David Indo from London. Welcome to MediaSnack Live. It's our weekly roundup of all the important news and stories and trends you need to know about the global media and marketing industry. In every show we' ask, what is going on, what are the implications for advertisers, and what should marketers be thinking about next? Thanks for joining us. Let's get into this week's show.

Right. Uh, as usual, we're gonna do two or three stories. We're gonna pull them apart. We're gonna talk about- ... what's going on, what are the implications, what should marketers be thinking. Um- Yeah ... and then we're not, we're not. gonna do any carve-outs this afternoon, uh, this, on this episode, but we' are going to talk about some pitch horror stories. So if we've, we've been reminding ourselves, we've been crying with laughter actually this morning- ... uh, just kind of going back through some amazing stories. Well, let's get to those. The juicy ones at the end.

Yeah. So first up, agency Q3. Yes. This is results season. Uh- It's good ... what's going on? Things are looking, things are looking positive. Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna take us through the, kind of the Q3 results, year on year- Yeah ... results, um, by the big kind of holding companies. They've just recently, come out. So, uh, Omnicom up 7.2% year on year. So this, shows kind of really strong growth post the IPG acquisition. Mm-hmm. And it seems to be suggesting that. the acquisition is going well- Yeah ... that the integration is going well, that they've managed to drive kind of incremental, uh, uh, results through it. So that's, that's positive for, for Omnicom. Yeah.

Um, I think Publicis is still the s- you know, the standout holding company. That's up 5% year on year. Um, it's still the benchmark that I suppose most of the other holding companies, uh, work on. Interestingly, Connected Media, which is kind of their media operation- Yeah ... accounts for 62% of their revenues. I mean, you know- Yeah ... talk about media being an engine for growth for these- Yeah ... organizations. That's- Pretty powerful ... that's kind of massive.

Um, WPP down 2.1%, but, but whilst that's- That's good news apparently. That's good news ... it is good, it is good news- Yeah ... in comparison to, to kind of where, where they were earlier on- Yeah ... in the year. WPP Media is showing a marginal, tiny .3 of a percent growth, which is- Yeah ... kind of good. Uh, their creative arm is down, uh, 5%, just over 5%. Yeah. That's not so good. But, but I suppose, you know, Cindy Rose and her Elevate 28 strategy was about stabilizing this year. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, it's, it's showing the right kind of, kind of progress, albeit down versus the, the category and the kind of the marketplace.

So if w- those are the big three, and next- Yeah ... let's, we, we refer to obviously the, the Red Ocean, and so the, the, perhaps the second, uh, contingent of, of agencies, the holding companies. Let's look at- Yeah ... let's look at those for a second. Havas posted 2.5% growth this quarter versus last year. Yeah. Interestingly, the US is up 7.5%. So in Havas the, the, the US proportion of that, that business is doing really, really well. And, and- Yeah ... and I think that- Which is what they need. They, they, that's the, that was always the weak... well, not the weak point, but that was the, an opportunity- Yeah ... for Havas, wasn't it, to grow the US? Yeah, I think so.

Okay. Uh, that's kind of interesting. Dentsu haven't released their results. Their, their results come out in, in November. So we, we're, we're gonna, we're not gonna speculate on where they are. But the other one that I, that, you know, I take, uh, a lot of interest around- Mm ... because I think that they are a, an interesting provocateur within this kind of category is, is Stagwell. Yeah. And Stagwell have posted 7% increased organic growth versus last year. And I think, I, I think I said, I saw somewhere that had nearly $170 million worth of new business revenue- Yeah ... in just this quarter.

So, you know, a business that, that now is rebranding itself to become a, uh, a highly considered option, uh, global option from, against the big holding companies is, is kind of working, you know? Yeah. It's, it's got the right kind of technology. It's got the right kind of people. It's got the right kind of vision. It's obviously delivering the right kind of proposition that is appealing to the marketplace.

