C-Suite Blues
@michaelfarmer.skystack.xyz
Leadership challenges and opportunities for media C-Suite executives
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This is an automated Substack Account of https://michaelfarmer.substack.com
Discover more/Create at: @skystack.xyz
AI, today’s major obsession, will not solve Big Advertisers’ 15-year growth problems • AI can provide research and insights, but it will take leadership and revised Scopes of Work (rather than AI technology) to rekindle brand growth
AI, today’s major obsession, will not solve Big Advertisers’ 15-year growth problems
AI can provide research and insights, but it will take leadership and revised Scopes of Work (rather than AI technology) to rekindle brand growth
michaelfarmer.substack.com
September 30, 2026 at 5:04 PM
AI, today’s major obsession, will not solve Big Advertisers’ 15-year growth problems • AI can provide research and insights, but it will take leadership and revised Scopes of Work (rather than AI technology) to rekindle brand growth
Output-Based Pricing for Creative Agencies Restores Profitability After Decades of Illogical Fee Cuts • ScopeMetrics®AI, a new and inexpensive SOW management tool, generates Output-Based Prices rapidly and automatically for the benefit of agencies and clients alike
Output-Based Pricing for Creative Agencies Restores Profitability After Decades of Illogical Fee Cuts
ScopeMetrics®AI, a new and inexpensive SOW management tool, generates Output-Based Prices rapidly and automatically for the benefit of agencies and clients alike
michaelfarmer.substack.com
September 9, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Output-Based Pricing for Creative Agencies Restores Profitability After Decades of Illogical Fee Cuts • ScopeMetrics®AI, a new and inexpensive SOW management tool, generates Output-Based Prices rapidly and automatically for the benefit of agencies and clients alike
Procurement’s Bullying Stands in the Way of Madison Avenue’s Renewal • There have been three Procurement generations in client-agency relationships. The third generation only knows fee bashing -- and it’s ignorant of its potential to improve advertising’s effectiveness.
Procurement’s Bullying Stands in the Way of Madison Avenue’s Renewal
There have been three Procurement generations in client-agency relationships. The third generation only knows fee bashing -- and it’s ignorant of its potential to improve advertising’s effectiveness.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
August 31, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Procurement’s Bullying Stands in the Way of Madison Avenue’s Renewal • There have been three Procurement generations in client-agency relationships. The third generation only knows fee bashing -- and it’s ignorant of its potential to improve advertising’s effectiveness.
Who Murdered Madison Avenue? WARC Put the Question to Michael Farmer in a Wide-Ranging Interview • How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation. CMOs, Procurement and Holding Companies share the blame for Madison Avenue's Murder.
Who Murdered Madison Avenue? WARC Put the Question to Michael Farmer in a Wide-Ranging Interview
How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation. CMOs, Procurement and Holding Companies share the blame for Madison Avenue's Murder.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
August 11, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Who Murdered Madison Avenue? WARC Put the Question to Michael Farmer in a Wide-Ranging Interview • How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation. CMOs, Procurement and Holding Companies share the blame for Madison Avenue's Murder.
To Get to Where You Want to Go, You Need to Know Your Starting Point • Madison Avenue has many goals in mind, particularly in the Age of AI, but there is no consensus about its current position. What problems define the starting point for ad agencies?
To Get to Where You Want to Go, You Need to Know Your Starting Point
Madison Avenue has many goals in mind, particularly in the Age of AI, but there is no consensus about its current position. What problems define the starting point for ad agencies?
michaelfarmer.substack.com
August 8, 2026 at 2:04 PM
To Get to Where You Want to Go, You Need to Know Your Starting Point • Madison Avenue has many goals in mind, particularly in the Age of AI, but there is no consensus about its current position. What problems define the starting point for ad agencies?
Hey, Madison Avenue! Charge for your Outputs, and Price on Outcome Success • All companies charge for outputs -- the number of computers, watches, cars, etc. They set premium prices where they can, average prices for most and commodity prices where necessary. It's logical.
Hey, Madison Avenue! Charge for your Outputs, and Price on Outcome Success
All companies charge for outputs -- the number of computers, watches, cars, etc. They set premium prices where they can, average prices for most and commodity prices where necessary. It's logical.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
July 29, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Hey, Madison Avenue! Charge for your Outputs, and Price on Outcome Success • All companies charge for outputs -- the number of computers, watches, cars, etc. They set premium prices where they can, average prices for most and commodity prices where necessary. It's logical.
