The first Media Palooza a decade ago rewired global media.
Media Palooza 2027 will be even bigger, but this time the stakes are different. For CMOs, Procurement Directors, and Global Heads of Media, the real question is not ‘Will there be a pitch?’ but "Are we structurally ready for the next five years of media?"
This article distills the latest #MediaSnack Live episode with Tom Denford and David Indo into a practical playbook. You will see why Media Palooza 2027 is gathering pace, what it means for your organisation, and how to use it as a springboard to strengthen your media advantage rather than just re‑run a price‑cutting exercise.
The coming Media Palooza is not just ‘a lot of pitches’. It is a structural reset driven by AI, consolidation, and a backlog of brands that have not looked seriously at their agency model for years.
Media Palooza 2027 is the expected surge of large global media reviews, likely exceeding the 2015–16 wave in both scale and complexity, as advertisers respond to AI, agency consolidation, and outdated contracts by reassessing their media operating models and agency relationships.
In the first Media Palooza around 2015–16, an estimated 25 to 27 billion dollars in media spend went to pitch within 18 months. Typical years see perhaps 15 to 17 billion dollars of media in review. This year alone, we highlight 13 billion already tendered and another 11 billion already in active review, with market forecasts pointing to roughly 30 billion dollars in play.
That would already exceed the original Media Palooza. And this is only the warm‑up for 2027.
A particularly telling data point from the episode is that 27 of the world’s 100 biggest advertisers have not reviewed their media arrangements for seven years. In that period, agencies have consolidated, merged, and acquired vast stacks of data and technology. Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP, in particular, have evolved into very different businesses compared to the partners some advertisers originally appointed.
In #MediaSnack terms, the first question is always: what’s going on? In this cycle, three forces are combining.
First, AI has moved from slideware to reality. For two years, many advertisers held off big pitches, choosing to wait while agencies over‑promised AI solutions that were not yet operational. Now CMOs are finally seeing real demos, practical tools, and early performance gains.
Second, agency commercial models are mutating. Large networks want to sell fewer people and more platforms, data, and transactions. Many still‑relevant contracts are silent on AI usage, principal media, and modern audit rights. Some advertisers are even still on commission‑based payment models while their agencies push for outcome‑based or technology‑linked remuneration.
Third, there is a backlog and a herd effect. Reviews paused during the pandemic and during the early AI hype. As leading brands now move, others feel a familiar fear of missing out. If your peers are testing new capabilities at Omnicom, Publicis, or WPP, you will not want to be the only CMO without a clear position.
A practical implication: if Media Palooza 2015 was primarily a pricing and consolidation story, Media Palooza 2027 will be about capabilities, contracts, and operating models. That is precisely where ID Comms is coaching advertisers to focus.
For agencies, the implications are clear: a record volume of new business pressure with fewer people to service it. Many networks have reduced headcount by at least 10 percent compared with a decade ago, which means they will be far more selective about which pitches they commit real quality resources to.
For advertisers, the implications are more strategic:
From a competitive‑advantage perspective, the key implication is this: Media Palooza 2027 will reward advertisers who arrive with clarity and discipline, not just bigger budgets.
I already see two distinct mindsets in the market.
One group is preparing to jump fully into Media Palooza, sharpening briefs and aiming to be early into the queue, determined to secure what they see as ‘their fair share’ of agency attention and innovation.
Another group is quietly choosing to zag. Rather than entering the pile‑up, they are moving early to renegotiate with incumbents, modernize contracts, and lock in terms ahead of the stampede.
Both strategies can work, but neither can be improvised on a Teams call three weeks before you brief agencies. Marketers should be thinking across a two‑to‑three‑year horizon, asking: ‘What role do we want our agency ecosystem to play in delivering our growth agenda, and what structure best supports that?’
In classic #MediaSnack fashion, we break the topic into: what is going on, what are the implications, and how should marketers be thinking. Below is the ID Comms breakdown into four concrete moves CMOs and marketing procurement leaders can make immediately.
To prepare effectively for Media Palooza 2027, advertisers should: review and redesign their media operating model before touching agencies, define a clear future role for partners, choose the right route to market rather than defaulting to a big pitch, and deliberately position themselves as a priority client for the best agency talent.
Each of these steps is deceptively simple. The power lies in doing them thoroughly before any RFP hits the street.
