Adland CEOs Observe Client Caution, Too Few “Modern” Indies, Industry’s “Morbid Fascination With Predicting Demise”

A cost-of-living crisis, political instability, and the rapid escalation of artificial intelligence’s capability: 2025 was always going to be turbulent.

But as CEOs from around the world look back on the first half of the year, they observe it has been downright volatile -- and marketers have responded unevenly, while expecting a greater return on investment.

Layer the advertising industry’s own upheaval -- Omnicom’s pursual of IPG, WPP boss Mark Read stepping down, agencies restructuring and consolidating as client budgets shrink, a spate of independent agencies recalibrating some markets -- and it is clear industry bosses are facing enormous pressure to deliver. Accordingly, some don’t understand why brands are still settling for creative safety and sameness, and the industry is still entertaining a conversation about its own death.

​TBWA’s global CEO Erin Riley — who was elevated to the top job a year ago, following Troy Ruhanen’s move to lead Omnicom Advertising Group — said while she expected 2025 to be turbulent -- after all, TBWA is The Disruption Company; it has “come to expect disruption” -- “what we didn’t expect was the scale of disruption and utter unpredictability.”

For OLIVER’s UK CEO Amina Folarin, the challenges have been enough to dampen even the most can-do spirit. “We started the year with optimism, but with clients’ budgets reducing and increasing pressure to deliver more for less, you definitely get this sense there is a slowdown.”

But there are greenshoots. Katy Hornaday is the newly-appointed CEO of BarkleyOKRP, one of the largest indie full-service agencies in the US. She said while briefs and budgets have slowed in response to tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty, there are opportunities. Many US clients have seen the downturn as “their opportunity to be aggressive, take big swings, and make plans to lead their category.” Still, briefs and budgets slowed in response to tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty, defying hopes of a post-election rebound.

A Sea of Sameness

Erin told LBB of a recent trip to Los Angeles’ Getty Museum, where she “was captivated, moved, and at times astonished by work created over 200 years ago with oil on canvas.”

“The power of human creativity is boundless and enduring,” she said. “I don't understand the almost-morbid fascination with predicting its demise. I am much more interested in celebrating it and using it to move markets and society forward.”

She added, “Brands' reactions to this scale of disruption has been uneven. Some have maintained or increased investment to exploit or protect against market forces, while others have been more conservative awaiting more certainty.”

Erin is surprised so many brands are still “drowning in a sea of sameness” when creative distinction is proven to drive commercial success. “There’s a real disconnect between the urgency clients feel and the solutions they’re defaulting to.”

​Cheil UK CEO Chris Camacho echoed that sentiment; he can’t comprehend “how safe so much of the industry still feels”.

“For all the noise around bravery, I see far too many brands and agencies stuck in the middle,” he added. “Over-researching. Over-editing. Under-shooting.

“Safe work doesn’t move people. It doesn’t drive sales. And it definitely doesn’t get talked about. We need more urgent, unfiltered creativity.”

Where Are the Modern Indies?

If there are opportunities to stand out, some leaders are wondering why more talented executives aren’t seizing them.

​Atomic London CEO boss Jon Goulding is most shocked more leaders haven’t capitalised on the stagnancy by setting up independents. “The biggest surprise so far this year has been how few ‘intrapreneurs’ have broken free from the holdcos,” he said.

“There’s been a disappointing lack of interesting or modern-looking agency start-ups this year. And with such pressure on the holdcos to simplify, consolidate, and cut free any financial drag anchors, now is a perfect time to offer them an attractive management buy-out if you’ve got the ambition and vision for life as an independent.

“We need more start-ups in new spaces for the overall health of the industry and if you don’t do it now, it’ll be a hell of a lot harder once the turbulence settles down again.”

That hasn’t been a problem in Australia. In the first eight months of the year, executives from an independent, The Monkeys, and Droga5 and CHEP have started agencies named Hellions, Kerfuffle, and Princess, respectively, joining a ballooning group of Aussie indies.

Client Demands Rising, “And Rightly So”

CEOs across the regions agree marketers are demanding a clearer return on investment.

