Global Media Agency of the Year Initiative Masters Fame and Flow... But no old.

Much like management consultants lean on tried-and-true project frameworks to solve problems, so does the IPG Mediabrands agency Initiative.

For several years, agency leaders called the agency’s go-to approach Cultural Velocity. Last year, after elevating performance media expert Dimitri Maex to the global CEO role, Initiative rolled out a new, modified framework that replaced Cultural Velocity. The new concept, called Fame and Flow, helped secure the $450 million global Nike business.

It all culminated in Initiative securing the top spot on COMvergence’s annual new business rankings list. Many factors contribute to new business wins—the way the agency markets itself, the amount of money it invests in presentation and the team it brings to the pitch—none of which prove the agency can or will do a good job. But Initiative kept all its clients last year, and the year before—even those up for review.

After Maex took the top job, he brought Jonathan Rigby from Reprise Digital along with him as global chief strategy officer of Initiative. Paolo Sarno, global chief growth officer, and Melissa Gordon-Ring, global president, health, also joined from IPG Mediabrands and Starcom, respectively. 

The leadership moves signaled a new commitment to scaling performance media and commerce chops globally and turned out to be the crucial ingredient the agency needed. Sarno led the Nike pitch, while Gordon-Ring now serves the Merck and Teva Pharmaceuticals businesses.

Cultural Velocity happens when a brand’s ideals and influence shape culture. A brand can achieve Cultural Velocity by prompting societal change, rather than responding to it. The agency even published a book about the concept, authored by Initiative’s former global chief strategy officer, Stefan Burford, and Wharton professor Jonah Berger.

Fame, synonymous with traditional brand marketing, amplifies the brand’s salience and reach, making its benefits obvious to consumers. The agency can achieve it by making a project go viral or become difficult to forget. Flow, synonymous with integrated performance marketing, is about “the movement of people across the path to purchase and how you use experience design, media content—whatever the right mix is—to help with that,” Maex said. 

So here's our challenge to Dimitri Maex: the right mix includes many more people 55+ because consumers with real purchasing power include a disproportionate number of 55+. Hire some more!