Ten years ago, many advertisers treated media agencies almost like interchangeable suppliers. Today, nobody buys a generic ‘network agency’ off the shelf. Sophisticated advertisers start by understanding their internal operating model.
ID Comms’ capability analysis is an internal diagnostic that benchmarks strengths and weaknesses across strategy, data, technology, in‑housing, governance, and vendor contracts. The output is effectively a blueprint of what the organization needs from external partners.
A concrete example: if you know you cannot, in the next three years, structurally integrate brand and performance teams, then you design your agency scope to compensate for that gap. You ask explicit questions about integration, data flows, and decision rights, rather than hoping a pitch presentation magically solves a structural issue.
Vague instructions like ‘reduce costs’ or ‘deliver value’ are no longer fit for purpose. Agencies facing twenty active pitches will prioritize advertisers who arrive with a sharpened mandate tied directly to growth outcomes.
In the episode, we urges marketers to define:
For instance, a CMO might frame the brief as: ‘We need an agency‑led operating model that unifies attention‑based planning across TV, online video, and retail media, with clear accountability for incrementality measurement across markets.’ That is something agencies can organize against and price properly.
A competitive tender can be the right solution, but it is not always the best. ID Comms is seeing more advertisers opt for closed‑door negotiations with incumbents when relationships are strong and performance is solid, but contracts and scopes have fallen behind.
For example, a global advertiser may discover that their current agreement does not cover AI tools, principal media trading, or new sponsorship and creator‑marketing services the agency has acquired. Rather than launching a global review in the middle of Media Palooza, they run a structured renegotiation that updates scope, KPIs, and remuneration while benchmarking against the market.
The key is to conduct a risk and value assessment of each route: full pitch, limited competition, or structured renegotiation. In a 30‑billion‑dollar pitch year, choosing the right route can be the difference between attracting an A‑team and fighting over leftovers.
In 2015, ID Comms could send an RFI and almost every major network would say yes. Agencies did not feel they could decline. Today, resource constraints and margin pressure mean agencies are increasingly selective.
That means you must dust yourself off and become the most attractive pitch in the room. Practically, that looks like:
Here's a useful example: some advertisers are already going to incumbents with a candid message. ‘We are not going to play in the full Media Palooza. Instead, we have a defined window over the next six months to modernize scope, contracts, and pay. If you can lean in with your best thinking now, we will not run a competitive pitch.’
Handled well, that approach can unlock senior attention, more flexible terms, and a calmer, more strategic reset of the relationship.
Looking ahead to 2027, media is entering a period where technology, talent, and transparency will converge. This is exactly where great media procurement and strong marketing leadership can shine.
To navigate Media Palooza 2027 successfully, CMOs should partner closely with evolved media procurement teams, stress‑test agency AI and data promises in real use cases, time their market moves to avoid the worst of the pile‑up, and maintain a long‑term, operating‑model lens rather than treating the pitch as a one‑off savings event.
The episode makes clear that media procurement has matured dramatically in the last decade. Back in 2015, we were working with a handful of pioneering leaders. Today, most large brands have dedicated experts who understand both the numbers and the nuance of media.
These leaders are no longer just ‘bag carriers’ or negotiators who appear at the end dressed like the Grim Reaper to cut fees. They are involved from the very beginning, shaping the scope of agency services and the commercial models that support them. This is a fundamental shift.
Agencies are, at the same time, heavily promoting AI‑driven platforms. Yet CMOs have seen a lot of hype and relatively little proof. In the last few months, that proof has begun to appear, with advertisers finally getting under the hood of real tools, not just concept slides.
The implication is that the next 18 months will be about testing and codifying how AI, data, and automation are written into scopes, contracts, and incentives.
For example:
These questions are already appearing in negotiations, even when there is no formal pitch underway. The advertisers who articulate clear principles early will avoid being rushed into one‑sided agreements when the market gets noisy.
Practically, CMOs and procurement leaders should frame the next phase as a two‑track plan.
Track one is internal preparation: capability diagnostics, operating‑model design, and stakeholder alignment around what ‘good’ looks like in 2027. This is classic ID Comms territory, where a structured, evidence‑based review gives you the confidence to either pitch or renegotiate from a position of strength.