Two Possible Outcomes for Madison Avenue -- and Only One of Them is Desirable • One outcome sees improvements in relationships and advertising that drive higher brand growth. The alternative continues today's strategy of cheap, fast, understaffed and ineffective advertising.
Two Possible Outcomes for Madison Avenue -- and Only One of Them is Desirable
One outcome sees improvements in relationships and advertising that drive higher brand growth. The alternative continues today's strategy of cheap, fast, understaffed and ineffective advertising.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
July 14, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Two Possible Outcomes for Madison Avenue -- and Only One of Them is Desirable • One outcome sees improvements in relationships and advertising that drive higher brand growth. The alternative continues today's strategy of cheap, fast, understaffed and ineffective advertising.
A Positive Game-Plan for Procurement • Procurement needs to give back as well as take. Thus far, it has done more taking than giving. What would a positive game-plan look like?
A Positive Game-Plan for Procurement
Procurement needs to give back as well as take. Thus far, it has done more taking than giving. What would a positive game-plan look like?
michaelfarmer.substack.com
June 17, 2026 at 2:09 PM
A Positive Game-Plan for Procurement • Procurement needs to give back as well as take. Thus far, it has done more taking than giving. What would a positive game-plan look like?
You Can't Price Outcomes Without Documenting and Measuring Scope of Work Deliverables • ScopeMetrics®AI, a self-serve platform for advertisers and agencies, does all the work to shift pricing to outputs ... and then to outcomes
You Can't Price Outcomes Without Documenting and Measuring Scope of Work Deliverables
ScopeMetrics®AI, a self-serve platform for advertisers and agencies, does all the work to shift pricing to outputs ... and then to outcomes
michaelfarmer.substack.com
May 11, 2026 at 5:09 PM
You Can't Price Outcomes Without Documenting and Measuring Scope of Work Deliverables • ScopeMetrics®AI, a self-serve platform for advertisers and agencies, does all the work to shift pricing to outputs ... and then to outcomes
Madison Avenue Needs to Upgrade and Integrate Three Capabilities: Business Strategy, Media Strategy and Creative Strategy • Helping clients grow during this period of low brand growth requires agencies to provide three strategic capabilities. All three are underdeveloped today.
Madison Avenue Needs to Upgrade and Integrate Three Capabilities: Business Strategy, Media Strategy and Creative Strategy
Helping clients grow during this period of low brand growth requires agencies to provide three strategic capabilities. All three are underdeveloped today.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
April 14, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Madison Avenue Needs to Upgrade and Integrate Three Capabilities: Business Strategy, Media Strategy and Creative Strategy • Helping clients grow during this period of low brand growth requires agencies to provide three strategic capabilities. All three are underdeveloped today.
Transforming Creative Agency Efforts and Fees in the AI Era -- It Can Be Done Now • AI can simplify and lower the cost of creative execution across fragmented SOWs. This will simplify fees and free up agency resources to develop strategies to rekindle client brand growth rates
Transforming Creative Agency Efforts and Fees in the AI Era -- It Can Be Done Now
AI can simplify and lower the cost of creative execution across fragmented SOWs. This will simplify fees and free up agency resources to develop strategies to rekindle client brand growth rates
michaelfarmer.substack.com
April 6, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Transforming Creative Agency Efforts and Fees in the AI Era -- It Can Be Done Now • AI can simplify and lower the cost of creative execution across fragmented SOWs. This will simplify fees and free up agency resources to develop strategies to rekindle client brand growth rates
Why Have Most Advertisers Suffered From Slow Brand Growth Rates Since 2009? Ten Major Reasons • Brand growth rates were robust up to 2008. Since then, brand growth has not recovered. There are many reasons for this. Advertisers, holding companies and agencies share the responsibility
Why Have Most Advertisers Suffered From Slow Brand Growth Rates Since 2009? Ten Major Reasons
Brand growth rates were robust up to 2008. Since then, brand growth has not recovered. There are many reasons for this. Advertisers, holding companies and agencies share the responsibility
michaelfarmer.substack.com
March 30, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Why Have Most Advertisers Suffered From Slow Brand Growth Rates Since 2009? Ten Major Reasons • Brand growth rates were robust up to 2008. Since then, brand growth has not recovered. There are many reasons for this. Advertisers, holding companies and agencies share the responsibility
Madison Avenue Management (or Mismanagement): 7 Perplexing Questions • There are so many illogical aspects about the way that Marketing Departments, Holding Companies and Media / Creative Agencies manage themselves that we're driven either to confusion or madness.