​DDB Group AUNZ CEO Priya Patel described 2025 as a “challenging market” characterised by tight budgets, a sharper focus on marketing ROI, and “no shortage of pitches.”

“Most clients are looking for partners who understand their business, can work smoothly across different disciplines, and deliver measurable outcomes,” she said.

“They want fresh thinking that respects the market specifics without overcomplicating things. At the same time, the bar for commercial accountability is higher than ever. With tighter budgets and increased scrutiny, clients expect clear proof of value – not just big ideas.

“That means pitches need to show not only creative excellence but also a clear pathway to business impact, whether through performance, brand growth, or innovation.”

This is true the world over. While India is a market still ripe with potential, Leo India CEO Amitesh Rao agreed with his peers in other markets that “clients need ever-improving ROI across the entire marketing funnel.”

Marketers are on the hunt for partners that can help them navigate transformation, according to OLIVER. Amina leads the UK business to build brands’ in-house teams and explained increased budgetary pressures have led to “sharper, more focused briefing” and an openness to transforming the marketing function.

“We’ve seen deeper client relationships as our clients need long lasting partners to help them deliver.”

Chris at Cheil -- which began as Samsung’s in-house agency and now works for other clients while remaining owned by Samsung -- was on the same page, arguing clients want their agencies to be “less supplier, more partner in transformation.” Their expectations have climbed, “and rightly so”, and they’re not willing to compromise.

“Speed without compromise. Strategy that drives outcomes. Creative that earns attention and proves its worth. This isn’t about budget cuts, it’s about accountability. The fluff is gone,” said Chris.

That shouldn’t cause fear within agencies, he argued, because “the beauty of that pressure is it raises the bar for everyone” and it means the market is primed for strategic work that is “commercially credible and creatively ambitious.”

​Donnalyn Smith, the global boss of experience agency Momentum Worldwide, agreed clients are “asking smarter questions, pushing for provable value, and demanding that creativity and technology serve a bigger purpose”. From a pitch perspective, she observed many Q2 RFPs “included generative workflows as table stakes”, which wasn’t the case even six months ago.

“We’re seeing compressed timelines, condensed scopes and a new business cycle that rewards agility over polish,” Donnalyn said.

“The pitch isn’t dead—but it’s different. We’re winning work in weeks, not months, and the agencies that can’t show up with clear thinking and executable systems from day one are getting left behind.”

While her business expected clients to pull back this year, “instead, what we saw was more nuanced: brands aren’t hesitating, they’re recalibrating.”

Fellow experience agency CEO, Jonathan Emmins at Amplify, noted that while marketing budget growth has slowed in the UK, brand experience is still on the rise. The first half was significant for the business; it was acquired by Common Interest, and “saw an uplift in brand experience investment".

AI Adoption: The Gap Between Hype and Reality

Almost every CEO interviewed mentioned artificial intelligence, though opinions differ on whether adoption is widespread or still “PowerPoint fantasy.”

Momentum Worldwide’s Donnalyn said adoption has “accelerated faster than we predicted,” while Dentsu Creative’s UK&I CEO, Jessica Tamedge, expected to see more systemic industry adoption, and Cheil’s Chris is similarly concerned it’s still the stuff of “PowerPoint fantas[ies]” because “brands are excited but paralysed.”

“Stop talking, start building,” Chris said, adding Cheil has embedded the tech across digital and retail work, “from LLM-powered content optimisation to AI-curated product journeys. Our approach is build, test, break, optimise.”

Post-production house OkayStudio’s Nikolaj Belzer doesn’t understand why the reaction to AI is still so “binary”, focused on “the fear, the fantasy, when the reality is much more nuanced.” The boss of the editing, VFX, and colour business, which has offices in London and Berlin, argued the conversation’s flatness is reflected in the creative output.

“It is either seen as a total solution or an existential threat, and the work made is accordingly un-nuanced, which is the exact opposite of what creative work is supposed to be,” he said.

“Neither is true. Historically that has never been the case. From the printing press to the telephone, from nonlinear editing to digital filmmaking, these shifts have never killed creativity. They have redirected and expanded it.”