Track two is external navigation: timing your engagements with agencies. Some advertisers will want to be early into Media Palooza to road‑test platforms like those from Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP. Others will want to move just ahead of the main wave, using quiet windows to run cleaner, calmer processes.
Whichever route you choose, keep sight of the real objective. The goal is not to win the Media Palooza ‘game’, but to protect and extend your competitive advantage in media for the next three to five years.
At ID Comms, we see the most successful advertisers treating this as a coaching journey, not a stunt. They lean into the data, stay human with agencies, and focus relentlessly on building a model that works for their business, not just for the benchmarks.
If you would like to confidentially discuss your gameplan and options to protect your competitive advantage in media, get in touch with ID Comms today.
1. What exactly is Media Palooza 2027?
Media Palooza 2027 refers to the expected surge of global media agency reviews and pitches that will likely exceed the 2015–16 wave in size. It is being driven by AI, agency consolidation, and a backlog of major advertisers that have not reviewed their arrangements in years. #MediaPalooza27
2. Why is this Media Palooza different from the one in 2015?
The original Media Palooza was mainly about consolidating spend and driving down media prices. The next one will be centred on capabilities, contracts, AI, and operating models. Cost still matters, but the big decisions will be about how your media ecosystem works for the next five years.
3. How important is AI in triggering new reviews?
AI is the main catalyst. Many advertisers delayed big pitches until they could see real, working tools rather than slideware. As platforms from groups like Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP have become more tangible and proven, CMOs now feel ready to test them through formal or informal reviews.
4. Do all advertisers need to run a full pitch?
No. Some will benefit more from a structured renegotiation with their incumbent agency, particularly where performance is strong but contracts, scopes, and remuneration models are outdated. The right route to market depends on risk, value, and your internal readiness.
5. What role should media procurement play?
Media procurement should be a strategic partner from day one, not just a late‑stage negotiator. Modern media procurement leaders help design operating models, stress‑test commercial options, and ensure that new AI‑ and data‑driven scopes are structured and benchmarked properly.
6. When is the best time to start preparing?
Preparation should start now, even if you do not plan to pitch for another 18 to 24 months. Internal diagnostics, stakeholder alignment, and operating‑model design take time. Leaving this work until just before an RFP typically leads to rushed, tactical processes.
7. How can we make sure agencies prioritize our brief?
You need to be an attractive client: clear growth objectives, joined‑up marketing and procurement leadership, a realistic process, and a fair commercial model. Agencies with limited pitch capacity will focus on advertisers who look serious, collaborative, and future‑focused.
8. Should we still focus on media pricing benchmarks?
Pricing benchmarks are still useful, but they should sit inside a wider value framework. Obsessing only over rate cards can cause you to miss bigger gains in effectiveness, automation, and smarter use of data. Media Palooza 2027 is about building a better engine, not just cheaper fuel.
9. How do we handle principal media and transparency in contracts?
You should explicitly address principal media, AI tools, and data ownership in your contracts and governance frameworks. Clear disclosure rules, audit rights, and agreed pricing principles reduce risk and avoid difficult conversations later when usage scales up.
10. How can ID Comms help us get ready?
ID Comms supports advertisers with capability analysis, operating‑model design, agency selection and pitch management, and incumbent renegotiations. The ID Comms' team act as coaches, helping you make confident, evidence‑based decisions about your media ecosystem.
