The short version

Mike Shields predicted on September 15, 2020: “The big agency holding companies are in for a brutal decade. Clients are taking media in-house, consultancies are eating strategy, and the holdcos haven't built a real answer.” Verdict: Called it. Shields called the holdco squeeze in 2020. WPP, Publicis, IPG all underperformed; Omnicom-IPG merged in 2024 and global headcount cuts hit every…

Prediction by

Mike Shields

On September 15, 2020

“The big agency holding companies are in for a brutal decade. Clients are taking media in-house, consultancies are eating strategy, and the holdcos haven't built a real answer.”

Follow-up

Shields called the holdco squeeze in 2020. WPP, Publicis, IPG all underperformed; Omnicom-IPG merged in 2024 and global headcount cuts hit every holdco through 2025.

From the High Caliber AI network — see the AI for PR module in the course.