So, so generally speaking, with the possible exception of WPP, which is showing a slight decline year on year, the, the market is buoyant. Uh, and- Yeah ... and what is driving that is, is kind of media. And- Yeah ... I'm sure that that has been, uh, enabled by the masses amount of pitches that we've been talking about for the last kind of 12 months through Media Palooza- Yeah ... or through the, the, the, the generation Media Palooza, and that's gonna continue into kind of next year.

Um, and, and, and as p- kind of part of that, I think you mentioned it in the intro, there's been a little bit of a ding-dong- A gentle ding-dong between Arthur Sadoun and Cindy Rose. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So the respective CEOs of Publicis and WPP. Yeah.

Um, Arthur Sadoun, Mr. Sadoun, whilst he was kind of announcing his Q3 results, I think under questioning, um, uh, with specific reference to the three very high-profile pieces of business that Publicis had picked up without a pitch. So- Yeah ... Microsoft, Pepsi is obviously the, the, the big high-profile- Yeah ... one at the moment, and LVMH across the APAC region. Mm-hmm. They secured those without having to go through to, to tendering. He was asked the question whether this was a trend, and whether, he, you know, we will be in the marketplace seeing more and more businesses that decide against going through a traditional tendering process and just gift businesses.

And, and he had a point of view and he said that, you know, advertisers... He said that there was a clearer distinction between the offerings and the capabilities of the three big holding companies. He said there was a distinction between the three big holding companies, WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, and the others, and he said that within those t- three big ones, uh, clients were able to easily identify the respective capabilities and skills and qualities of the three. He wasn't suggesting that Publicis perhaps was better than anybody else, but he was say- saying that some advertisers can actually identify what they need from within those three without actually going for, to tender.

Uh, I'm not entirely convinced about that, and maybe we can talk about that in, in a second. Cindy Rose, when asked the sort of same question, rightly in my opinion, sort of said, 'Look, these are critical decisions for, for advertisers to make. Which, uh, holding company or which agency to partner with for the f- for the suc- subsequent years. And a degree of diligence is absolutely critical when making these, these defining decisions.'

Uh, and perhaps you kind of would say that. Um, uh, uh, but anyway, uh, I mean, we can perhaps talk about what, what my point of view is when we come to the implications. But, so yeah, there's a lot going on, but the good news is that media, you know, the discipline that we love so much and we're so passionate about- Mm-hmm ... seems to be going in the right direction when, certainly when it comes to the results of the big holding companies.

Yeah. I mean, and they, and they are an indicator, uh, usually on the confidence- Yeah ... that advertisers have in media being a lever for growth- Yeah ... and being a good investment for growth. I mean, the... as we know, when marketers get spooked by the market or they become very conservative and they scale down budgets, agency, uh, you know, the major agency, uh, stock prices are the first things to look at because they're going to- the market will react to less, lower budget.

Um, it maybe is changing slightly because some of the implications in all of this is that agencies are earning money in different ways. Yeah. You know, historically, when agency that made a kind of pure commission or commission-related income on whatever budget the client was setting, then obviously when that budget went down, agency income goes down. What we're seeing now is that there's perhaps less volatility in agency income and, and, uh, profitability, and maybe it's less vulnerable to variances in, in budgeting.

Mm-hmm. However, th- there's indications are positive for agencies. The first is that, uh, as we've been expecting and anticipating, general levels of investment in media from, on behalf of advertisers is going up. So advertisers saying that they're planning to spend more, are confident about spending more. All the predictions of, of, of the market are that there's going to be an increase in total spend, media spend, um, which we're expecting for a, certainly for a couple of years.

Uh, not least because brands are trying to figure out how they compete with each other now that they can make infinite amounts of content. So they're just kind of- Yeah ... trying to figure out how to make that media model work. It's really important, obviously- Yeah ... that your, where you put your messages- Yeah ... which you can now create, you know, infinite number, you know, versions of things.

Uh, and there's more slop than ever cramming into the limited, limited, uh, media channels. And so you're having to, as a brand, think, 'Well, how do we pay to rise above that?' You know- Yeah ... 'How do we premiumize our, our media plan so that we can definitely reach humans at the time of, you know, need?' And it's a really good communications challenge- Yeah ... for agencies at the moment.