Madison Avenue Management (or Mismanagement): 7 Perplexing Questions
There are so many illogical aspects about the way that Marketing Departments, Holding Companies and Media / Creative Agencies manage themselves that we're driven either to confusion or madness.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
March 23, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Madison Avenue Management (or Mismanagement): 7 Perplexing Questions • There are so many illogical aspects about the way that Marketing Departments, Holding Companies and Media / Creative Agencies manage themselves that we're driven either to confusion or madness.
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Verdict of the Advertising Industry: Murder, not Manslaughter • Holding companies WPP, Omnicom (and IPG) milked their agencies rather than help them become more effective for clients. The price: stagnant client brands, falling fees and short-term relationships.
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Verdict of the Advertising Industry: Murder, not Manslaughter
Holding companies WPP, Omnicom (and IPG) milked their agencies rather than help them become more effective for clients. The price: stagnant client brands, falling fees and short-term relationships.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
March 18, 2026 at 5:10 AM
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Verdict of the Advertising Industry: Murder, not Manslaughter • Holding companies WPP, Omnicom (and IPG) milked their agencies rather than help them become more effective for clients. The price: stagnant client brands, falling fees and short-term relationships.
Orwellian "Doublethink" and Programmatic Advertising • Doublethink: the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time and accept both as true.
Orwellian "Doublethink" and Programmatic Advertising
Doublethink: the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time and accept both as true.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Orwellian "Doublethink" and Programmatic Advertising • Doublethink: the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time and accept both as true.
What Can We Expect from Madison Avenue in 2026? Genuine Transformations, or More of What Has Not Worked for More than a Decade? • Cost reductions, agency consolidations and downsizings do not drive client or agency growth. Genuine transformations are needed.
What Can We Expect from Madison Avenue in 2026? Genuine Transformations, or More of What Has Not Worked for More than a Decade?
Cost reductions, agency consolidations and downsizings do not drive client or agency growth. Genuine transformations are needed.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:10 PM
What Can We Expect from Madison Avenue in 2026? Genuine Transformations, or More of What Has Not Worked for More than a Decade? • Cost reductions, agency consolidations and downsizings do not drive client or agency growth. Genuine transformations are needed.
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Final Verdict: Murder, not Manslaughter • We once believed that Holding Companies made accidental and inept decisions that weakened their agencies. Wrong. Agencies were deliberately milked. Clients need to rethink their agency relationships.
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Final Verdict: Murder, not Manslaughter
We once believed that Holding Companies made accidental and inept decisions that weakened their agencies. Wrong. Agencies were deliberately milked. Clients need to rethink their agency relationships.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Madison Avenue Revisited. The Final Verdict: Murder, not Manslaughter • We once believed that Holding Companies made accidental and inept decisions that weakened their agencies. Wrong. Agencies were deliberately milked. Clients need to rethink their agency relationships.
Holding Companies at a Crossroad • What is a holding company? A financial owner of weakening portfolio companies -- or an operating company with declining financial performance? What problems need to be fixed? Where?
Holding Companies at a Crossroad
What is a holding company? A financial owner of weakening portfolio companies -- or an operating company with declining financial performance? What problems need to be fixed? Where?
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Holding Companies at a Crossroad • What is a holding company? A financial owner of weakening portfolio companies -- or an operating company with declining financial performance? What problems need to be fixed? Where?
How Did It All Go Wrong? • The advertising industry's Golden Age had prestige, success, profitability, and belief in the inherent value of creativity. There was magic in creativity. It was the only thing that mattered.
How Did It All Go Wrong?
The advertising industry's Golden Age had prestige, success, profitability, and belief in the inherent value of creativity. There was magic in creativity. It was the only thing that mattered.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
How Did It All Go Wrong? • The advertising industry's Golden Age had prestige, success, profitability, and belief in the inherent value of creativity. There was magic in creativity. It was the only thing that mattered.
