THE NEW COMPETITIVE FIELD

Here’s a list of players who have announced new agencies in 2025.

• The Onion (satirical magazine)

• MISCHF (art collective behind giant red boots, Nike x Lil Nas X blood shoes)

• Charles Leclerc (F1 driver), Kendrick Lamar (rapper), Alex Cooper (podcaster)
  

Until this year, this cohort was downstream from agencies in relation to marketer budgets (media plans, production budgets, activations).

Now, they’ve opened up shop next to them.

It seems like they’ve collectively realized both the value of their embedded audiences and their ability to command attention, encouraged by economic and cultural shifts.

Publishers like the Onion have faced continued pressure due to accelerating AI-driven declines in O&O traffic (i.e. declining ad dollars). There is an existential need to innovate their commercial model, with adjacencies offering a solution.

On the other hand, MISCHF and the variety of personalities likely realized that they had been leaving money on the table – maybe from rejected pitches that didn’t align with their own platforms, maybe larger production budgets that they can control, or a desire to further amplify their own brands.

It reads a bit like the end of the “sell out” era which has steadily eroded since the days of Kurt Kobain.

Influencer content has molded a consumer that is more comfortable with the intersection of creativity and commerce. Directing big brand budgets towards resonant partnerships can read as empowering authenticity vs. giving it up.

Regardless, as technology continues to chip away at the core of agency profitability, creative shops are no longer competing with just each other.