But budgets are going up generally. Um, and, you know, the analysts are suggesting that income for agencies is going up. Not in all cases. I think there are some questions about WPP's growth because their billings have gone up.

Um, but there may be a disparity on, you know, in their, in dec- declaration of pass-through costs, which is where it gets complicated com- trying to compare agencies like for like- Mm ... 'cause they don't all report in exactly the same way.

Um, and that may be actually the profitability of media operations, even though it's growing, is not, uh, is, is not great- Yeah ... uh, or, and I think it's going downwards. So we'll see how that plays out. But generally, I think indications are, uh, indications are pretty good.

Yeah. Uh, I think the big im- big implication, as you said, is that media is a lever for growth. Media is- Yeah ... an engine for growth for brands. You know, we've been talking about this for 10 years on MediaSnack.

Um, we love the idea that media is an investment in growth. Our entire system and our business is engineered around this idea that, that if you take media seriously, and you, you know, find the right partners and you, um, you know, hold it accountable, then, uh, you can make your media investments work considerably harder than your competitors, and that's competitive advantage. And the numbers- Yeah ... involved, you know, we're talking about a trillion-dollar market now-

You know, when $1 can work harder than the next dollar, but over time gives you an amazing competitive advantage. That's what's so fascinating about media. It, and it's- Yeah ... it's art and science, and it's so difficult to get it right.

You've been in the hot seat- Yeah ... of some major brands in the, in the m- media leadership role. Um, and you know that, you know, good marketing organizations really value good media. They know that- Yeah ... that's a, a powerful, uh, part of their, of their future success.

So very good, very encouraging. A, a year ago we were w- wondering, you know, f- is the writing on the wall for major agencies? I mean, there's a real existential- Yeah ... question for them- Yeah ... in the face of the big technology platforms potentially owning the c- consumer online, potentially- Yeah ... owning the entire path of sale, um- Yeah ... through platform.

And companies like Meta saying, 'Give us your money, tell us what you want, we'll make all the ads and run all the campaigns for you.' Right? Yeah. So pure outcome-based pricing, and you were thinking, 'What on earth is a- agency gonna do?'

Yeah. But they managed to, as always, figure out the role that they play. Uh, I think that they are cutting back a bit too much on their service ethic and a bit too, building too much on the sales, for what it's worth. But, um, you know, and I think there's a lot to be said that marketers do like agencies as partners.

Yeah. You know? Uh, when we talked about- I tell you where they- Do you remember when we talked about our proc... You know, we talked about, in Media Palooza episode- Yeah ... we talked about procurement. Yeah. Those are some of the best days. You know, when you get the agency in the office, those are the good days. And so I th- Yeah ... I just love the idea that agencies can sell themselves a bit more on the kind of human aspects of it- Yeah ... um, and not just the technology.

But- Yeah. But I think- It's so fascinating ... I think, but I think it is the technology that, that's enabled this kind of growth, these intelligent operating systems. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you why. I've been thinking a lot about this in conversations with kind of clients at the moment.

Um, you know, when we were suggesting perhaps that the media platforms would have greater dominance on kind of media spend and direct- Yeah ... client engagements, and, and that to a degree is happening. The, the big challenge with that from a client side is that you're, you're still channel planning, right? You're not, you're not looking at the consumer journey in its holistic... And that's, that's the ultimate goal.

You can have direct contracts and relationships with platforms, but you need to somehow make sure that that consumer journey is consistent and high level and integrated. And these intelligent operating systems allow that to happen. So- Yeah ... so that's been the genius of the, of the, the holding companies. Their ability to compensate and provide a integrated MarCom solution that is automated- Mm ... for businesses that are still kind of searching for that. And as long as that- Yeah ... kind of continue, then, then I think the, you know, there's a, there's a real kind of positive...

And then if you can sprinkle on top of that the, the craft and the, the strategic brilliance of, of human interaction and intervention within these automated processes- Yeah ... then I think you're onto a good thing.

