Besides announcing solid third-quarter earnings last week (revenue is up, costs are down, new business has been steady), Stagwell and its chairman and CEO Mark Penn spelled out a growth strategy that feels both familiar to the holding company model — and yet altogether different.
It’s a familiar move for a holdco to build out an AI-driven audience data platform — everyone’s got one, right? But it’s wholly unusual for the tech partner to be Palantir, the software firm arguably best known for controversial defense and surveillance tech.
Other holdcos have pursued principal media strategies — it’s a higher-margin business that’s helped Publicis become the top of the holding company heap. But Stagwell is choosing to go at principal media through owned-and-operated properties. Even more unusual, it’s investing in O&Os in news and information — not exactly the hottest or safest choice for brands.
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