As the largest agency holding companies enact sweeping layoffs and consolidate, Stagwell CEO Mark Penn sees new opportunity.
“We’ve achieved something that nobody really has achieved in 50 or 100 years,” Penn told ADWEEK, “which is to form a real competitor company at scale.”
Stagwell posted 6% net revenue growth in Q2, which Penn attributed to Stagwell’s ability to help brand marketing departments adapt to AI.
This quarter, Stagwell won IBM’s account from WPP’s Ogilvy—which had served as the creative agency of record for 32 years—along with Hershey’s, Allwyn, and appliance maker Haier. During the investor call, Penn described a record-setting second quarter that saw $171 million in new business, a 45% year-over-year increase.
Penn plans to capitalize on that momentum by doubling Stagwell’s new business unit. In particular, he hopes to make inroads with CPG clients, and he intends to use the success of Sport Beach—the activation that began at Cannes Lions in 2022 and expanded to CES earlier this year—to attract sports clients.
This interview has been edited and condensed for conciseness and clarity.
ADWEEK: You position Stagwell as a holding company coming out of challenger status. In what way?
MARK PENN: There are really only four companies that you can go to now for a global marketing campaign, and you see in the string of wins with companies like Mondelez and IBM, we’re clearly taking and beginning to take share away from the majors at a much bigger scale and level than we’ve ever done before.
Revenue from new business increased 45% this quarter. Was this because of a strategic push?
We’re in the process of doubling the new business team because we were having such success. Now, one agency doesn’t go into a pitch. It’s really a group of agencies working collaboratively. Our win rate this year is well north of a third, so that we’re winning more than our share of the pitches that we’re going into.
