Davy Rennie. Credit: Digitas Australia
The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2025 and forward to next year.
Davy Rennie, CEO of Digitas Australia
The marketing industry is at a turning point. Awards, reach, and engagement are used to measure success, but is the market getting enough from the marketing industry?
In 2025, those metrics are no longer cutting it. Boards and CFOs are asking harder questions: How does marketing drive growth? How does it improve margin? How does it create shareholder value? Are our agency partners true growth partners?
The agencies that are thriving in this climate are those that can answer these questions with clarity and confidence.
They are not just producing ads, they are connecting creativity with market intelligence and commercial thinking to compound impact and drive growth outcomes. Those who don’t make the shift are creating noise that the industry doesn’t need.
The agencies leading the way are embedding this rigor into their work by asking: How does this work move the needle for revenue? How does it unlock new markets or revenue streams? How does it turn ambition into achievement?
This is not theory.
We are seeing it play out across the industry. A bold platform or product backed by data can drive compounding growth in both mature and emerging categories. Work grounded in financial, behavioural and transactional insights are reducing churn and lifting profitability. A brand transformation aligned with business strategy can deliver measurable shareholder returns.
These are the outcomes that matter, and they are the outcomes clients are demanding. Without this, creativity is decoration.
For too long, marketing has been treated as a discretionary cost. That mindset is changing. Today, marketing is viewed as an investment that must deliver a return. Agencies that understand this reality and are moving beyond vanity metrics like impressions and clicks and focusing on what truly matters: ROI, revenue growth, margin upside, and increased market share. That is our hygiene factor at Digitas.
We hired strategists who can decode complex business challenges. We have data scientists who can uncover hidden commercial opportunities. Creatives who turn insights into ideas that move markets. When these capabilities combine, the results are extraordinary.
In 2026, clients will continue to ask agencies the hard questions around commercial impact. Hiring team members who know the value creativity holds is critical to industry success.
Agencies are growth partners, not just service providers, and will define the next era of growth. Those who will win, will prove that marketing is not a cost centre but a growth engine. They will show clients the magic that happens when you fuse creativity and intelligence, art and analytics, ideas and impact.
The future belongs to those who embrace growth mindsets.
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