The agency sector had a busy week on the leadership front, with McCann NY naming Britt Nolan as CEO and Hotwire Global appointing Karyn Barr as US CEO — both moves reflecting ongoing efforts by agencies to refresh senior leadership as client demands evolve. Stagwell Media also announced significant leadership restructuring, elevating Liz Rutgersson to CEO in a top branding and communications role, signaling the holding company's continued push to differentiate itself from legacy WPP-era structures.
The bigger strategic story, however, came from Forrester's Wave report, which found growing homogeneity among the 12 largest agency holding companies. As AI tools democratize media planning and creative production, the traditional moats that agencies relied on — proprietary data, specialized talent, unique methodologies — are eroding. The report is a wake-up call for an industry that has long competed on differentiation but increasingly looks, to clients, like a set of interchangeable options. Canva's restructuring this week, while not agency-specific, is a reminder that even the tools powering agency creative work are in flux.