Yes, Media Palooza 2027 is coming. Tens of billions of dollars in media spend are coming. to pitch. Today, we're gonna unpack what is Media Palooza, why 2027 is probably gonna exceed all previous records, and why smart advertisers need to get prepared right now. Live from New York. Live from London. It's Media Snack Live. Hello, I'm Tom Denford in New York. And I'm David Indo from London. Welcome to Media Snack Live. It's our weekly roundup of all the important news, and stories, and trends you need to know about the global media 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, mate, the winds are blowing. Media Palooza- They are ... 2027 is on its way. They are. Uh, that's what everybody's saying. We're starting to see the beginnings of that because we, this time of year, we start to be engaged with advertisers who are planning into Q4, into- into next year, what they're gonna do. Um, and it's- it's definitely coming. Um, so welcome to Media Snack Live. Um, this is our weekly show. We help advertisers, this is for marketers and marketing procurement leaders, uh, understand what's going on in global mar- global marketing, but specifically, we talk about media, hence the name Media Snack. Um, just to remind you, this is normally a live show. This one we're pre-recording, um, because, David, you're going to a wedding. Not your own wedding, but somebody's wedding. Um, uh, but you can leave comments down below, uh, in any live show and we'll come back to you, uh, if we can't absolutely answer them during the show itself. Uh, as always, follow along. We're streaming on L- LinkedIn, YouTube and sometimes TikTok. Uh, please subscribe. This is the beginning of a 10-part series, actually, so you're gonna wanna subscribe, make sure that you get alerts to find out what is going on. Okay. So this is kind of part one. Media Palooza, it's become a common term because we've been using it' for 10 years. But for those that don't know, David, let's just go, what- what actually is Media Palooza and what's going on? So Media Palooza was coined, uh, by, I think, one of the trade press, uh- Mm-hmm ... in 2015, 2016. Now, it' was an anomaly of a 18-month period- Yeah ... uh, where we found, uh, $25 to $27 billion worth of media reviews all going to pitch at the same time. Yeah. It was unprecedented. And all of the big, uh, pharma businesses, the automotive businesses, the big energy businesses, they all seemed to go to review at the same time, and it caused- Yeah ... chaos within the marketplace. Yeah. Um, now this was 2015. Um, and 2016 was when the ANA report kind of came out. Mm. And so I think if we kind of look back... And, and actually, we were- we were responsible, ID Comms was responsible for many of those media reviews. Yeah. We did about half the market, I think, that year. Yeah. We had our- We, we were responsible because, yeah ... DNA kind of written all over it. And- and if we were to kind of reflect on, that period fairly honestly, we would probably say that the vast majority of the pitches that we ran that sat within Media Palooza- had one kind of core ambition- Mm-hmm ... and that' was to drop media pricing. Okay? Yeah. And the reason for that- Consolidation. They' were all consolidation pitches, were they? They were all consolidation pitches. And the reason- Yeah ... for that was because big advertisers, that had historically seen great value in, uh, challenging their agency partners to kind of reduce media, pricing costs- Yeah ... were seeing an accelerated rate of investment into biddable channels. Yeah. And so perhaps at the time, maybe 50% of their media budgets were still- were still able to be negotiated by their agency partners. Yeah. And so those advertisers saw this as a- as the perfect window with which to further capitalize on this opportunity, right? Yeah. That was that. And so you, had a big rush of advertisers wanting to kind of batten down the hatches in terms of their media pricing, and then the following year, you' had the ANA report come out- Yeah ... and suddenly it was all about transparency, and that- that acted as a second catalyst if you- if you like. Yeah. So that was 20, sort of, 7 billion in play. Yeah. You fast-forward 10 years and where we are now, and let me just add a little bit of kind of context for you, Tom. So in any normal, typical year, you can probably see maybe $15 to $17 billion in review. That's a typical year. Yeah. Okay? So far this year, we've seen $13 billion- Yeah ... tendered. This is just in media. These are the media pitches. Yeah. Just in media. Just in media. There is an additional 11 billion- Mm-hmm ... currently in review. Yeah. And market estimates suggest that this is gonna be a $30 billion year. Yeah. So bigger- Already bigger than- ... than Media Palooza- It's bigger than- Already bigger than we saw ... yeah And- and that trend is only going to continue for kind of 2027. Yeah. And the reason for that is, just a little bit of a kind of analysis, you know, 27 of the biggest 100 advertisers in the world- Mm-hmm ... haven't reviewed in the last seven years. Yeah. I thought that was- What- ... a really interesting stat, isn't it? That's- Me, absolutely. Yeah. Now, what you tend to find with advertisers is they don't, you know, they tend to sort of follow the trend. You know, they tend to- Yeah ... worry that, you know, if lots of people are doing something, they don't wanna be left out. It's the fear of missing out. Yeah. Yeah. So some, if not all of those perhaps, will also look to sort of tender. Yeah. And- and many of the- the reviews that were conducted successfully three to five years ago- Yeah ... should be in a kind of natural cycle of looking to kind of renew those kind of contracts. So we are, this year could be a world, a record-breaking year- Yeah ... and we anticipate that 2027 may be even bigger. So that's why people are talking about the second Media Palooza kind of coming up. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so those things do, do tend to go in cycles sometimes, as we, as we know, and traditionally advertisers have worked on a three- to five-year timeline, as you- Yeah ... as you kind of mentioned. So there feels like there's a little bit of a backlog. There is sometimes. Yeah. We had this during kind of COVID, if you remember. There was, like, a year or so, there was very few pitches, of course. Although we ran- we did run some quite big pitches in COVID that were quite, quite successful actually, and changed the way that we pitch. Yeah. Um, but when there's been a bit of a backlog and then there's this big flood into the market- Mm ... um, you know, we'll think of some of the implications or really what are the drivers behind this and what's going on. But as I mentioned, this is going to be a, a multi-part series because, you know, we're starting to get a lot of questions from advertisers about this, how do we navigate. And this is ... You'll get a lot out of this episode, but I recommend that you follow along for the next 10 weeks, um, if you can, or you're catching up with this, you'll probably see some more episodes on, on Media Palooza. Uh, because we wanna get you ready for that and understand how to navigate it. That's typically the question that we get is like, "What are, what are we gonna do? I don't think we're gonna pitch. How should we navigate this? What should we be saying to the agency?" Mm. "What should we be thinking?" So we'll be dropping some stuff today in today's episode, but just, you know, keep watching the series because this is important to plan it out. Every advertiser should have a point of view on this really. Yeah. Um, you don't want to be asked about it and not have a point of view. It's one of those kind of things. Yeah. Um, so what are the implications, and really by that, like, what's going on, right? Um, what is causing this? Uh, the simple answer is AI, really. That's the real answer to why that there's going to be an uptick, um, and a building of kind of new business pressure for agencies. Yeah. And it's not because, because advertisers are particularly shopping for AI, although it's definitely high on the list of requirements, but it's not, as much as agencies might like it to be the number one thing, because that's all they want to talk about. Um, advertisers obviously are looking for slightly kind of more broader capabilities and understanding of agencies. But the thing that's triggering this market behavior is definitely AI. Yeah. We've had a couple of years now where, uh, we've observed advertisers have held back from putting large accounts into review because they just kind of wanna see where the dust settles. Mm. There's been a lot of hype, a lot of oversell, a lot of overclaim. There's also alongside this been continuing consolidation, both obviously in the agency landscape, we've had major agencies merging, like Omnicom and IPG, and we've had other major a- major agencies making, again, sizable acquisitions of data and technology assets, gathering these, uh, in this concentration, particularly these, the top three, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP are really the, the, kind of, the big players in that space. So those three agencies have changed a lot in the last five years. So these top 100 advertisers that you mentioned that haven't reviewed their, their agency for seven years, wow, what a change there's been in those seven years. So that's the thing that's kind of tr- changing it, is that there's been massive disruption and consolidation and change in the narrative and positioning and capabilities of agencies. But we've been advising clients, "Let's hold off a little bit," because we've got to wait to where these things settle. Mm. And actually, interestingly, in the last few months is where we've been able to be, you know, onboarded, a really deep dive onto a lot of these agency technology platforms, which were a promise. You know, they were s- you know, what we refer to as slideware. They look nice on slides, but you couldn't actually see anything practical, to now we're actually doing demos with the real cutting-edge stuff in a lot of agencies, and it's starting to feel more tangible and real. It's turning up in pitches. We're having clients that are using some of these things and they're seeing some benefits of it. So it's now become a bit more real, a bit more tangible, and that is the trigger that's going to make a lot of advertisers go, "Right now, I want to get- I want to rush to get ahead of the queue." Yeah. "I want to be one of the first agencies to really road test all this stuff. Tell me about what Omnicom are doing. Tell me about what Publicis are doing. How does that compare to WPP?" And then what does that mean for the next group of agencies, and what does that mean for independent agencies? They're itching to go, kind of, shopping, if you like. And it