Yeah. Very good. Um, fir- before we move on, so what, from a marketer's perspective, it is, you know, we're in Q4- Yeah ... uh, probably busy and budgeting for next year. Yeah. Thinking about where you're gonna grow, how you're gonna grow. Um, hearing all the noises from us and others about Media Palooza. We, you know, it's gonna get busy, lots of renegotiations, lots of pitches. Yeah. Don't be left behind.

What should we be thinking? What sh- what are these indications from agencies tell you? Uh, for me, they sort of say sort of three broad things. You need to understand what your growth agenda is. So everyone talks about growth, and absolutely right. So but define what growth means and how media is gonna be able to contribute that, contribute to that. So if you can understand that link, then you can also begin to appreciate the role that your, your media agency's gonna play in delivering that. That's the first thing.

So understand and define what that growth ambition is. The second thing is understand how you need to evolve your operating system. Now, every single operating system within organizations is slightly different, but you need to understand where your relative strengths and weaknesses are. There's nothing wrong with empowering your agency partner with all of the responsibility of managing your kind of media process if you can't do bits of it internally, but you need to understand which elements you're good at internally and which elements you want to re- rely on your agency.

So, so understanding what your own internal operating system is like and where its weaknesses are- Yeah ... is absolutely critical. And we're helping a lot of clients do that at the back end, of this year before they then decide and, in true procurement language, what a sourcing strategy might be for- Yeah ... 2027.

Um, and then the, the third thing is understand what scope of work you want your agency to deliver next year. So, you know, now is the time to start thinking about how your media requirements, your media agency requirements are gonna evolve and change into next year, and start having those kind of conversations. Irrespective of whether you decide to renegotiate properly or maybe even go to pitch, understand what the scope of work is.

So in, in summary, understand your- the, the, the role media will play in your growth agenda. Yeah. Understand where the relative weaknesses and strengths are of your operating model, and then understand how the agency scope of work needs to evolve in light of what you want to do next year.

Yeah. Very good. Very good. Okay. There's a lot to be thinking about this time of year. Yeah. There is. It's not all just planning for CES. So you actually gotta make some decisions- ... on stuff as well.

Uh, so anyway, that's good. That's good. Um, next thing I wanted to pull... I know we wanna get onto the pitch horror stories, that's what everyone's waiting for. Um, just a quick one- Yeah ... because I thought this was a g- this was a kind of an interesting, and there's been lots of discussion about this, and I've listened to some interviews around this, um, was an announcement that Instagram- Yeah ... have made, that they're testing horizontal 90-minute video, which feels like a very un-Instagrammy thing to do, um, in an effort, I think, to compete more head-to-head with YouTube. Yeah.

Um, who l- long loyal viewers of M- of Media Snack will know that I think YouTube is just the best media property ever invented. I just think, I mean, I, I, um, just think it's a phenomenal, uh, creation, and it's just evolved into s- I think the most powerful thing on the, in the world, as far as I can s- can see.

Um, and it's really having, you know, a new resurgence as well because it's starting to take over the traditional TV screen time. I mean- Mm ... YouTube's growth of, of, you know, TV viewing now is s- really significant. Overtaking some established channels and platforms.

Um, it's the thing to beat, and this looks like Instagram's view of how to compete with that, uh, to, to trial long form video, which is, is kind of interesting. So- Yeah ... they're expanding that through TV apps as well, so it's not just on mobile devices. There'll be Instagram long form on TV app.

Um, and it's the fight for TV. This is kind of interesting. This is kind of Meta's fight for, for the t- TV viewing and dominance in the living room, which is very different to what- Mm ... our expectations were. Instagram was always the way that the Facebook company got into, really got into mobile, and now trying to transition off of that and expand, um, it gets them into the podcasting space. Mm. It could, in theory, uh...

It gets us... I heard in one interview, uh, with, with someone at Instagram, they said, you know, 'We want in- Instagram consumption to exist even when you switch off your device,' right? So you- Yeah ... you know, you're kind of listening. Mm. You don't have to be looking at a screen to enjoy Instagram. So that's a kind of, again, it's expanding those usage, use cases. I think a really interesting thing for advertisers to start to try out.

