S4 Capital’s founder, Sir Martin Sorrell, took the stage at MAD//Fest today (1 July) to talk about the global economy and the future of advertising, and he had bad news for media buyers and planners.
Sorrell said that political uncertainty and tariffs are making clients hesitant at the moment and that the short term will be ‘bumpy’. But he also believes that ‘once the fog clears, AI will be unleashed’, and that its key uses will be facilitating personalisation at scale, as well as visualisation and copywriting.
That means agencies will increasingly take the role as ‘validators’ for clients using integrated tools, such as Meta’s Advantage+ and Google’s PMax. Sorrell added that, while these models are focused on SME advertisers, they are likely to become more ‘enterprise-driven’ in the future.
‘The bad news is that there are 250,000 people employed in media planning and buying,’ Sorrell said, adding that ‘there won’t be 250,000 jobs in two to three years.’
What do the leaders of tomorrow need?
Justin Pearse, editor at New Digital Age, interviewed Sorrell and asked what leaders will need in order to succeed in the future.
S4 Capital’s founder pointed to three things: agility, control, and first-party data.
Specifically, he said that many clients claim to be ‘as agile as possible’ but that very few actually are. He also said that although his views may be considered ‘controversial’, he believes clients ‘have surrendered too much control’. Instead, they should become — and are becoming — more embedded, by in-housing their media buying. Of course, this means more bad news for agencies.
Finally, Sorrell reminded the audience that while third-party cookies are still here, they are being phased out, and that having first-party data will be essential for success.
Commenting on the state of the global economy, Sorrell said that he is cautious about Europe, ‘pretty bullish’ on North America, ‘super bullish’ on South America, and ‘bullish about Asia as a whole’.
Featured image: Justin Pearse and Sir Martin Sorrell