robynne adams 2026/07/22 robynne adams 2026/07/22

Five trends from AdForum shaping advertising in 2026

From the rise of agency-owned AI platforms to the resilience of independent agencies and the growing importance of human creativity, several clear trends emerged, Johanna McDowell tells Glenda Nevill.

After six days, 22 agency visits and conversations across Toronto and New York, AdForum 2026 revealed an industry moving rapidly into a new era. According to Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company, artificial intelligence dominated discussions, but it was far from the only story.

McDowell highlighted five key learnings from her trips to AdForum in Toronto and New York.

AI has moved beyond experimentation

The most significant shift was the maturity of AI adoption among global agency groups.

Meetings with agencies including WPP Creative, Dentsu, Monks and Critical Mass showed that AI is no longer a future ambition but an operational reality.

“They’re not just talking about it,” McDowell said. “They’ve done it. And the investments they’ve made are huge.”

The major networks have built proprietary AI infrastructure, integrating data, technology and automation into systems that support campaign planning, content creation, customer experience and media optimisation. Case studies demonstrated that many agencies are already deploying these tools at scale.

“We saw some very interesting case studies relating to this infrastructure,” said McDowell. “It’s showing us what the future is going to look like.”

Agencies are ahead of their clients

While agencies have embraced AI aggressively, many marketers are still working through governance, privacy and implementation challenges.

“The agencies are definitely ahead of the curve,” McDowell observed.

Many of the solutions presented can be customised for individual clients, but adoption remains uneven. Financial services brands, in particular, are moving cautiously because of regulatory requirements and data concerns.

This creates a new tension for agencies. Having invested heavily in AI capabilities, they now need clients to catch up in order to realise returns on those investments.

“The clients can either use it or not, depending on their budgets and depending on where they are in terms of their own AI infrastructure,” she said.

Creativity remains the ultimate differentiator

Despite the industry’s AI obsession, the strongest consensus across both cities was that technology alone will not create competitive advantage.

“The differentiator is going to be creativity,” said McDowell. “It’s not going to be the technology.”

Agency leaders repeatedly emphasised that while AI can improve efficiency and automate tasks, it cannot replace human understanding of culture, emotion, trust and judgement.

McDowell pointed to conclusions drawn by AdForum founder Hervé de Clerck after the New York meetings: “The agencies navigating this moment best are not choosing between AI and creativity. They are using AI to do more of what only humans can do.”

Rather than replacing creative talent, AI appears to be elevating its importance.

Independent agencies continue to thrive

One of the surprises from AdForum Toronto was the strength of Canada’s independent agency sector.

While the major holding companies remain influential, many of the agencies visited were established independents with strong client relationships and impressive creative credentials.

“It was interesting to meet the independents,” McDowell said. “These are not necessarily new independent start-ups. They are well-established agencies with serious clients and long-term commitments.”

Many have no interest in being acquired and see independence as central to their culture and creative output.

The Canadian market also demonstrated how smaller budgets can drive innovation. Compared with their US counterparts, Canadian agencies often operate with fewer resources and have developed a reputation for delivering highly creative work efficiently.

“The way they see themselves is that their budgets are small,” McDowell said. “As a result, they’re clever with how they spend their money.”

Local relevance matters more than ever

The contrast between Toronto and New York highlighted another important trend: successful agencies are becoming increasingly shaped by local culture and context.

Canada’s bilingual market requires agencies to navigate both English- and French-speaking audiences, while Toronto’s multicultural population creates a uniquely diverse communications environment.

For McDowell, Canada’s openness and international outlook stood in stark contrast to the scale and confidence of the American market.

Yet both markets demonstrated the same underlying reality: technology may be global, but effective communication remains deeply human and culturally specific.

What it means for South Africa

The encouraging takeaway for South Africa is that local agencies are not falling behind.

“South Africa is not behind the curve at all,” McDowell said, pointing to recent global pitches where agencies presented AI-enabled solutions comparable to those seen internationally.

The bigger challenge may be helping clients navigate adoption while maintaining the creativity and human insight that drive effective brand building.

If AdForum 2026 revealed anything, it is that the future belongs neither to technology nor creativity alone. The winning agencies will be those that combine advanced AI capabilities with the distinctly human skills that machines cannot replicate.

As McDowell concluded: “The differentiator is still going to be creativity.”

Or read online here as published by The Media Online:

robynne adams 2026/07/16 robynne adams 2026/07/16

#AdForumSummit Toronto & NYC: A tale of two cities

By Johanna McDowell. Forty global pitch consultants had the most interesting of AdForum Worldwide Summits in May 2026, where we were warmly welcomed for the very first time by the Canadian Advertising Association and 12 Canadian agencies, coupled with three days in the US with a further 10 New York City agencies. We learnt an enormous amount, some of which I share below, along with some very instructive comparisons between the two.

In Toronto, we met with Iris, King Ursa, Pigeon, Response Innovations, Broken Heart Love Affair, Cairns O’Neil, 72 & Sunny, The Collective, Sid Lee, Publicis Groupe Canada, Lg2 and Zulu Alpha Kilo.

In New York, we met with Publicis Production, MSQ, WPP Creative, Dentsu Creative, Stagwell Group, Critical Mass (Omnicom), Brandtech Group, Dept, PMG and Monks.

Key themes from the Canadian agencies

#1. Independence as a creative & commercial strategy

A disproportionate number of Canada’s most innovative agencies are proudly independent and they’re growing faster than their holding company counterparts.

#2. Artificial intelligence as an amplifier, not replacement

Canadian agencies consistently frame AI as a tool for doing more of what humans do well, not as a substitute for craft and cultural intelligence.

#3. Cultural diversity as a competitive advantage

In a market where half of Toronto’s population was born outside of Canada, bilingualism and multicultural fluency are genuine creative assets, not box-ticking exercises.

#4. Performance accountability without sacrificing brand

Canadian agencies are building tighter links between creative ambition and measurable commercial outcomes, rejecting the false choice between brand building and performance marketing.