Um, you know, we've got- What, did it, um... In the research that you made, did it, did it, did it talk about what the, what the, um, commercial model was gonna be? No. So is it gonna be a revenue share like, like it, like it is on YouTube? Yeah, I mean, you know, the, Instagram's model has, has been obviously a traditional advertising model, but also from a creator's perspective, uh, you can't really monetize your cr- your content direct- You can monetize users, and you can obviously do brand deals, and you can kind of run- Mm ... have partnerships. But it, it's, it's a different commercial model to, to YouTube where you can actually monetize your content.

And YouTube- Yeah ... has been highly successful at being, you know, considered relatively generous with creators. Um, the Instagram's relationship with creators has been a bit different historically because you haven't really been able to monetize directly. Uh, so that's a big question that they haven't answered yet, is whether they will allow creators to monetize their content directly.

Um, they've said in the past that they wouldn't do that. Mm. Um, because they, they felt that the engagement rate would remain the same whether, uh, content creators were being paid or not, which felt a little bit exploitative. So I think there will be a softening probably on that commercial model. They've got to figure out, to incentivize those long form creators- Yeah ... what the, what the model is and why they should treat Instagram in the same way that they do YouTube.

So, uh- Yeah ... that'll be the next update. Um- We'll keep an eye on that.

Good. Yeah. Right. Uh, so that's good. So yeah, well, yeah, the, the other thing is it will be obviously live streaming, uh, on Instagram. Which has always been a bit complicated actually to live stream on Instagram as far as I can see. But we'll be, we'll be putting our full episodes on Instagram as well.

Uh, right. Let's do some pitch horror stories. So in the spirit of Halloween tomorrow, um, there's been lots of talk about, you know, horror, horror stories from across the industry, and we've shared a few over the years. Um, we have, I, we don't know exactly the number, but we've managed hundreds of agency pitches over the years, and these are, these are high stakes, high pressure environments of course. And so there's always gonna be a few in those hundreds where s- weird stuff happens, mostly on the premises of an agency. It's normally where the comedy, comedy occurs. Yeah.

Um, because it's under such pressure and then things go awry. But there are a few, have been a few standouts over the years, haven't there? Um, shall we just share some of our favorites? Yeah. We were going through our, our kind of remember list this morning and, and crying with laughter actually at some of these 'cause they were amazing. But- Yeah ... what's your favorite?

Um, I'm gonna leave you to talk about the food one. Uh- Sure ... but m- I have two kind of favorites that stick out. The first actually is our very first pitch. Mm. Like all those years ago when we turned up with a collection of 15 to 20 clients to our very first agency chemistry meeting. Mm-hmm. And the agency had forgotten that we were turning up, or they'd, they'd, they thought that we were turning up in the afternoon. Yeah. And we turned up en masse in the morning. Yeah.

And so then we- On, on time We were on time. You were on time. We'd planned it all right. Yeah. They'd got it wrong. Yeah. Anyway, we sat in on their rehearsal, uh, which actually turned out to be their chemistry meeting, and they did it- Yeah ... kind of really well.

And then the, the, the other one that sticks to mind, and I- And they won. They won. They were the winning agency. They won. As well. It was very, it was very impressive the way that they- Yeah ... turned their rehearsal round so quickly. Yeah.

Uh, and the other one which I will never, ever forget, and, and I still, this still sends shivers down my spine, um, it was a very, very important regional final presentation for a very large advertiser. And we were in this gigantic boardroom, this huge table, and the agency had come with 20 people. There were 20 people on the client side. And the most significant client stakeholder was the president of the division. Mm. And he was having some... It was a little bit of a joke with one of the agency's, uh, stakeholders because they knew each other, and he decided that he wanted to h- hurl a bag of sweets at this lady- Yeah. Be like- In a very kind of- ... M&Ms. Yeah. In a- In the bag ... in a nice, kind of, friendly kind of way.

Unfortunately, this bag, he hurled it with such venom that this bag of sweets collided with, uh, a big coffee container that was right in front of the lady that he was aiming the sweets at. And it hit this coffee, and this- Yeah ... coffee went all over her. She was- Yeah ... obviously immaculately dressed in preparation for this very important pitch presentation.

