Dentsu is the latest holdco to reunite media and creative production

"Super Bowl spots and Cannes Lion-winning campaigns hog the spotlight in agency sizzle reels, but the work that runs on Instagram, Walmart or Instacart is what keeps the lights on. And demand among advertisers for combined performance media and creative production briefs is rising. In response, agencies are reorganizing their production offerings to sync more closely with media briefs. Dentsu, for example, is set to launch a production solution it's calling "Content Engine", pulling media planning and activation from its media teams, and creative delivery from production house Tag into the same process."

""Clients are seeking a more analytical, systematic and outcome-based approach to production," said Mark Knowles, chief technology officer at Tag. "We are seeing this being requested during the RFP process more and more, especially where we have media incumbency, but we are also proactively pitching this approach to the clients given the impact it's able to have on performance, outcomes and commercials," he said."

"With many bread and butter holding company clients leaning further into paid social, online video and retail media, there's a need for a higher volume of creative assets - films, images, copy and audio messaging - to make those media investments worthwhile, while close monitoring of campaign effectiveness metrics means creative assets can be optimised against media benchmarks. "It is designed to address the challenges we see most often: complex production networks, increased demand for content and the need for visibility from local to global," said Toby Codrington, global brand president at Tag. Generative AI used in creative and admin processes (think brief-writing applications, or tagging and review systems) help agencies scale to meet that demand, but they'll need formerly separate disciplines like media and production to work closer together to realise the business advantage, said Knowles."

Agencies are reorganizing production to align more closely with media briefs as advertisers increasingly request combined performance media and creative production. Dentsu plans a "Content Engine" that merges media planning and activation with creative delivery from Tag into a single process. Clients require a more analytical, systematic and outcome-based approach, and many clients are shifting spend toward paid social, online video and retail media. That shift drives demand for higher volumes of films, images, copy and audio messaging and for close monitoring of campaign metrics so creative can be optimized against media benchmarks. Generative AI supports scaling of creative and administrative tasks while integration between media and production disciplines is needed to realize performance and commercial benefits.

Read at Digiday