Key themes from US agencies

#1. From selling services to selling infrastructure

The most structurally significant shift we observed is the move from selling services to selling infrastructure. Every large agency is building or has built an AI-powered marketing operation system designed to run across the entire client workflow.

The implication for clients is significant: choosing an agency partner is increasingly also choosing a technology infrastructure. This raises the stakes for agencies that haven’t yet built this layer.

#2. Creative is now the no. 1 performance driver

Perhaps the most counterintuitive finding — in an era of data, targeting and algorithmic media — is that creative content has re-emerged as the dominant driver of campaign performance, and that the historical separation of media and creative is now dissolving. Those agencies that are still handling those creative and media briefs separately are working at a structural disadvantage.

#3. Authenticity is the scarcest asset in an AI world

As AI-generated content is now everywhere, the value of genuinely human, emotionally resonant, culturally specific creative work is going up, not down.

Several agencies mentioned how AI generating content might be technically flawless but it’s causing consumer distrust precisely because of its perfection. So, while clients might have been tempted to flood channels with cheap AI content, agencies that can deliver cultural intelligence and emotional craft at scale will be more valuable than ever.

#4. Large Language Models (LLMs) are a new marketing channel

As consumers increasingly evaluate and choose brands through AI-mediated interfaces such as ChatGPT and Grok, the question of how a brand appears within those systems becomes a core marketing concern. It’s not paid social or SEO.

#5. Change management is the real bottleneck

Every agency we spoke to has more AI capability than their clients are currently using. The constraint is organisational readiness, ie the ability of marketing teams to change workflows, incentives and habits to capture the value that AI makes possible.

This means perhaps that the most valuable service an agency can provide is helping their clients build the organisational capacity to use the platforms that already exist.

Toronto vs New York: A comparative reading

Having reviewed 12 Toronto agencies and 10 NYC agencies in the same period, a number of contrasts are clear:

AI posture: New York agencies are selling AI infrastructure and operating systems. Toronto agencies are integrating AI as a creative amplifier within craft-led practices
Scale vs craft: Toronto conversations were centred on creative discipline, attention and cultural resonance. New York conversations focused on scale, volume and platform architecture
Independence: Toronto has a significantly higher proportion of thriving independent agencies than New York, where holding group companies consolidation dominates
Diversity advantage: Toronto’s demographic makeup gives its agencies an advantage in multicultural production and adaptive storytelling that New York agencies are beginning to seek from Canadian partners
Commercial maturity: Both markets are building tighter accountability between creative and commercial outcomes but the Canadian approach is more incremental — test, prove, scale — vs the US preference for platform-first, then adoption.

Learnings for South Africa

There are some key learnings for the South African agencies here. SA is certainly not behind in the AI evolution and I think that the lessons from the Canadian agencies, which struck me as so similar in nature and cultural importance to our independent agencies here in this country, can be easily applied — and with positive outcomes.

Or read online as published by Marklives

robynne adams 2026/07/13 robynne adams 2026/07/13

Why Brand And Performance Marketing Have Stopped Being Rivals, According To South Africa’s Leading Marketers

For years the marketing industry has argued over where budgets should go: brand building for the long game, or performance marketing for the immediate return. A new study among senior South African marketing leaders suggests both sides of that argument are missing the point.

The research, called The Growth Equation: How South Africa’s Leading Marketers are Balancing Brand Building and Performance Marketing, is based on in-depth interviews conducted between March and May 2026 with 40 senior marketers representing many of South Africa's largest organisations.

It was created and commissioned by the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and forms part of the company's 20th anniversary commitment to give something practical back to the industry it works in. The research was funded by the IAS, with interviews conducted by an experienced marketing research consultant, and no agency, media owner or other commercial partner had any influence over the findings.

“We thought about bringing in a sponsor, but we wanted to own our own IP and produce something brands and agencies could actually use,” says Johanna McDowell, CEO and Founder of the IAS.

Not either/or

Across the interviews, one view came through consistently: brand and performance marketing aren't competing priorities but interdependent ones. Brand investment builds the trust and recognition that performance marketing later converts into sales. Neither works as well without the other.

One marketer put it simply, "Brand marketing is almost the foundation of the house. It's the quality of brick. It's the quality of mortar. It's what everything else gets built on."

Even so, the research found a gap between belief and budget. Most respondents said brand marketing deserves the larger share of investment, yet economic pressure and the demand for immediate ROI keep pulling spend towards shorter-term performance activity.

How marketer-agency relationships are actually structured.

The interviews also mapped how marketing teams and agencies now work together. Many organisations run combination models: internal teams set strategy while agencies split along disciplines — brand work typically staying with one partner and performance marketing with another. Some marketers, however, have found agencies able to handle both disciplines under one roof, and have structured their costing models accordingly. That structure is shifting. A growing number of organisations are deliberately pulling capability in-house, particularly in performance marketing, digital analytics and data management, with several respondents describing active plans to bring performance marketing fully internal within two years.

The research suggests this is less a cost story than a data one.

"We brought performance in-house because we needed to own the data," one respondent said. "When we changed agencies, we lost years of insight. That won't happen again."

McDowell says the research wasn’t meant to hand down advice. "We wanted to create a shared picture of what's actually happening inside leading marketing teams, not tell anyone how to do their job. If marketers and agencies understand each other's pressures a bit better, they can build stronger partnerships and get better returns on both sides."

What happens next

The findings will be released progressively over the coming months through industry presentations, articles, executive summaries, video content and a full white paper later this year. Marketers who took part will get early access to the results and to discussions built around them.

robynne adams 2026/06/26 robynne adams 2026/06/26

IAS Champions Marketing Effectiveness With 2026 Effie Awards Sponsorship

The Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) has announced its patron sponsorship of the 2026 Effie Awards South Africa — a programme widely regarded as the industry's gold standard for marketing effectiveness.

Unlike awards that celebrate creative execution alone, the Effies place proof at the centre of the judging process, recognising campaigns that can demonstrate measurable contribution to business growth and brand success. It's a distinction that matters, and one that sits squarely with how IAS approaches its own work.

