The new year always brings with it the inclination to not just future-gaze, but to consider how to future-proof.

One media agency that has always billed itself as a future-forward organisation is Omnicom’s Hearts & Science and UK CEO Garrett O'Reilly joined Jack Benjamin to discuss the shop's growth strategy.

O'Reilly discussed the challenges in scaling the business while remaining future-forward and what big client wins like Jaguar and Allwyn have meant for the agency. He also shared initial reactions to the Omnicom-Interpublic merger and the recently announced rollbacks in DEI and WFH policies across media.

Specifically, O'Reilly reaffirmed the need to remain steadfast in responsible marketing efforts, seeing it as a core pillar of creating a future-facing media proposition.

"There's so many different fronts to fight [responsible marketing] on and we have to fight on all of them — whether it's environmental, or DEI, or responsible trading, or respecting audiences' privacy — they're all important. We can't neglect any of them."

Highlights:

2:31: Breaking down Hearts & Science's growth plan

10:48: Challenges facing agencies needing to innovate

14:11: Early-year adjustments: reaction to Omnicom-Interpublic merger, changes in WFH policies and Meta content moderation

19:52: Category entry points as a key strategic focus

24:57: The future of agencies and the need to reaffirm responsible marketing commitments

Related articles:

Omnicom and Interpublic merger set to reshape global ad industry

Hearts & Science launches programme to nurture media owner rising stars

Simon Carr: 100 years of doing it wrong — and how to do it right

Outvertising: We need an exit plan for Meta and we need it now

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Thanks to our production partners Trisonic for editing this episode.

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