might be window shopping at this point, but that's what's creating the trigger. A lot of people have held off, and now is the time to kind of go see what's, see what's out there. Yeah. Um, at the same time, we've got advertisers that are being very heavily sold an, an idea of upgrading by their existing incumbent agency. Um, so they know that there's going to have to be some form of change of scope of work. Definitely an update needed on their contracts. I know you're gonna talk through some of these kind of practical things. Um, because the contract doesn't account for AI usage, principal media, all of these other rights and, you know, audit rights that you might want to put in place. So it's upgrading that. Upgrading the payment model. Still have advertisers that are paying agencies on media commission, which is fine if that works for you. But you'll probably have your agency saying, "We don't want to be paying on commission anymore. Uh, we want to be paid on outcomes," or, "We don't want to be paid by number of people because actually we're letting people go." If you haven't noticed, unfortunately, there's a lot of people leaving agencies, so they don't want to s- be selling people anymore because they've got fewer people. They want to be selling technology, data. You know, they want to be making margins on transactions. Yeah. So the underlying commercial model is then changing as well because the agencies, these agencies are mutating, is what we say. They're, they're mutating in different ways. So that, even if you've only just got your existing agency coming to you saying, "Listen, we, we want to talk to you about, you know, expanding our scope because we've just bought a sponsorship company," or like, "We'd like, we'd really like to include creator in our scope of work," or, "This is how we want to get paid for media transactions." They wanna change, and then that's going to naturally trigger, uh, advertisers. They typically come to us, or people like us, and say, "Mm, okay, here's what the agency's proposing." Yeah. "What should we do? Should we see what's out there? Is this a good time to pitch? What do you think? When's the right time?" You know, and that's, these, these are the questions that are going on right now. Um, so what does, what does, what does a Media Palooza mean to the industry? Okay. Uh, the first thing is it put incredible strain on the agencies. And if you remember 10 years ago, we've had a couple of, like, blips of, of Media Palooza-like things- Mm-hmm ... that have happened since 2016, but that was an extreme case, and this is likely to be the same or, or bigger, as you say. Yeah. Could be significantly bigger. Um, agency had at least 10% more people 10 years ago than they do now. Uh, and for some it might be m- more than that. So in terms of head count, they're, they're gonna be spread a bit thin. However, I think pitches are better than they were 10 years ago. Our pitches are definitely better than they were 10 years ago. They are lean, focused, direct. They, they get, get... Our pitches get, uh, the advertising agency really collaborating together to see really what it's like, to really road test things. We're not ex- we don't set anything that's on a slide, it doesn't exist. It has to be real, it has to be practical, it has to be costed. Um, and you can get through those processes w- much more effectively now than we could do. There's much more use of video, of course- Yeah ... than there was 10 years ago. You know, these things can be, these sort of things are a lot better. However, still a big strain on agency, both in terms of attention- Yeah ... and head count, and secondly in terms of their, in their wallet really. It's like, how flexible are they willing to be commercially and negotiate? And what we do know is that agencies are far more discerning about the pitches that they take on, and that's gonna be a, a, an episode that we're gonna kind of come on to talk about, is, you know, how agencies make decisions about what pitches to go for. Yeah. Because if you're thinking of pitching, you don't wanna be, you know, number 25 pitch that's going on at that time. No. You're gonna get- Yeah ... the, the very, the, you know, the, maybe some of the poorest resource and the poorest commercial terms. Um, you wanna be top of the queue, top of the pile. You wanna be the most exciting pitch they're doing that week. Um, and we'll give you some tips on, on how to, how to kind of achieve that, 'cause that's gonna be critical from the advertiser perspective. Um, so agencies are gonna get super busy, so something to navigate. Um, the, uh, the pitches, the really good pitches are gonna be strategic and they're going to be focused on particular business challenges. If you're watching this and thinking, "Oh, I wanna get into this kind of pile up on agencies, and I, maybe I can get some cheaper pricing out of them," 'cause we'll go in and we'll, they'll beat up the agency. That's not what's gonna happen in t- in, in this Media Palooza. Yeah. As you've mentioned, '26 was really consolidation, you know, real price pressure. This is not about price. This is about locking in the right capabilities for your business- Right ... for the next five years. Exactly. Um, so writing that brief is, is, is critical. And then there will probably be an advantage in terms of go-to-market, as what we'll talk about. You know, it's just knowing, like, when to go, right? When