"At a time when marketers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate value, effectiveness matters more than ever," says Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS. "The Effies celebrate something our industry can be quick to overlook: proof. Great ideas are important, but the real test is whether they achieve their objectives. That's why the Effies continue to grow in relevance, and why we're proud to support them."

As patron sponsor, IAS will support the second round of judging, in which finalists undergo rigorous evaluation by senior marketers and agency leaders. The programme's robust methodology and strong marketer involvement were key factors in IAS’s decision to participate.

Founded in New York in 1968, the Effie Awards are today a global benchmark for marketing effectiveness, spanning more than 125 markets. In South Africa, the awards are hosted by the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA), bringing local recognition to campaigns that deliver real results.

IAS is selective about the programmes it chooses to support — and the Effies, with their focus on outcomes over acclaim, earned it.

robynne adams 2026/06/09 robynne adams 2026/06/09

The Brands That Get Remembered Will Win — And Marketers Know It

South African marketers have a distinctiveness crisis — and new data suggests they know it.

According to AGENCY SCOPE 2025, maintaining brand distinctiveness against emerging competitors has entered the top tier of concerns for the first time. It speaks to how dramatically the media landscape has shifted.

The context in which brands are trying to stand out has never been more complicated. Nearly three-quarters of marketers cite adapting to AI as their primary challenge in 2025, a figure that has almost doubled since 2023. Meanwhile, budgets are shrinking and pressure to prove ROI is rising. Marketers are being asked to do more with less, faster, in a landscape that is changing shape beneath them.

But here is the uncomfortable paradox at the heart of it all: the very tool that promises efficiency is accelerating the sameness problem. As one respondent put it, "the evolution of AI is likely to take us to a point where all creative work feels the same, with no real brand differentiation." CFOs are pushing for AI-driven cost efficiencies, but because AI outputs tend to look alike, standing out is becoming harder, not easier.

"Distinctiveness is becoming a defining factor in brand growth," says César Vacchiano, President and CEO of SCOPEN. "In increasingly splintered markets, brands that create strong memory structures and emotional resonance are the ones that remain competitive.

The data reinforces his point. Marketers are not just worried about AI adoption in the abstract; they are wrestling with a very specific question: how do you use digital tools to cut through clutter and stand out, when everyone else is using the same tools? Add to that the fragmentation of platforms and growing consumer fatigue from brands hammering the same channels, and the challenge sharpens considerably.

That tension is reigniting the value of creativity. Not award-winning creativity for its own sake, but creativity as the mechanism that gives a brand genuine character, recognisability and cultural presence. After years of dashboards and short-term metrics dominating the conversation, strategic creativity is being reclaimed as a commercial necessity.

The pressure is landing on agencies, too. With consultancies, digital platforms and in-house teams competing for the same briefs, differentiation is no longer just a client problem.

"Agencies can no longer rely on legacy reputation or scale alone," says Johanna McDowell, SCOPEN's partner in South Africa and CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS). "Clients want partners with a clear point of view, strong strategic thinking and a distinctive approach to solving business problems."

The AGENCY SCOPE 2025 data makes one thing plain: in a market where everyone has access to the same tools, the edge will go to brands that can still make people feel something no algorithm prompted. The tools are equal. The thinking is not.

robynne adams 2026/05/21 robynne adams 2026/05/21

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Toronto & NYC (11-15 May) - Wrap Up

AdForum is a unique, invitation-only and hyper-focused event for agency CEOs to present their strategy and vision to the world's leading search and management consultancies. IAS is proud to be representing SA and Africa at this summit.

robynne adams 2026/05/21 robynne adams 2026/05/21

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Toronto & NYC (11-15 May) - Day 3

robynne adams 2026/05/14 robynne adams 2026/05/14

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Toronto & NYC (11-15 May) - Day 2

robynne adams 2026/05/14 robynne adams 2026/05/14

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Toronto & NYC (11-15 May) - Day 1

robynne adams 2026/05/14 robynne adams 2026/05/14

ADFORUM GLOBAL SUMMIT 2026 Toronto & NYC (11-15 May) - PREVIEW

robynne adams 2026/05/11 robynne adams 2026/05/11

Part 2: Less Noise, More Nerve—Why The Boardroom And The Agency Relationship Are Being Renegotiated

Some conversations are worth having twice. Part 1 of this series covered how three of South Africa's leading marketers are rethinking budgets, measurement and creativity — in a masterclass hosted by Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), featuring Melanie Forbes of Cell C, Buli Ndlovu of Nedbank and Lance Coertzen of Twizza. Part 2 picks up where the pressure really lives: in the boardroom, in the agency relationship and in the questions AI still can't answer.

AI Is A Tool, Not A Strategy

Despite AI dominating industry conversation, the panel treated it with grounded pragmatism.

One marketer’s framing cut through the noise: before reaching for AI, get the human intelligence right. "You still need the curiosity and creativity of human beings — then you use AI to scale it. Consumers have real tensions. AI is an enabler. It shouldn't be the soul of what you create."

A useful tool, in other words. But not a substitute for understanding people, and not a strategy in its own right.

Earning A Seat — And Keeping It

Across the organisations represented, marketing is no longer peripheral to how growth is defined and delivered.

A leading marketer was unambiguous: "Marketing is actually a commercial role. Everyone should be a marketer in the business, including our CFO. Growth shouldn't just be marketing's responsibility."

Another offered a concrete illustration of how the tide is turning: "Our CMO presented alongside the CEO and CFO to analysts. That says everything about how the role is evolving."

But influence comes with expectation. The boardroom seat has been earned. Holding it is the harder task.

The Agency Relationship, Renegotiated

The traditional model — brief, respond, deliver, repeat — is giving way to something more fluid and more demanding.

One approach that’s gained traction: an "annual marketing pilgrimage" that brings all agency partners and senior business leaders into the same room. Business presents its plans and anxieties directly. One moment that stuck: a business leader telling the room that "the thing keeping me up at night is that you're too focused on awards, whereas I'm focused on headline earnings." That kind of clarity lands differently when it comes straight from the source rather than filtered through a brief.

