Jack Baldwin.
How integrated agencies are navigating the changing expectations of clients’ by building truly integrated offerings for once media-only clients. Jack Baldwin, Head Of Media, Nibble Edge
The last three years have been a period of immense change for the media and marketing landscape in Australia. While change itself is constant, the speed and elevated client expectations are unprecedented. We're witnessing consolidation on a massive scale, with specialist agencies merging into full-service powerhouses. Having walked the open-plan paddocks of holdco and independent media agencies for years, I was once a sceptic on the ability of integrated agencies to do everything well. Being on the other side of the fence now, you’d have to call me a convert.
Marketers' expectations of agencies have fundamentally changed, with the accelerating influence of AI only further driving those expectations higher – and for good reason. Once upon a not-so-distant time, I talked with clients about going "beyond the click." Now, we're engaging with those same clients about optimising the entire customer journey: from click to landing page, to lead capture, to nurture, to purchase, to re-engagement, and every possible touchpoint along the way. With marketing teams running leaner and leaner, the true beauty of partnering with a full-service agency lies in having the immediate ability and resources at a marketer’s fingertips to enact requisite changes across creatives, landing pages, nurture paths, and tracking.
The growing trend of in-housing speaks volumes about this shift. More and more clients want one cohesive brand voice to be pushed across all channels, with true strategic thinking sitting at the heart of executions that flow out to customers. This isn't about replacing internal teams, but rather about external partners serving as a true extension that complements and elevates their internal capabilities. Data from Mi-3/Kantar confirms this, noting that 78% of marketers now work with in-house resources, with 17% of in-house agencies (IHAs) having launched in the past two years alone. It’s clear that there is a demand for more integrated, dedicated support from external agencies.
We also live in a marketing world where ROI is paramount – far beyond the click. When you reach that target CPA/ROAS threshold, the real dream is having the understanding of why you’re there (through the unification of data under one roof) and then the "weapons" to deploy to remove blockers and drive CPAs lower (and ROAS higher).
The integrated approach moves beyond tactical campaign briefs to comprehensive customer journey briefs. We have to start with the fundamental brand strategy, which informs every subsequent action. We then must seamlessly weave in User Experience (UX) and Digital Experience (DX), recognising that a sensible and personalised customer journey is paramount to conversion. This ensures that media investment isn't wasted on a broken pipeline, as too many clients switch on their media taps only to find a leak. PwC’s "Voice of the Consumer Survey 2024" indicates, 57% of consumers plan to cut back or reduce spending, making every marketing dollar's efficiency crucial. Further, Forrester's 2024 Australia CX Index reveals that the CX quality of most brands and agencies in Australia either flatlined or declined, yet more organizations are aware they need to prioritize customer needs to drive business growth. Integrated agencies, by design, are built to address this gap.
It also means that execution is genuinely agile and collaborative, not just a buzzword for a rinse-and-repeat model. Unified teams, along with clients, foster real-time feedback loops where media performance directly informs UX changes, which in turn influences creative iterations. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) isn't an afterthought; it’s applied at each stage of the funnel. This rapid, data-driven adaptation is critical in a landscape where AI is now considered the "engine behind modern marketing" and a "growing priority for businesses of all sizes" (Salesforce Marketing Trends 2025), enabling hyper-personalisation and predictive insights at speed.
We've seen this model deepen client partnerships, transforming the relationship from vendor-client to true strategic collaboration. By understanding a client's entire business, not just their media budget, we can have "well beyond the click" conversations about core business problems and offer solutions that drive tangible growth. The numbers only support those trends. A recent article via Kantar highlighted that agency consolidation, alongside leveraging AI for efficiency and productivity gains, is a key strategy for CEOs and CFOs to minimise non-working marketing spend and scrutinise media channel performance. Large global brands like Colgate, Ford, and L'Oréal are actively pursuing these strategies to improve marketing effectiveness in a challenging economic climate
I believe for agencies, this shift will translate into increased client value and longevity. For talent, the appeal of working on integrated projects, solving complex business challenges, and fostering a broader skill set is also immensely appealing. With Forrester predicting that in 2025, one-third of digital media specialists will evolve into full-funnel agencies, and CRM agencies will transform into data-backed CX agencies, we’re set to see the broader industry movement towards integration.
While the landscape changes at speed and expectations shift with those changes, some things remain the same: the fundamental need to market products and services effectively. The agencies that can truly solve those problems with speed and effectiveness will remain valuable partners to clients and great places to work.