Lisa Eleanor Buckley

Really appreciated being part of this conversation. Big industry shifts raise questions, but they also create space for new ideas and new ways of working. Chicago’s creative community has been through change before, and it always finds its footing.

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At #PortadaChicago we will learn how cultural relevance can significantly boost advertising performance across different target segments. Sonia Morales, EVP, Head of Agile Planning, Starcom, John Marson, SVP, Managing Director, Horizon Media, and Sergio Leon, SVP Group Creative Director, VML will discuss the crucial role of cultural relevance in: - Messaging (creative) - Advertising around tentpole events - Engagement provided by the media used   - Programmatic vs. non-programmatic buys  - AI: Incorporating a Predictive View into the Media Planning Process 👉 👉 👉 https://lnkd.in/ei6XY_2y

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DDB's former global chairman Marty O'Halloran joins Thrive PR as strategic advisor. Learn how top PR agency leadership drives growth and talent retention.

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A great piece where Nick Garrett talks about the creation of Omnicom Oceania and the capabilities we are building to better support our clients. Thanks to Mi3Australia for this piece and get in touch if you'd like to know more.

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The agency world is seeing a monumental shift, and Publicis is proving the "old guard" model is officially over. The narrative is no longer about who has the best creative shop, but who is best at driving measurable business transformation—and Publicis' Q3 results, highlighted in this Storyboard18 article, confirm their strategy is paying off while competitors like WPP face declines. The Key Insight? Publicis is no longer an "advertising agency." The pivot is complete: The group's success is being fueled by a move to become a media-first organization. With nearly 60% of their revenue now coming from "Connected Media," they have cemented their position as a massive volume player. This growth is driven by one thing: AI and Data. Investments in platforms like Epsilon and AI-native acquisitions are creating a powerful flywheel for performance. Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun said it best: "AI is not a future promise—it's a reality today that's driving our growth." The modern holding company is a tech and data company, and the results show the market is rewarding that transformation. Publicis is truly a media first agency, and that's big volume. Read the full article here: End of the Old Guard? Publicis outperforms, WPP declines, Havas rises... https://lnkd.in/e8PiShxV

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“PENNY-WISE AND POUND-FOOLISH”.  Like Ogilvy, I too am a big fan of manhours billing because TIME, KNOWLEDGE, and EXPERIENCE are the currencies and deliverables of advertising agencies - just like doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial advisors, accountants, and many other kinds of professionals. Never any guarantees for absolute success, but always the promise of giving it their best shot. Yet, the current Client question of “Performance Value” seems to reign supreme today and pre-empt all other costly considerations … and how do you measure that? Growth in actual sales and market share, or just cheap hits, clicks, and likes on an ephemeral digital advert? To wit, the consumer cost of a heart valve transplant ranges from $20-100,000, but only takes 2-6 hours in surgery, which is about $10-20,000 an hour. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, there’s a whole professional staff team and facilities supporting the surgeon in the operating room and they cost money too. All of which is to say … Brand Marketing advertisers can always shop for cheaper agency compensation rates and models, but you get what you pay for. 😎      

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Longtime DDB leader Dave Kissel appointed CEO of Good Giant and Two by Four. The first major hire under the Merit Capital Partners and Six Pillars Partners-backed structure sees former DDB Chicago MD join to accelerate growth of the combined Good Giant and Two by Four group, reports LBB’s Addison Capper. Read here: https://hubs.la/Q03CxXkS0

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I had the chance to share my thoughts with BestMediaInfo on how convergence is creating a more inclusive, credible, and dynamic content ecosystem. 🔗 Read the full story here- https://lnkd.in/d3RZzJq8

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Today at Portada Chicago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel exploring what cultural relevance really means in today’s landscape, and more importantly, what it demands of us as marketers and leaders. Cultural relevance isn’t something you add on to a plan. It’s something you build from the start with intention, empathy, and a deep understanding of the communities you’re trying to serve. It’s not about chasing trends. It’s about recognizing signals, respecting context, and showing up in ways that are meaningful while still driving business outcomes. Reach gets you seen. Cultural relevance gets you chosen.

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Merging two massive holdco structures after the global Omnicom-IPG merger and culling 100 brands is not for the faint hearted. Overhauling the local operating model entirely at the same time? Fraught with risk. But Nick Garrett’s master plan has the blessing of Omnicom chairman John Wren, and Garrett says he wouldn’t have taken the job without licence to radically recut the ANZ business. If it works, “I think the US and other markets are all looking at this with support and optimism, hoping that this is a great test case”, says Garrett. The new model puts a three-pronged upstream advisory layer at the top of its structure, supported by six ‘centres of excellence’, pooling and centralising resources to concentrate firepower as Omnicom heads “upstream”. It’s going head-to-head in “transformation” and business strategy through brand with the likes of Accenture, Deloitte, McKinsey and Bain while taking marketers and customer chiefs upstream with them. Too many marketers have been relegated to execution, per Garrett. He thinks Omnicom Oceania’s new approach can help both parties regain strategic high ground. Corporate and government relations firm GRACosway may play an outsized role in opening up that pathway. A major content and creative automation play for the group is also imminent – but it’s not Ted Horton’s BRX. Garrett says not to undertake radical surgery poses the greatest risk for comms holding companies – they’ve become too narrow and communications focused and lost the strategic high ground across industries and inside corporate executive leadership teams. With IPG absorbed, he thinks widespread industry speculation that at least one, perhaps two fewer direct holdco competitors by year’s end is plausible - a WPP break-up and piecemeal sell-off being one of them. But it’s telling that while eyeing consulting firms’ turf and  moving away from a media and creative-led holdco into marketing transformation services, Garrett, when pushed, reckons Publicis is a bigger threat to Omnicom’s new growth model than Accenture Song. Despite the seismic overhaul, Garrett claims Omnicom Oceania is six months ahead of where the market thinks it is. But the proof is in the pudding – there’s a lot riding on whether Omnicom’s people can actually stretch to the new model’s intent. Garrett’s confident. Here’s what’s coming next. https://lnkd.in/g3j-Jsif