The panel was pointed on what needs to change on both sides. "Agencies need to push back more. If the brief isn't clear, say so." And on what makes a relationship work over time: values alignment. One creative agency was chosen in part because growth sits at the centre of its own purpose. "That alignment means they already understand their role in what we're trying to achieve."

An Industry Finding Its Honesty

The session reinforced why these masterclasses continue to draw a crowd — around 80 attended. They offer something rare: a candid account of what's actually happening inside organisations.

The most useful note, though, was the forward-looking one. Constraints aren't easing, and the expectation is that agencies will need to respond with a different kind of thinking. "Innovation isn't always tech. It's how you think and how you approach problems."

The industry isn't becoming more complicated. It's becoming more honest about what works, what doesn't and what marketing is actually there to do.

robynne adams 2026/05/05 robynne adams 2026/05/05

IAS Heads To New York and Toronto For Adforum Worldwide Summit 2026

‍ ‍

The global advertising elite are gathering in Toronto on the 11 May and finishing off in New York on the 16 May for the AdForum Worldwide Summit. South Africa's Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) will be there for the conversations that matter.

‍ ‍

Toronto enters the AdForum circuit in a highly anticipated debut, featuring a number of unique and interesting agencies.

‍ ‍

This twice-yearly invitation-only event brings together the world's leading search consultants with agency CEOs who are rewriting the rules of creativity and client growth. It's an exclusive forum where business opportunities are discussed, industry shifts are decoded and the future of marketing communications takes shape.

‍ ‍

What makes the Summit essential

‍ ‍

The AdForum Summit is all about access and insight. This year, agency leaders from holding companies, global networks and breakthrough independents will present their strategies, vision and work directly to over 30 global search consultants spanning six continents. These aren't public presentations; they're private, candid conversations held at agency offices where CEOs share their view from the top with the people who influence where the industry's money flows.

‍ ‍

For consultants navigating an increasingly complex marketing ecosystem, it's a fully hosted, week-long immersion into which agencies are actually driving growth for their clients right now.

‍ ‍

‍ ‍Toronto and New York 2026: the line-up

‍ ‍

This year's programme features agencies at the forefront of creative excellence and business transformation. Global powerhouses, including WPP, Stagwell, Dentsu Creative, and Publicis will present alongside a strong showing from independents like, DEPT, 72andSunny, Iris and Critical Mass. Toronto sees the introduction to agencies Pigeon, King Ursa and Broken Heart Love Affair, to mention a few.

‍ ‍

Conversations will centre on network consolidations, the surge of independent agencies and how agencies are adapting to marketers' rapidly evolving needs.

‍ ‍

Why IAS attends

‍ ‍

For two decades, IAS has been the only South African pitch consulting company consistently participating in the AdForum Summit. It's how they stay ahead.

‍ ‍

"We accept the invitation, along with the investment in costs, because staying at the forefront isn't optional—it's essential," says Johanna McDowell, Founder and CEO of IAS and partner for SCOPEN Africa. "The AdForum Summit gives us direct access to the conversations shaping our industry's future. This year is particularly significant as agencies grapple with fundamental questions: How do they partner with business differently? How do they break through old models and tackle the next frontier of challenges? These are the discussions that matter for our clients back home."

IAS will join 34 other consultancies from across the globe, representing markets from the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, United Arab Emirates and Australia. McDowell will represent SCOPEN Africa at the Summit alongside SCOPEN colleagues from Spain.

‍ ‍

Bringing insights home

‍ ‍

South African agencies, brands and marketers won't miss out. IAS will host a masterclass on June 10, 2026, sharing key insights, learnings and case studies from the Toronto/New York City Summit. Follow IAS on LinkedIn for details.

‍ ‍

The AdForum Worldwide Summit runs from 10-15 May in Toronto and New York City.

‍ ‍

robynne adams 2026/05/04 robynne adams 2026/05/04

Part 1: Less Noise, More Nerve—How South African Marketers Are Spending Smarter And Creating Brave

There was a noticeable shift in tone at the latest masterclass hosted by the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS).

Led by IAS CEO Johanna McDowell, the session brought together three marketers at the coalface of local business: Melanie Forbes, CMO at Cell C; Buli Ndlovu, Executive Head of Marketing for Personal and Private Banking at Nedbank; and Lance Coertzen, Head of Marketing at Twizza — a challenger soft drink brand that, as Coertzen noted, had been acquired by a major competitor just a week earlier.

Across telecoms, banking and FMCG, their realities differ. But the pressures felt strikingly similar: more channels, more data, more expectation and less room for waste.

A Rethink On Spending: Less Spread, More Intent

Budgets may have grown in some quarters, but the proliferation of channels has ensured they're harder than ever to manage. The temptation to be everywhere has stretched resources thin, often without impact.

One marketer named the dynamic plainly: "You move from a state of panic and fear. If I'm not there, is my competitor there? Why aren't we shouting loud enough? So you shout about everything, at small volume."

The response is restraint, and a harder look at what earns its place in the plan. "If it doesn't differentiate us, it doesn't get funded." A fellow marketer described a similar discipline: "Less is more. Pick your lane and do it properly."

When The Numbers Stop Telling The Truth

Digital campaigns generate reams of data. Whether any of it is useful is another matter.

One of the panellists offered a concrete example: a video campaign reported 300% above benchmark on view-through rate. "You go one level down in the detail, and the average view time was 5.8 seconds. Our brand didn't appear until 15 seconds in. Nobody saw it. The metric was nonsense."

The problem isn't the metrics — it's stopping there. They need to ladder up to something real. What's replacing the noise is more deliberate: brand tracking, customer experience data, preference as an early signal of growth.

Which brings it back to the boardroom. "The board doesn't fund creativity — they fund growth."

The Bar For Creativity Has Moved

None of this signals a retreat from creativity. If anything, the bar has shifted upward.

