Blazing the A.I. trail, collapsed silos for integrated media, technology and creative, content scaled with audience precision and big data.

Those, in a nutshell, are all the components which form a winning media agency for the modern chief marketing officer.

And UM, OMD, Carat and Starcom are among the leaders in this field, according to the new Forrester Wave report.

“CMOs and heads of media contend with increasingly elusive consumers who report that they regularly avoid ads and question advertising’s usefulness in learning about new products and services,” part of the report reads. “Today’s suboptimal advertising experience isn’t helped by the advertising industry’s separation of media from creative, which has led to competing agency factions and disintegrated campaigns.

“It should come as no surprise that today’s CMOs are on the hunt for better outcomes and partnerships. Adaptive CMOs require agency partners to harness data and creativity to better connect the medium, message, and moment. The combined idea and context produce a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.The media agency market is maturing into an integrated, content-rich, precision marketing offering.”

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The report says UM is a good fit for CMOs looking to strategically unify marketing execution; move beyond conventional media placement; and scale original, branded, and addressable content.

“Forrester is recognized as one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world, and we value their evaluation of the ever-changing landscape of global media agencies,” said Eileen Kiernan, Global CEO, UM. “We are honored to be recognized as a leader in Forrester’s study and look forward to continuing to drive results for our clients through our futureproofing strategies rooted in our relentless pursuit of better.”

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