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Nick Garrett recently sat down with Paul McIntyre from Mi3 to talk through the creation of Omnicom Oceania - a marketing and customer transformation business powered by creativity and data, and the role marketing leaders are increasingly playing in driving business growth.   “Our purpose is to support and empower CMOs and CCOs to thrive in the boardroom as genuine engines of customer growth and innovation.”   As that role continues to expand, it’s no longer about marketing in isolation. It’s about how creativity, data, technology and customer experience come together to solve bigger, more complex challenges.   In the conversation, Nick shares how we’ve brought this model to life - connecting Advisory with deeper specialist capabilities at the centre, to move beyond a traditional holding company structure, and what that unlocks for clients.   This evolution is powered by our people. As Nick also notes, “creativity isn’t the domain of the creative department. Creative thinking is problem solving for clients and everyone should be in that business.”   Leaders and specialists across media, creative, data, technology and customer experience are working together to deliver deeper capability, shared intelligence, and real enterprise impact for our clients.   Thanks to Mi3Australia and Paul McIntyre for the discussion.   🎧 Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/g3j-Jsif

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Mi3Australia has shared an insightful conversation with Nick Garrett (CEO, Omnicom Oceania), outlining his vision for Omnicom Oceania and the role marketing leaders can play in driving genuine business growth. The discussion offers a clear view of where our HoldCo is heading, moving beyond marketing in isolation, and towards a more connected model that brings creativity, data, technology, and customer experience together around effectiveness - not just efficiency. 🎧Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g3j-Jsif

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The most real channel for a most unreal age? As brand communication becomes increasingly synthetic, channels that are inherently real, physical and tangible will take on greater scarcity value and signalling power. Just as marketers combined the benefits of digital and physical in the previous marketing revolution, others will find smart ways to bridge the unreal and the real in this one. Guest blog here for Marketreach on the evolving role of direct mail in an AI world: https://lnkd.in/en7r-vGv

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Massive thank you to the team at Think with Google for including me among the 10 Agency Changemakers shaping how AI is transforming search and marketing. You can read our perspectives here: https://lnkd.in/enEE9Uev A few themes that kept surfacing: 1. Agencies are already ~35% more advanced than advertisers in deploying AI at scale, acting as the “stress test” before solutions hit client‑facing work. 2. The real edge comes from *how* you use the tools, not *if* you use the tools. This is deliberate in our total end-to-end product solution for AI Search Experiences in Stagwell Search+ https://lnkd.in/eihq6WZz 3. The future belongs to multihyphenate marketers—creative‑strategists, data‑storytellers, and operating‑system‑thinkers—who can use AI agents to compress the learning curve and move at market speed, not random rhythms. If you’re in the trenches of AI‑driven search, performance marketing, or agency transformation, I’d love to hear what resonated with you from the piece. Assembly Global / Stagwell Thanks also to Andres Valencia and Antonia Cecio for the Google opportunity.

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Fast Company’s Brands That Matter 2025 list highlights companies making cultural impact. Read how Marian Lee was named CMO of the Year for fan-first strategies that turn shows into immersive experiences: https://bit.ly/4jtFkxH

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The most effective applications of AI are probably already happening within your organization. Learning from each other and scaling the best solutions should be a regular occurrence. 👏 FCB Chicago & FCB Global

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This discussion should remind the industry that value-driven branding is not an optional add-on, it’s a pillar of long-term relevance and emotional differentiation. From a Gladstone perspective, here’s what this means for design / creative firms: - When you build a brand visual or verbal system, embed its values from day one, don’t just overlay them later. - Resist purely "safe" visual routes. Sometimes the visual that surprises, provokes, or asserts a point of view is the one that clarifies the brand’s identity. - Workshopping values with clients isn’t optional - it’s foundational. Before logos, messaging, or campaigns, you should get alignment on why the brand exists, who it is for, what it will refuse to do. In short: brands that are willing to stand around values tend to win more trust, create stronger emotional bonds, and survive turbulent climates better. The real work is less in choosing the values, and more in living them with consistency, honesty, and courage. #branding #design #marketing #creativeagency #brandstrategy #storytelling #advertising #branddevelopment #creative #designstrategy https://lnkd.in/gHCYeJww

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