The possibilities are “exciting and maybe a little scary” because the industry is still in its AI “wild west period,” according to the LA-based Alex Cohn, head of content and partner at FIN Studios. He said the tech advancements mean clients are mixing and matching models to deliver more assets on a tighter budget.

“It isn’t new that brands are bringing agency and production resources in-house, that agencies are creating production capabilities, and that some production companies are acting as creative agencies, but now with the help of AI, we are seeing this type of mix-and-match more frequently.”

Late last year, Adobe chose Dentsu as its global creative agency of record, and in January launched Adobe GenStudio dentsu+, an AI-powered content offering. That’s given the holdco a “fast start” in the space, Jessica said, “enabling us not only to build the Adobe brand at scale but also to extend this technology to other clients.”

Amitesh at Leo India has noticed “varying degrees of adoption” in the realm of tech transformation.

“Interestingly though, I am seeing those at the front end of the adoption cycle beginning to acknowledge transformation as an essential enabler,” he said, “rather than a magic wand or a substitute for fundamentally strong strategic thinking and transformational creativity. In some ways this is a natural cycle, but it’s happening sooner than I expected.”

Jessica believes “the adoption of AI across the wider business for admin, insight and connection has felt slower,” but Momentum Worldwide’s Donnalyn has seen AI transform a “from conversation piece to production backbone”. At the end of 2024, AI was an “exploratory brief”; now it’s “a central line item in nearly every pitch” and scope of work, she said, adding the best brands are using AI to design clever customer experiences blending “performance with personalisation”.

The key, though, is applying it with “intention that can’t be automated” and using it to preserve, not replace, emotion. Marketers “want a thinking partner that expands creativity and systems that make them more human, not less,” Donnalyn said. “The best clients are embracing AI where it creates capacity for human creativity, not where it replaces it.

“What hasn’t happened yet, and should, is accountability around AI ownership and creative IP. That conversation is coming. We’re getting ready for it now.”

Jessica didn’t expect the acceptance of AI influencers like Mia Zelu, who debuted at Wimbledon. The reveal that she was fake was one thing, but “the continued engagement with her as a creator after audiences understood she wasn’t real” was another entirely.

“Equally surprising has been the rapid rise of VTuber fandoms,” she added of virtual YouTube creators.

“While VTubers are real people, their use of avatars for anonymity has created an unexpected sense of authenticity, allowing them to express themselves more freely and build deeper, more genuine connections with their audiences.”

A Backslide on the Good Stuff?

London-based Jessica noted the combination of a new UK government, US tariff announcements, and “the launch of endless gen AI product threatening to dethrone the creative industry as we know it” has made for a lively year.

“On a less positive note, it’s been disappointing to see sustainability slip down the industry news agenda,” she said.

“In the UK, however, the progress being made in regulating less healthy foods gives me hope that we can continue the sustainability conversation in a constructive and nuanced way.

"We don’t need to take an absolutist stance, such as opposing all advertising linked to fossil fuels in order to drive meaningful progress in this space.”

Focus is Big, Bold, Brand-Building Ideas

For all the turbulence, CEOs agree on one thing: the opportunity is there for brands willing to be bold, and volatility is not a reason to retreat. If anything, it proves the agencies that win will be those that pair commercial accountability with creative memorability.

While acknowledging “volatility” and client caution, Cheil’s Chris said those conditions have been “energising” in a way. “We’ve had to fight harder for every opportunity, challenge ourselves to work smarter, and cut through complexity with clarity. The market has been slow to decide and quick to change direction, but that’s exactly why we’ve doubled down.”

Clients need “work that is creatively and culturally potent,” added OkayStudio’s Nikolaj. The post house is expanding to New York and Los Angeles to get more proximate with clients and creatives in the US, and said being able to stay nimble, act quickly, and stick “close to our values” is serving his business well.

Priya is buoyed by the industry’s resilience and clients who are “willing to back bold, smart ideas – especially when there’s a clear connection to business results.” So is TBWA’s global leader, Erin.

“I am heartened by how many of our CMOs are truly seeking smart, bold creativity.”