AI Will Decimate Agency Staffing and Fees. New Strategies are Required for Survival • AI can take at least 25% of creative agency fees and more than 40% of media agency fees. There is no way that agencies can "optimize" their way out of this situation. New strategies are required.
AI Will Decimate Agency Staffing and Fees. New Strategies are Required for Survival
AI can take at least 25% of creative agency fees and more than 40% of media agency fees. There is no way that agencies can "optimize" their way out of this situation. New strategies are required.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
AI Will Decimate Agency Staffing and Fees. New Strategies are Required for Survival • AI can take at least 25% of creative agency fees and more than 40% of media agency fees. There is no way that agencies can "optimize" their way out of this situation. New strategies are required.
Madison Avenue's Coming Renaissance • AI will clean out the laggards. Agency survivers will prove to be strategic, consultative, creative, and focused on helping clients grow again. Re-training was required to upgrade agency skills.
Madison Avenue's Coming Renaissance
AI will clean out the laggards. Agency survivers will prove to be strategic, consultative, creative, and focused on helping clients grow again. Re-training was required to upgrade agency skills.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Madison Avenue's Coming Renaissance • AI will clean out the laggards. Agency survivers will prove to be strategic, consultative, creative, and focused on helping clients grow again. Re-training was required to upgrade agency skills.
Madison Avenue's Struggle to Reconcile "Creativity" and the lack of Client Brand Growth today • Procurement is achieving its objectives by promoting low-cost marketing. Brands, though, are struggling to grow. Is agency "creativity" working or not? What is the truth about the industry today?
Madison Avenue's Struggle to Reconcile "Creativity" and the lack of Client Brand Growth today
Procurement is achieving its objectives by promoting low-cost marketing. Brands, though, are struggling to grow. Is agency "creativity" working or not? What is the truth about the industry today?
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Madison Avenue's Struggle to Reconcile "Creativity" and the lack of Client Brand Growth today • Procurement is achieving its objectives by promoting low-cost marketing. Brands, though, are struggling to grow. Is agency "creativity" working or not? What is the truth about the industry today?
David Ogilvy was a Huge Fan of Man-Hour Billing. He'd be Shocked by the State of the Industry Today • Agencies were receiving $435,000 in fees (in 2024 $s) for their work on a typical ad in 1992. This has dropped by more than 77%, and creatives now crank out hundreds of inconsequential ads per year.
David Ogilvy was a Huge Fan of Man-Hour Billing. He'd be Shocked by the State of the Industry Today
Agencies were receiving $435,000 in fees (in 2024 $s) for their work on a typical ad in 1992. This has dropped by more than 77%, and creatives now crank out hundreds of inconsequential ads per year.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
David Ogilvy was a Huge Fan of Man-Hour Billing. He'd be Shocked by the State of the Industry Today • Agencies were receiving $435,000 in fees (in 2024 $s) for their work on a typical ad in 1992. This has dropped by more than 77%, and creatives now crank out hundreds of inconsequential ads per year.
Madison Avenue Can Transform Itself -- if Marketers and Agencies Agree to Solve the Real Problem Plaguing their Relationships • The industry has pursued "low cost" digital / social solutions," when the real problem is the lack of brand growth for the past 15 years.
Madison Avenue Can Transform Itself -- if Marketers and Agencies Agree to Solve the Real Problem Plaguing their Relationships
The industry has pursued "low cost" digital / social solutions," when the real problem is the lack of brand growth for the past 15 years.
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Madison Avenue Can Transform Itself -- if Marketers and Agencies Agree to Solve the Real Problem Plaguing their Relationships • The industry has pursued "low cost" digital / social solutions," when the real problem is the lack of brand growth for the past 15 years.
The Astonishing Growth of Dividends at WPP, IPG and Omnicom highlights their Business Model Problem • Not only do holding companies have to liquidate talent through annual downsizings -- they must pay growing levels of dividends to shore up share prices. How long can this go on?
The Astonishing Growth of Dividends at WPP, IPG and Omnicom highlights their Business Model Problem
Not only do holding companies have to liquidate talent through annual downsizings -- they must pay growing levels of dividends to shore up share prices. How long can this go on?
michaelfarmer.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
The Astonishing Growth of Dividends at WPP, IPG and Omnicom highlights their Business Model Problem • Not only do holding companies have to liquidate talent through annual downsizings -- they must pay growing levels of dividends to shore up share prices. How long can this go on?