‘The conversation has shifted’: The CFO moved upstream. Now agencies have to as well

CFOs are demanding more from marketing — and not in the usual way. The familiar playbook of squeezing costs and investing in performance spend is still in motion, driven by an uncertain economy and an unpredictable geopolitical backdrop. But CFOs now are asking harder questions driven by a better grasp of how marketing actually works, and a sharper instinct for where it doesn’t.

For example, VaynerMedia’s CEO Gary Vaynerchuk has a new audience: his clients’ finance teams. Across the industry, other agencies are finding the same.

At independent, full-service brand commerce marketing agency Blue Chip, that shift has been more gradual. Execs there aren’t sitting down with CFOs directly, but they are helping their clients get ready for those conversations. “A lot of our day to day right now is helping CMOs prepare for board conversations where finance is in the room and the questions are sharper,” said Sarah VanHeirseele, chief growth officer at Blue Chip.

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Omnicom Media North America CEO Ralph Pardo on integration and disintermediation

Omnicom leadership has taken its share of lumps since closing on the acquisition of Interpublic Group at the end of 2025. But it didn’t stop Ralph Pardo, CEO of Omnicom Media North America, from speaking at Digiday’s spring Media Buying Summit, which is wrapping up today in Nashville.

Although careful with his choice of words in describing Omnicom’s integration of the IPG agencies and assets (particularly data giant Acxiom) into the mothership, Pardo said progress has been steady, in part because moving slowly simply isn’t an option anymore. (The need for speed was expressed generally across virtually all sessions at the summit.)

Omnicom Media NA CEO Ralph Pardo

For now, the IPG Media brands will stay alive and active alongside the Omnicom brands, which was a “purposeful conscientious strategy,” he told attendees — but that may not last forever. The integration itself will take time, no matter how much speed can be applied.

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