to go. You don't wanna go too early. You want, you don't wanna, you don't wanna leap be- be at the back of the queue at the same time. So we're gonna talk a bit about that. The final thing I just wanted to say, just as, as an implication and a, a difference, 'cause we talked about the origins of Media Palooza. In 2015, those sort of relatively early primitive, let's call it, days of me- of media procurement. I'm not talking about procurement. Procurement's a very well-established discipline. I'm not even talking about marketing procurement. But ve- there were very few really good media procurement leaders at that time, and we were lucky enough to work with a, a bunch of them. Some of them we're still working with. Mm. Awesome people. But it was a pretty rare discipline of people that decided, procurement decided to lean into media. And it's bi- of course you would, 'cause it's, you know, it's a trillion-dollar business now. It's really important, uh, that there's, that, that there's a kind of diligence and discipline in that. Uh, the thing now is that most businesses, most substantial brands where they've got a m- media department or media leaders, they've got good me- media procurement. You know, media procurement's flourished lost, lo- lo- over the last 10 years. Um, and we're fortunate enough to work with some awesome media procurement leaders. I think that's gonna be such a difference this year because those ambitions are gonna be different. Yeah. They're not whacking things trying to get some more money out of it. So strategic. Um, so that, I'm really excited for that bit actually. So this is, this is Media Palooza. It's gonna be kind of a fun, wild ride, but media procurement's gonna absolutely show their mettle now. They're gonna show their value to their organizations, uh, over the next 18 months. I couldn't agree more- Um- ... about that, on that. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of exciting. Um, so advice. Yes. What should marketers be doing now? And bear in mind, obviously, we're gonna do a whole series of episodes on this. How do, what are top, at a very high level, what are the kind of key things if you're- Four things ... thinking. And these are, these are conversations that I'm having all the time with advertisers and, and these are conversations that I didn't necessarily have 10 years ago in the first- Yeah ... couple of Media Palooza. The, those conversations were very different- Yeah ... to the ones perhaps that we're having now. The first conversation or the first, uh, strategy that I would encourage marketers to deploy is review your media operating model before you review your agency. Yeah. So, uh, nobody buys an agency off the shelf any longer. Nobody goes and buys a Wavemaker or a PhD or... They don't do that. What smart, progressive advertisers- Yeah ... do now is they understand their own internal operating model They identify the weaknesses of that, the gaps within it that they can't structurally change- Yeah ... and they use that to create a blueprint with which to go to the market. Yeah. Now, as part of that review of your operating model, that does mean, uh, contracts. That does mean understanding where your direct vendor contracts are- Yeah ... where the gaps are, um, where your structural challenges are. Is it still the challenge, you know, integrating brand and performance internally? Well, that's fine because- Yeah ... because many organizations can't smash these two things together. But then you are asking your agency partner to compensate for those weaknesses. Mm. So you need to be able to ask the right questions of your agency partners, but you can only ask those questions if you understand where the relative strengths and weaknesses are of your own own internal operating model. Yeah. That's the first thing. Review your- Great ... operating model before reviewing your agency. Which, by the way, 'cause we some- we sometimes skip by these things 'cause we love talking about them, but this is a thing that IDCOM's does. Yeah. So if this is something that you have in mind, these are services that we provide to dozens and dozens of advertisers, and we call it a capability analysis. There's like an internal diagnostic that we have to do to look at your organization and then grade and benchmark, and just show you where the strengths and weaknesses are. If that's something that you're interested in, we'll put a thing on the screen right now. Um, you can go to idcoms.com, and then just come and just find out about that because that is typically a really good start point. Yeah. Sorry, you carry on. So strategy number two, be really clear what you want your agency partner to do for you. Yeah. Now, but also in the next three years. Don't go with a, uh, directive to reduce costs because as you said earlier on, Tom, no agency's frankly gonna engage with that. And also- Yeah ... as we talked about last week, don't come up with a vague, uh, objective like, "Deliver me value." Be really- Yeah ... specific as to the role that you want your agency to play, or agency ecosystem to play, in order to deliver against your growth agenda. The clearer you can be, the more, the more directive, the more specific, the more unambiguous you can be, the better that agency community is going to be at responding to it. So be super- Yeah ... clear, kind of clear. Yeah. Um, the s- the third thing is choose your route to market carefully. Don't