What UM has learned from a year of Full Colour Media — with Susan Kingston-Brown

Last year, UM unveiled a new global omnichannel media planning proposition: Full Colour Media.

The approach, underpinned by a custom body of research developed in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, seeks to move against the grain of generic, algorithm-driven media planning and towards a recentring of brand-driven advertising.

Since the debut of the proposition, UM has gone through a period of continued change as its parent, Interpublic Group, was acquired by Omnicom Group at the end of last year.

Susan Kingston-Brown is the global brand president for UM Worldwide.

She joined The Media Leader from the agency's new London offices at Bankside to discuss how Full Colour Media has developed over the past year, whether distinctive agency brands are still valuable at a time when some holding groups are consolidating their efforts, and how she has managed the transition to Omnicom with her team at UM.

Highlights:

5:26: What is Full Colour Media? Why UM embraced a new planning proposition.

15:10: Is there a conflict between AI and Full Colour Media?

20:20: The value of agency brands amid market consolidation.

26:29: How UM has managed the transition into Omnicom

35:00: Agency holding group valuations have declined. What's the argument against that investment thesis?

Related articles:

UM unveils ‘Full Colour Media’ proposition to fight brand blandness

UM global brand president: ‘The agency world will look different in a year’s time’

Will one and one equal ‘more than two’? Omnicom to complete purchase of IPG imminently