Beyond the Brief: Better Client/Agency Partnerships

Your 2027 Growth Plan Needs More Than a Revenue Target

Mitchell Caplan — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 19:57:00 GMT

It’s only August, but if you’re leading a business, marketing organization, or agency, 2027 planning shouldn’t be something you wait until December to start thinking about.

And this year, I think the …

The Independent Agency Boom Isn’t Quite What It Seems

Mitchell Caplan — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:46:09 GMT

There is a widely accepted story in advertising that independent agencies are thriving while holding companies struggle.

The reality appears to be more complicated—and more useful.

Mercer Island Group …

AI Is Leveling the Agency Playing Field. Your Operating Model Is What Will Set You Apart.

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:45:00 GMT

For years, agencies competed on size. Larger organizations had broader capabilities, deeper benches, more offices, and more specialists. Scale itself was often viewed as a competitive advantage.

AI is…

Independent Agencies Don’t Need More Capabilities. They Need Better Partners.

Mitchell Caplan — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:49:07 GMT

I recently read Ad Age’s discussion about what separates today’s winning independent agencies from the rest, and one theme kept coming back throughout the conversation.

https://adage.com/ad-age-video-…

The Companies That Win with AI Won’t Be the Ones with the Best AI

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 18:04:31 GMT

I recently read Gate One’s latest Transformation Index report, The Balance Advantage, and it got me thinking. The research, based on a survey of 750 C-suite leaders, argues that the organizations mak…

The Agencies Growing Fastest in 2026 Are Doing Less, On Purpose

Mitchell Caplan — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:39:02 GMT

The agencies growing fastest in #2026 aren’t the ones doing the most.

They’re the ones doing less — on purpose.

Promethean Research just surveyed 119 agency leaders for their 2026 State of Digital Serv…

The Capacity Gap Nobody’s Talking About Post-Cannes

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:36:29 GMT

Cannes always produces the same pattern: a wave of ambitious client conversations, followed a few weeks later by a quieter, harder question inside independent agencies — can we actually build this?

Th…

Cannes 2026: Why Independent Agencies May Be Built for What Comes Next

Mitchell Caplan — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:47:00 GMT

Every year, Cannes produces a flood of predictions about the future of advertising. This year, however, the most important message was not about a new platform, AI tool or media channel. It was about…

The Most Dangerous Words in Agency Relationships: “Everything Seems Fine”

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:14:26 GMT

One of the most common mistakes organizations make is assuming that the absence of conflict means the presence of alignment.

It doesn’t.

In fact, some of the highest-risk agency relationships appear pe…

AI Agents Are Changing Commerce. Is Your Brand Ready to Compete?

Mitchell Caplan — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:33:01 GMT

The latest article from McKinsey & Company on “agentic commerce” highlights a major shift many brands are underestimating.

The agentic commerce opportunity: How AI agents are ushering in a new era for…

The Real First 100 Days: Why CMOs Need Organizational and Process Design Assessments Before They Need New Campaigns

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:48:38 GMT

There’s a revealing pattern running through nearly every successful CMO story in a recent Ad Age article about how marketing leaders succeed in their first 100 days.

Despite different industries, diff…

The Real AI Bottleneck Isn’t Technology. It’s Organizational Design.

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 12 May 2026 13:31:03 GMT

The most important line in the article may also be the simplest:

“The issue isn’t the tools. It’s the operating model.”

That observation captures what many CMOs, agency leaders, and marketing organizat…

From Prompts to Pipelines: Why AI-Ready Marketing Isn’t About the Model—It’s About the Workflow

Mitchell Caplan — Wed, 06 May 2026 18:08:18 GMT

Most marketing teams are having the same conversation right now.

The answer is usually uncomfortable—and liberating:

AI doesn’t fix broken marketing operations. It accelerates them.
If your workflow is …

Rebuilding Client–Agency Trust in the AI Era

Mitchell Caplan — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:11:29 GMT

Another sharp perspective from Michael Farmer on why many client–agency relationships feel strained—and what it will take to rebuild them. You can read the entire article at link below:

C-Suite Blues

Advertiser-Agency Relationships Have Become Too Combative, and No One Benefits

The brand growth problem is best illustrated by the sales performance of four major CPG companies, P&G, Unilever, Nestle and Colgate-Palmolive…

4 months ago · 16 likes · Michael Farmer

A couple of hi…

The Agency of the Future Isn’t Just Human

Mitchell Caplan — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:31:43 GMT

Join my new subscriber chat

Mitchell Caplan — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:44:54 GMT

Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my Substack publication: Beyond the Brief: Better Client/Agency Partnerships subscriber chat.

This is a conversation space exclusively for subscribers—kind…

The Hidden Cost of Too Many Stakeholders

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:40:53 GMT

Most organizations believe stakeholder involvement improves outcomes.

More perspectives.
More scrutiny.
More alignment.

In theory, this makes sense.

In practice, it often produces the opposite result.

Beca…

When Performance Conversations Turn Into Pricing Conversations

Mitchell Caplan — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:17:17 GMT

Performance concerns rarely begin as pricing discussions.

They begin with uncertainty.

Something feels slower than expected.
Confidence feels less stable.
Stakeholders begin asking harder questions.

At fi…

The Marketing Chaos Tax: We Built Marketing for a World That No Longer Exists

Mitchell Caplan — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 20:30:10 GMT

Part 2 of an amazing series of articles by Emma Cochrane and Jess Lin of Atmos Partners.

https://atmos.partners/chaos-tax/part-2

This article hit me hard because it puts words to something many of us h…

Governance Problems Disguised as Performance Issues

Mitchell Caplan — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 14:33:18 GMT

When agency relationships come under pressure, the default assumption is usually the same:

The agency isn’t performing.

Campaigns feel slower.
Ideas feel less sharp.
Internal frustration builds.

Eventuall…