default to, uh, a competitive tendering process. Th- that might not be the right solution for you. What we've found- Yeah ... is that sometimes a closed-door negotiation with your incumbent agency, if the relationship is solid and strong- Yeah ... and they're making good progress, and what you need to do is recalibrate some of the, the core components of that relationship and modernize those- Yeah ... you don't need to do a competitive tendering process. That, that may not be the right solution for you. Yeah. But choose the route to market and do a risk assessment, and a, and a value assessment of both of the, kind of the options. Yeah. And then the fourth thing, and we're gonna spend, I think, a lot of time talking about this in the next couple of weeks, is be a priority. Make sure that you, if you decide to go to tender or if you decide to renegotiate, make sure that you are the type of business, the type of advertiser that your agency or the agency community want to invest in. Yeah. And that requires you dusting yourself off, putting on your best suit, and making sure that you are as attractive a proposition to the agencies as you've ever been. Yeah. 10, 10 years ago, Tom, when we, when we were managing all these pitches to Media Palooza, we'd send an RFI, and they'd all say yes. Yeah. Because it was a, it was a race to the bottom, right? And- They didn't want to say no. They couldn't say no. Yeah ... they didn't want to say no. Now, the hardest challenge often for advertisers is getting the, the, the candidate list really engaged. Yeah. Once you've got them engaged at the beginning of the process, then you'll see magic through that process. Yeah. But making sure that they want to invest in you and that you are a priority pitch client for them- Yeah ... is absolutely kind of critical. Yeah, yeah. Really good. Um, we will expand this across the next 10 weeks. Please subscribe, click the bell. Whatever you do, just, um, follow these accounts so that you can keep up to date with it, because we're gonna kind of lay out a whole roadmap of, of how to do this. Um, I thought the, um, you know, when you talk about renegotiating with incumbent agencies, which we see a lot more of now, I think there's, there's, uh, definitely a lot more thought on the marketer side- Yeah ... that goes into preparing for a pitch. Um, it, it would be often quite common, we get a call saying, "You know, we're planning to go pitch in a, in a month. Um, we've already aligned everybody. Like, we need your help. Can you get us ready?" And that's f- you know, fine. If that's the case, we, we, we'll, we'll do that. Um, but these days, it te- does tend to be a bit more well-planned, uh, much better collaboration between marketing and procurement. Much more involvement in marketing procurement, actually. They're not there to, you know, be the bag carriers or the, you know, the process managers anymore, or the, you know, they come in at the final negotiations, um, dressed like the Grim Reaper as, as per Tom's Fishburne cartoon, uh, that we love. Um, but you know, then now they're active stakeholders right up front in, in determining the s- the shape of the agency services that are gonna be required. Um, and that shape is determined with that upfront diagnostic work that we typically do, typically do with advertisers. Um, but I, I think, I don't know if we're really seeing this yet, I'm not sure, or maybe we shouldn't disclose these things, but, uh, I think there are definitely some advertisers who are anticipating Media Palooza. They kn- you know, they know these signals and trends of the things that we're talking about, and they're saying, "We're not gonna do that. We're not gonna play that game." This could be a good time to go to your incumbent agency, and if you tell them, "We're not gonna do Media Palooza, but we have a window in which we would like to negotiate." Yeah. Okay? So that is one of the tactics that we'll talk about in, in future episodes, 'cause I think that's definitely a dynamic that we're seeing at the moment. Yeah. There's those that are going, "Right. Let's get ready. Sharpen, you know, sharpen your claws. Just get ready 'cause we're going into Media Palooza. It's gonna go, gonna go crazy. We wanna get more than our fair share. We wanna get the best deal we can for the last, or next five years. You know, all this, you know, amazing change that's happening, we wanna be on top of the pile." Um, but then there are definitely some smart advertisers are going, "Actually, we're gonna, we're gonna bypass that. We're gonna zag here, and we're just gonna nail down our terms and improve our contracts" and all that kind of stuff. That's right. And so, um, anyway, we'll, we'll dive into those. Yeah. Excellent. All right. Well, let's just wrap up there. We will... This is part of a series. Media Palooza is coming. I think that's definitely consensus. We can, we've been feeling it for a little bit- Yeah ... 'cause we're seeing early signs of it. Um, but it's got all the makings of probably a record pitch year, and so agencies are, I think, nervously getting ready. Um, but what the agency landscape looks like in 12 months' time is probably gonna be quite different to the way it looks right now. Yeah. Good. Any closing thoughts for you? No, just strap yourself in and, uh- ... enjoy the ride. Excellent. Okay. Welcome to Media Palooza 2027. 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.