The challenge is no longer just to be seen, but to be remembered. One panellist described the pressure candidly: "How do you create something thumb-stopping? Because far too often, it's just vanilla."

That requires trusting work that doesn't feel comfortable. "I've had to trust work I wouldn't have approved before. It performed exceptionally well. My brand only appeared in the last 18 seconds."

For agencies, the implication is clear: safe, category-driven work isn't enough.

Spending smarter and creating braver work are necessary. But neither counts for much if marketing can't hold its ground where decisions get made. That's where Part 2 begins.

‍ ‍

robynne adams 2026/05/04 robynne adams 2026/05/04

Good Work Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum: Mark Awards Launches New Partnership Categ

‍ ‍Behind every effective campaign is a relationship. The 2026 Mark Awards is making that relationship visible with a new category dedicated entirely to the client-agency partnerships driving measurable business growth.‍

The Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) has announced its sponsorship of the Partnering for Growth Award, created to recognise the collaborations that build brands over time, not just the work they produce.

‍ ‍The Mark Awards were established by Mark Lives to celebrate what creativity-led award shows often miss: innovation, technology, effectiveness and real commercial impact. After drawing more than 300 entries in their inaugural year, the 2026 edition returns with sharper focus and stronger momentum.‍‍ ‍

The new Partnering for Growth Award reflects that shift. Rather than rewarding a single campaign or short-term burst of success, it recognises partnerships that have helped build brands over time through shared ambition, strategic alignment and strong execution.‍‍ ‍

Entries will be open to both large and small agencies, as well as in-house and specialist partners, with judges looking for clear evidence of growth in areas such as market share, sales, brand equity, audience engagement or category leadership.

Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS, says the category speaks directly to what many businesses need most right now: relationships that create real value. “Great marketing rarely happens in isolation. It happens when clients and agencies challenge each other, trust each other and stay focused on outcomes. Too often, the spotlight falls only on the final piece of work, not on the partnership that made it possible. This award changes that, and we’re proud to support it.”

‍ ‍‍The award will be judged by senior marketers, bringing a client-side perspective to what effective collaboration looks like in practice. Criteria will include business impact, strategic collaboration, innovation and the ability to create learning that can scale.

‍ ‍‍For IAS, the sponsorship is a natural fit. For over two decades, the company has helped brands and agencies move beyond transactional relationships — building partnerships grounded in shared goals, rigorous selection and long-term accountability. The Partnering for Growth Award reflects exactly the kind of thinking IAS brings to every engagement.‍‍ ‍

As accountability intensifies and the industry shifts its gaze from who made the work to how the work works, the Partnering for Growth Award arrives at exactly the right moment.

‍ ‍‍Key dates for The Mark Awards 2026‍ ‍

Entries Open: 1 April 2026
Early Bird Deadline: 22 April 2026
Final Deadline: 7 May 2026

‍ ‍‍For more details and to enter visit Mark Awards here.

‍ ‍

robynne adams 2026/05/04 robynne adams 2026/05/04

Twenty Years of Making the Right Match

When Johanna McDowell founded the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) in 2006, pitch consulting was a foreign concept in South Africa. Agencies were sceptical. Marketers had never heard of such a service. Twenty years later, IAS is marking a milestone that speaks for itself.

The business was born from McDowell's experience working with the Advertising Agency Register (AAR) in London in the 1980s — a pioneering UK outfit that brought rigour and transparency to the agency selection process. Years later, when the moment came to start her own venture, she approached the AAR, trained in their methodologies and built something the local industry didn't yet know it needed.

"Having worked on both the agency and marketer side, I’d seen the process from every angle. The idea of bringing this kind of structured, impartial process to South Africa never really left me," says McDowell. "The early resistance was real, but so was the gap in the market. Two decades on, I'm proud of what we've built: a business grounded in trust, transparency and genuine industry knowledge."

What sets IAS apart is the marketing fluency it brings to a process that procurement departments — however well-intentioned — often can't replicate. Its evaluation system is built around the brief, with defined criteria, rigorous scoring and verbatim post-pitch feedback to every agency involved. For agencies, that means genuine insight rather than silence. For marketers, it means confidentiality, precision and a clearer path to the right partner.

"Over 20 years in the industry, I've seen how quickly an agency search can become complex and emotionally charged," says Nikki Munsie, Business Director at IAS. "Our role is to bring clarity and discipline to that process — creating alignment between strategy, people and ultimately the work. That's where the real value sits, and it's what we've been delivering for two decades."

Pitch management was only the beginning. IAS’s masterclass programme — another concept adopted from the AAR and shaped into something distinctly local — now runs 14 to 15 sessions annually, drawing up to 130 attendees from across Africa through hybrid formats. Topics range from practical upskilling to industry insights, often informed by McDowell’s regular participation in global AdForum summits.

To mark the anniversary, IAS will host a celebratory event in June 2026, featuring the results of a white paper examining how South African marketers are balancing brand building and performance marketing — a timely conversation for an industry in flux.

Twenty years in, the business nobody believed in is still very much open for business.

robynne adams 2026/05/04 robynne adams 2026/05/04

#MasterclassNotes: Why distinctiveness is now a priority for marketers, agencies

‍ ‍

At the end of 2025, a few things happened in the industry globally and locally that have made a lasting impression on all of us and which have highlighted some clear direction for agencies and marketers.

‍ ‍Last year was certainly an unprecedented time among the industry global networks with consolidations and acquisitions making headlines. During the last quarter of 2025, three aspects stood out for me:‍ ‍

The turbulence among agency networks; the sunsetting of some agency brands; the choices made in those processes
The AdForum Worldwide Summit in London in October revealed some new trends and agencies seeing things differently
Scopen Africa’s AgencyScope South Africa results identified a new challenge for marketers, as identified by marketers themselves
‍

‍ ‍Marketers are looking for agencies which will ensure that the brands they look after are distinctive and will be differentiated from any new competitors. How will marketers recognise such agencies? Those agencies will need to be distinctive and have their own strong branding that means something. Hence the growing importance of:‍ ‍

Clear agency positioning
Distinctive branding: brands that invest in distinction grow 170% more than the market [see image below]
Differentiation from other competing agencies

‍ ‍

This doesn’t mean that the other attributes aren’t still important, ie:
- Knowledge of consumers
- ROI
- Ability to work with shrinking budgets
- Adaptation to AI

‍ ‍So how did this change my typical face-to-face feedback presentation from AdForum Summits? Normally, I report on each of the agencies that participated but this time I highlighted the ones which stood out and were really distinctive, which I now share below (in my October 2025 column here on MarkLives, I highlighted emerging trends).

