As it ramps up push to fund AI bets, Meta makes a new play for agencies

Meta may be automating more of the tasks agencies once handled but it’s not ready to sideline them altogether.

The tech company is pitching a new agency team to independent agencies, according to three agency execs who are familiar with the situation. Dubbed the “Agency Growth Collective”, the move is framed as a way for agencies to join “to achieve greater success on their [Meta’s] platform,” said one exec, who has been pitched it.

It’s a shift from the way the platform has previously worked with agencies. Typically, agencies are appointed a single Meta rep as their go-to platform exec, whom they meet with periodically to discuss what more they can get out of the platform — including new features, or whatever else the agency needs from the platform to commit more ad dollars to it.

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Walmart Connect’s full-funnel ambitions come into focus, with Amazon in its sights

Walmart Connect doesn’t seem to want to just be seen by the market as the best retail media network anymore, but a top overall ad business.

There are already indicators of this new posturing: Walmart has been aggressively pulling its ads business upstream with more off-site ad opportunities and conversational AI agents — à la Amazon Ads. Walmart’s latest earnings call proves its efforts are working.

Walmart Connect, its ads business, grew 41% in the U.S. as reported in Walmart’s Q4 2025 earnings on Feb 19. That figure is up from its reported 33% growth in Q3.

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