Is it time to ring the death knell for the holding company model?

It’d be easy to think so. Last month, as WPP revealed restructuring plans, CEO Cindy Rose stated that WPP was “no longer a holding company.” Instead, WPP will be a single operating company with four divisions: WPP Media, WPP Production, WPP Enterprise Solutions, and WPP Creative.

WPP isn’t alone. Consolidating and retooling the holdco operating model is in line with a broader ongoing makeover of Madison Avenue. Rather than continue with the traditional financial structure, where a collection of agencies operate (mostly) independently under one roof, the major advertising firms have instead signaled an interest in combining sister agencies and retiring storied industry brands as they hunt for efficiencies and cost savings.

“The tide has turned on [the holding company] model decidedly, because of the performance that they’re putting up and the reaction that the financial markets are having to it,” Jay Pattisall, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, told Marketing Brew. “Most are pursuing some sort of advancement in their [profit and loss] and in their structures. Lots of consolidation. Lots of headcount reduction.”

But the pursuit of a new model is, well, complicated—and time-consuming.

Continue reading here.—KM

Boston sports fandom is legendary, but it’s been almost a decade since women’s soccer fans in the city had a hometown team to root for.

With a record-setting crowd of more than 30,000 at its debut game this month, it’s safe to say that fans are excited to welcome Boston Legacy FC to the NWSL. And sponsors are, too, if Hyundai’s five-year jersey patch deal with the team—inked somewhere along the way between its bid approval, rebrand, and kickoff—is any indication.

Demand for jersey real estate in the league is high, with inventory having sold out across all 14 teams that were active in the league last season, according to SponsorUnited data. The valuation of Hyundai’s deal with Boston Legacy, which includes a placement on the right sleeve of the kit, hasn’t been made public, and Hyundai declined to disclose the figure, but the cost of jersey-patch sponsorships in the NWSL has been on the rise; the current record is reportedly held by Aflac and the NWSL’s 2028 Atlanta expansion team, with a front-of-kit deal said to be worth $28 million over seven years.

Given rising interest in soccer in the US ahead of this summer’s FIFA Men’s World Cup, the talent and fandom in women’s soccer, and Boston’s rich sports history, Hyundai Motor America CMO Sean Gilpin said he feels confident that investing in women’s soccer is a “winning formula” and that partnering early with the Legacy as the company’s first US jersey sponsorship will pay off in the long run.

“With the growing strength of soccer, [the jersey patch] has become a much bigger opportunity for us here in the States,” Gilpin told Marketing Brew. “This one was just a natural fit to get in on the ground floor with a team in a market like this.”

Read more here.—AM

Google did not come to play at its NewFronts presentation in New York.

The company is rolling out new YouTube and live sports buying options, including buys for YouTube Pause Ads and UFC placements, through its DSP DV360 tool, it announced this week. It’s also touting new retail, commerce, and measurement capabilities. And (surprise!) DV360 is being increasingly infused with Google Gemini, the company’s generative AI tool.

While YouTube already brings in more ad revenue than the combined revenue of traditional media giants Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Skydance, and Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a MoffettNathanson estimate cited by Business Insider, the tools could attract even more ad spending from advertisers interested in commerce options, boosting creator ad spend, and measuring ad effectiveness.

“If you take away anything from these conversations, I would say this: Gemini with DV360 and YouTube will be core to the success of the future of advertising,” Bill Reardon, Google GM of enterprise platforms, said at a press briefing ahead of the company’s presentation.

Keep showing up: Google is leaning on more YouTube integrations as one way to attract advertising dollars to DV360.

• The company is allowing advertisers to buy creator partnership boost ads, which allows advertisers to put paid media behind creator content, on YouTube and in-stream through DV360.
• It’s also rolling out YouTube Creator Takeovers to DV360, which advertisers can use to show up on top creator channels.
• YouTube Pause Ads can now be bought through DV360 too, and YouTube, along with Google TV, will run cost-per-hour and cost-per-thousand impression mastheads.

Bringing more YouTube buys into DV360 is a play to capitalize on “the four S’s,” Reardon said: streaming, scrolling, shopping, and searching.

Continue reading here.—JS

Retail marketers, take note: If you’re relying on your employees to become online brand ambassadors, they’re going to need real, authentic love for the company. Learn more and listen to this week’s episode of Marketing Brew Weekly.

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