‍ ‍Distinctive agencies at AdForum Worldwide Summit October 2025

‍ ‍We met with 21 agencies at the October 2025 summit, from large network agencies to small startup agencies and established independents. The ones that stood out for their positioning and distinctiveness were as follows:

‍ Wonderhood Studios

‍ ‍Wonderhood is about brand and broadcast and captivating audiences. It talked about keeping people engaged and what constitutes a good idea:‍ ‍

Fizz — How you react: feelings/laughter/emotion
Fame — Example of “England without immigration”
Flex — How “stretchy” is the idea? How many channels will it work in?

‍ ‍Wonderhood has a tool called the Captivating Coefficient. An example of captivation in action is the Waitrose Chicken case study, with 98 different assets and channels, which resulted in the highest consideration for Waitrose since 2019.

‍ ‍The agency is very collaborative with other agencies and oit has created “creative councils” with its clients (the larger ones) when there are many agency partners, including in-house agencies.

‍ ‍Publicis London — The Leo Constellation

‍ ‍We hadn’t seen Publicis at AdForum since 2017, so this was an important meeting. The agency team explained the history of how it’s transformed and that it’s unlike any of the other holding companies. It sees itself in a “category of one”. The group (at that time in October) was the no. 1 agency group by revenue and its client retention rate is 87% — the highest in the industry.

‍ ‍Leo Constellation at that point consisted of 15 000 people across 90 markets and it aspires to become the no 1 creative network globally. How will it do this?‍ ‍

Do the best work
Be generous — across the network
Win together

‍ ‍Samy

‍ ‍Samy is an independent agency founded in 2013, with a staff complement of 1 000 in 23 offices and 55 markets. One of the fastest-growing influencer marketing groups, it’s “end to end social”. And the name? Heart, soul and mind, and gender-free.

‍ ‍Social and influencer is the fastest growing sector of the advertising industry; we pitch consultants heard this several times at the summit.

‍ ‍Samy is a social-first agency and client comments include that “they make brands social”.

‍ ‍And the agency? “We make brands matter” with an intelligence-inspired creative approach, it says.

‍ Dept

‍ ‍Dept describes itself as “The Growth Invention company” as invention fuels growth.

‍ ‍Three key points:‍ ‍

How do you grow faster than the world is changing?
Consumers are moving faster than companies
Companies need growth that does more than keep up

‍ ‍Dept remains one of the largest independent agency groups; we pitch consultants have met them many times. It itself intends to grow by connecting its distinct five specialisms: brand and media; customer experience; commerce; tech and data; and CRM and personalisation.

‍ ‍Its growth-invention framework is “Discover/Invent/Grow” and the agency remains 50% tech/50% marketing. First and Fast. Partner-led.

‍ Gut

‍ Founded seven years ago with 10 offices, full-service creative agency Gut is very active in North and Latin America, Europe and the Far East. Its HQ is in Miami, with offices in Amsterdam, Madrid, Singapore, Brazil, Argentina etc. Its priorities are agency people first; work second; and clients third.

‍ ‍Its positioning is “A brave agency for brave clients”. How does it do this? Bravery is not binary; bravery is a scale. It has workshops with clients in order to see where they are on the brave scale and where they want to be. Clients often rate themselves as braver than their brands.

‍ ‍When Gut takes on a client, it sends a comprehensive RFI to the client as it wants information, too — it’s a two-way relationship.

‍ ‍In terms of awards, it’s won seven Cannes Lions Grands Prix; nine Grand Effies in seven years; and is ranked the most effective network in the world. It has some of the best case studies that I’ve seen, ever.

‍ Coolr

‍ Another independent social agency that was founded eight years ago, Coolr sees social as the third pillar of marketing: media, creative and social. It uses social to transform brands — positioning. It has offices in the UK and US, and has six divisions/key areas:‍

Strategy
Creative
Content creation
Channel management
Distribution
Analytics

‍ ‍Coolr is the fourth fastest growing agency internationally, according to AdWeek.

‍ ‍Omnicom Advertising‍ ‍

It wasn’t only the independents which were able to position themselves. We met with a few agencies from Omnicom Advertising Group [now Omnicom Advertising — ed-at-large] and which have continued in the new structure because they’re distinctive and differentiated:‍ ‍

AMV/BBDO — “We craft big ideas that people love”
Native/AMV — creator-led social
AMV/Works — B2B specialism
Lucky Generals — “A creative company for people on a mission”

‍ VCCP

‍ ‍This is always a highlight of the AdForum Summits because it’s consistently brilliant and has such clear positioning. The agency has been in business for 23 years and its founder reminded us of how and why the agency was started — as a challenger agency for challenger brands. Although we see many agencies claiming to be challengers, I’ve not seen any agency in particular making this claim be distinctive or stand out.

‍ ‍We had a three-hour session with VCCP and so were really able to see more of it and understand it more in depth. It believes that we’re “living in an era of illusion”. This started in 2005 with Facebook but now there’s an acceleration of artificiality and an avalanche of fake. Fake news, fake reviews.

‍ ‍The result has been a massive collapse in institutions eg governments, media and brands.

‍ ‍So, what can brands do about it? Double down on real. What is VCCP doing? Three things:‍ ‍

Sport — creating shared experiences in sport, real shared emotions
Entertainment — shared excitement, real exclusivity, real exposure, real culture
Outdoor — VCCP identifies the new “fragility of digital” and that, as a result, brands are disappearing. Strong brands need a physical presence and there are now new frontiers in outdoor. Brands can create real moments in a real world.