Yeah. And before the pitch presentation even started, she was covered head to toe in coffee. The whole meeting was paused. She had to go to the bathroom to try and sort herself out. And I came back into the meeting, bearing in mind that I was moderating and facilitating this pitch meeting, only to see the president of this client division on his hands and knees with paper towels mopping up- A pool of coffee ... all the coffee that had formed by this table. The whole thing kind of got paused for an hour.

Yeah. And then the, the poor lady came back and, like, covered in coffee. Just, uh, I, I hope I will never have to beat something like that. What about you?

Uh, there's, there's so many. Um, I mean, the, some of them are, uh, uh... From when we were on the agency side, I mean, one of, one of my favorites was when, uh, from the agency perspective, we were pitching a multinational business, a big multinational business, and we had stakeholders on the client side that were coming from all over around the world. And so lots of different languages spoken. And so somebody at the agency had this great idea that we could do a UN-style kind of live translation into the pitch room, um, and that that would be smart.

So the new biz team kind of found all of these translators, hired them, put them in the, in this presentation room. They were kind of sat in, like, little pods next door. Um, and, and then turns out, of course, that these people had no, no idea about media. So they couldn't really translate what was, what was- ... being spoken about. And so we just don't know- ... what was being communicated to all of these kind of foreign, you know, dig- marketing dignitaries that had flown in.

Um, but they... Anyway, that, that, that was a... These are kind of the s- silly, crazy things- Yeah ... that we used to do as agencies. I mean, one of, one of our favorites always was working with a big food company who... Or the, um, like a big bakery, and we were doing a, we were doing a, a, a large pitch, uh, with a- with agencies. And, you know, agencies always do this, uh, you know, theater, they kind of stage their agency.

And they had built, down a very long corridor, the entire supermarket aisle, bread aisle, with all the different bread products. Like a full, like, five shelves down each side. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of loaves of bread, maybe thousands. Uh, and all the different kind of bread products from that, from that client company.

And we thought, 'Oh my God, they've really g- overdone it.' It just felt so wasteful. So t- and two things happened. One is that it was the corridor to this boardroom, and half the clients didn't even walk down it 'cause they'd gone a different way into the... So they missed the whole thing.

Secondly, of course the clients are just kind of walking and talking and didn't really pay attention. And the, kind of the worst, most wasteful part of it is that the agency never then went and presented in the bread aisle. They literally, it was just a piece of staging that you were supposed to walk through, uh, and it wasn't referenced at all. So we thought it was the most bizarre thing.

And the most cringey, the most cringey moment ever, another food one. Something about food, food customers. Um, was... And this happens quite a lot. Hopefully not so much these days, but this used to happen quite a lot. When the agency says, whatever category you're in, you know, 'What type of toothpaste am I?' And they introduce themselves according to your business, and they go round the table.

And we had, yeah, I mean, some amazing food ones like, 'What, what food brand am I?' And then some very, very tenuous explanations and, like... I love a good cringe, and those are, those are some of the best cringes we've ever heard, I think, uh, in pitch horror stories.

The reality is- Yeah ... is that, that we love, you know... The- these are things we laugh about w- and with the agency in, in hindsight, but they are human processes, you know. We love pitches that are really get to the, get to the people beneath it.

And of course, there are gonna be some hiccups from the agency. And the best agencies spin them in, spin them into, you know, moments of credibility, and they build great relationships on the back of them, and amazing partnerships. And honestly, like, the, the way that people react on both sides to these moments, um, and we've all been there, uh, is really how great friendships and partnerships are built in the industry.

Yeah. So, you know- Mm ... it's those flaws that sometimes just make the pitch actually- Yeah ... really effective. But we have some fun ones. Memorable. Yeah. Not mentioning any names.

Okay. Uh, great. Uh, anything, any closing thoughts? No, that's it. Have a good Halloween. And to you. And if you're pitching next week, good luck. Good luck.

See you then. Thanks for watching Media Snack Live. If you found it helpful and want to learn more, head to idcoms.com to get more tips, tools, and resources to help you get good at media. We'll see you next week.