‍ ‍IPG Media Brands (now Omnicom)

It talked about media’s third revolution.

‍ ‍Shifting dynamics: 50% of media spend is going through media platforms. Its well-known tool Axiom is all about the enrichment of data, and what it does is add real consumer data into media-buying costs and creates margin, as well as helping to target the consumer more accurately. As a result, Media Brands sees the cost of FTEs coming down, while the cost of media will increase but through real enrichment.

Integration at last: 25% of major pitches are now fully integrated — media and creative. This is already causing media and creative agencies to move together in a more connected way, whether through the holding company (holdco) or connected network.
AI and the renaissance of brand: Brands are starting to move away from what the platforms (Google, Meta etc) are telling them and are relying more on their media agencies to advise them on best practice.

Artificial intelligence & standing out

AI is normative by nature and it can compound things — including the wrong things. It’s not a race to the bottom but a race to the mean ie average/aggregate. Here’s a quote from Mark Ritson: “AI will make us all masters of efficiency but slaves to mediocrity. The more we automate, the harder it will be to stand out.”

The answer to this is the brand itself, as the brand is the difference and the differentiator. AI learns best from differentiators and more variety in data and prompts. Technology is no longer the differentiator; technology has democratised many attributes. Thus:

‍ ‍Diversity of people + depth of data = differentiating brands

“AI no longer simply reads about your brand. It learns from it.” —Travis Schreiber, Fast Company

Conclusion

If one of the key challenges that marketers are facing is ensuring that their brands are differentiated, agencies and marketers alike will continue to look for solutions that will ensure distinction, differentiation and, ultimately, success.

‍ ‍You can also read this Marklives article online here

robynne adams 2026/05/04 robynne adams 2026/05/04

Social-first: The future of brand building?

At the AdForum Summit in London last October, one message kept surfacing: social and influencer marketing has become the fastest-growing sector of the global advertising industry. Not experimental. Not tactical. Central.

What started as repurposed TV content has evolved into something that demands its own strategic thinking, budgets and specialist expertise. Social—meaning content, creators and communities, not just platforms—is emerging as a third pillar of modern marketing, sitting alongside creative and media.

Which means agencies need to be evaluated differently, too.

Where Brands Are Actually Built

Coolr, presenting at AdForum, put it bluntly: social is now "where brands are built". Not adapted from other channels. Built from scratch. That shift matters.

Social today needs its own brief, its own production calendar and its own creative approach. It's not a 15-second cutdown of a TVC crammed into a vertical frame. It requires ideas designed for feeds, for communities and for cultural moments from the start.

SAMY made the strategic case clearer still: this isn't about monitoring mentions. It's about analysing consumer conversations at scale using AI and natural language processing, mapping communities, understanding attitudes and emotions, then defining where a brand actually fits in people's lives. The output? Thousands of content assets. Millions of engagements. Sometimes billions of views.

This is infrastructure, not improvisation.

Why Influencer Management Needs Grown-up Rules

Running parallel to strategy is another discipline that's ballooned in complexity: influencer management.

Marketers now expect agencies to find, vet, contract and manage creators on their behalf. That means watertight contracts, clear deliverables, brand-safety checks, compliance monitoring and performance tracking. It also means protecting brands in an environment that remains lightly regulated and, occasionally, dodgy.

Scam artists exist. Inflated follower counts are common. Badly managed creators can torch brand equity in an Instagram story.

Why Credentials Now Matter More Than Ever

For marketers appointing agencies in this space, the question isn't just "can you do social?" It's "can you prove it, and can you protect us?"

That means asking for case studies with real numbers, not vanity metrics. It means understanding how influencers are contracted, managed and held accountable. It means checking brand safety protocols and performance measurement that goes beyond impressions.

The conversations at AdForum highlighted a gap: how do marketers assess capability in a discipline that's moved from experimental to essential without everyone noticing? The Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), for one, has started requesting detailed social and influence credentials from agencies in its network—not to box-tick, but to establish baseline competence.

Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS, frames it this way: "Influence marketing is moving into the mainstream, but it's still a complex and evolving discipline. Marketers need to select partners with proven expertise, transparent processes and the ability to safeguard both performance and reputation."

The South African Context

South African brands are also investing more heavily in creators, community-led storytelling and continuous content streams. Which means the same questions apply. Marketers need to interrogate credentials with the same scrutiny they'd apply to a major media pitch or a brand repositioning.

Social-first might well be the future of brand building. The question isn't whether to invest. It's whether you're working with an agency that can handle the scale, complexity and accountability that Influence now demands—and whether you've asked the right questions to find out.

robynne adams 2026/04/22 robynne adams 2026/04/22

Good Work Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum: Mark Awards Launches New Partnership Category

‍ ‍

‍ ‍ ‍

The Mark Awards were established by Mark Lives to celebrate what creativity-led award shows often miss: innovation, technology, effectiveness and real commercial impact. After drawing more than 300 entries in their inaugural year, the 2026 edition returns with sharper focus and stronger momentum.

‍ ‍‍

‍ ‍

‍ ‍ ‍

‍ ‍‍ ‍

The award will be judged by senior marketers, bringing a client-side perspective to what effective collaboration looks like in practice. Criteria will include business impact, strategic collaboration, innovation and the ability to create learning that can scale.

‍ ‍‍ ‍

For IAS, the sponsorship is a natural fit. For over two decades, the company has helped brands and agencies move beyond transactional relationships — building partnerships grounded in shared goals, rigorous selection and long-term accountability. The Partnering for Growth Award reflects exactly the kind of thinking IAS brings to every engagement.

‍ ‍‍ ‍

As accountability intensifies and the industry shifts its gaze from who made the work to how the work works, the Partnering for Growth Award arrives at exactly the right moment.

‍ ‍

Key dates for The Mark Awards 2026

‍ ‍

Entries Open: 1 April 2026
Early Bird Deadline: 22 April 2026
Final Deadline: 7 May 2026

‍ ‍‍ ‍

For more details and to enter visit Mark Awards here.

robynne adams 2026/03/12 robynne adams 2026/03/12

Closing the Gap Between Pitch and Partnership

Why the real work in a new client–agency relationship begins after the pitch, with early foundations shaping everything that follows.

The honeymoon period after a pitch win is meant to be exhilarating. New partners. New energy. Big expectations. Yet, in reality, this is often where things quietly start to unravel.

It's the quiet irony of most new client–agency relationships: everyone is busy, but no one is aligned. Once procurement wraps up the technical details and the champagne glasses are cleared away, marketing teams are left to manage the partnership without a shared playbook. Agencies dive straight into delivery, keen to prove their worth. Clients let them, desperate to get work out the door. The result? Momentum without method.

In a market where budgets are tighter, pitch cycles are shorter and internal teams are stretched thinner than ever, there's even less room for missteps. Yet proper onboarding—the unglamorous work of aligning on ways of working, decision-making processes and what success actually looks like—remains the thing most often skipped.

"You can't build a strong creative partnership if you haven't agreed how you'll work together, how decisions get made and how success will really be judged," says Nikki Munsie, Business Director at Independent Agency Search and Selection (IAS). With over 25 years in the industry, she has seen how easily good intentions derail without proper foundations.

The gap widens when pitch processes are rushed or lightly managed. Chemistry meetings are skipped. The pitch team disappears, replaced by an account team the client hasn't met. On the client side, new stakeholders enter the room with different priorities. Suddenly, it feels less like a partnership and more like an arranged marriage.

Then there's the pitch work itself—the big ideas that won the business, now buried in a forgotten deck, overtaken by new urgencies and poorly sequenced briefs. It's a costly waste of thinking and energy on both sides.

Too often, relationships are assessed six or twelve months in, when frustrations are entrenched and trust is already dented. At that point, performance reviews become post-mortems. There’s no value in judging a relationship a year in if the groundwork was never done.

The smarter approach is to treat the early days as exactly that: early days. Contracts, handovers and inductions should run in parallel, not sequentially. Scopes of work need room to evolve, rather than being locked down before anyone truly understands the workload. A memorandum of understanding can provide structure while allowing space for reality to surface.

This isn't about bureaucracy. It's about creating conditions where creativity can thrive, rather than constantly firefighting misalignment. When ways of working are clear, agencies can focus on doing their best work, not on decoding internal politics. Marketers can get the best out of their agencies, not simply the most.

“The real opportunity lies in those first six to nine months, when expectations are set, trust is built and both sides learn how to make each other better,” says Johanna McDowell, CEO of IAS. “It's a process, because meaningful relationships take time to bed down. The goal is simple: ensure the foundations are solid long before anyone starts measuring outputs.”

Because when the foundations are right, the work tends to follow.

robynne adams 2026/01/19 robynne adams 2026/01/19

#BizTrends2026 | IAS' Johanna McDowell: AI, creativity and media agencies

As I write this article in the last few days of December, it is interesting to note that there is talk of a tech bubble burst – this talk first started about two months ago - and certainly focused on the investment that tech companies are making in Artificial Intelligence AI.

Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS) and partner in Scopen Africa shares some thoughts on what might occupy our minds in 2026

It will be interesting to see if this bubble grows or subsides. Either way, it will continue to have an impact on industries globally, in whatever sector.

For this article, I don’t intend to comment or dwell on AI as too much has already been written about something we are still learning about.

I like working with AI tools, for sure, as I know that those tools have to learn from my input as well as the other way around.

Original thinking is the critical success factor in developing our skills and harnessing the power of AI and this is set to become ever more important in the years to come.

We are only at the very beginning of what AI can do and what it can teach us as well as what we can teach it.

Connectedness

Where AI might be more helpful and accelerate successes is in the area of connectedness.

I read a very insightful article recently that talked of the various mergers of advertising and communication agencies globally in recent months within the holding companies, which have also been merging, and this article was very clear that it will be the media agencies who will have a profound impact within marketing itself as the multiple, ever-increasing media fragmentation continues.

Those media agencies will have more and more impact on media choices made by marketers who are probably confounded by the array of choice and yet wanting to make the best choices for their budgets.

And more importantly, those media agencies, through their own data lakes, will be able to enrich the data provided by the platforms like Google, Meta etc in order to make certain that marketers are reaching their target audiences more accurately.

Level of creativity

Having said that, creative agencies will increase in importance because of the level of creativity which will be required in order to not only ensure brand differentiation for marketers, but to innovate in ways that will create new paths for those brands to reach consumers.

Overall, what marketers want from agencies is for a better understanding of the consumers that they are trying to target. This has been highlighted in every edition of Agency Scope since we first produced it here in South Africa 10 years ago.

And what does all of this mean for client agency relationships, new specialist agencies in the marketing ecosystem, and better results?

Marketers will still be seeking those agencies that can deliver, whether it is fully integrated creative, media, brand and social or a series of specialist agencies.

Those choices will largely depend on the competence within the client marketing department, the available budget and the experience of specialism or integration to date.

We will continue to see great variances in how agencies are appointed and retained.

Real business partners

Agencies that will grow in importance and strength will be those that are real business partners to their clients.

Clients are not necessarily only looking for great campaigns – although of course, those are important.

They are looking for agencies that will partner with them to ensure that marketing is taken as seriously as it needs to be in order to drive the growth for business and the brands that the business represents.

This will require closer discussion, more trust and less dependence on tools to prove return on investment although of course those tools will play a role.

The closer an agency client can be, the more honest and, at times, confrontational, the better the ultimate relationship and results for the brands and businesses concerned.

Focus on budget

Will there still be a focus on budget? Yes of course. But the focus will be on how that budget needs to be spent as opposed to the limitations of that budget.

And in a world where media is fragmented but very much connected, creativity at a deep level will certainly enable brands to continue to differentiate from their competitors and any new competitors that may enter the market.