The Quiet Agency Behind Cult Brands Like Away | ClickZ Indie Agency News

Lions Unleashed 🦁

What Cannes 2025 Got Right (and Missed) About Brand
✍️ By Sam Carter, CEO of Fospha

At Cannes Lions this year, one word kept surfacing: brand.

In a performance-obsessed world, brand feels harder to defend. It doesn’t show up in ROAS or fit neatly into a reporting cycle. But that doesn’t mean it’s not driving results.

As Rory Sutherland put it, “A brand is like a pension… one day you wake up and go: bloody hell, where did all this equity come from?”

He’s right. Our data at Fospha shows brands investing more than 10% in upper-funnel activity see 2x the overall marketing efficiency. But belief isn’t the issue — buy-in is.

To protect brand budgets, we need better evidence. That’s why we’ve identified early signals—like branded search and engaged visits—that connect brand activity to business outcomes.

👉 Read the full article
📊 Download the Glow Report to explore the data behind the brand debate.

Sector Spotlight 🎥

BRAND BUILDING

Combo Breaks Its Silence: The Quiet Agency Behind Cult Brands Like Away

Combo, the design studio behind Saie Beauty and Away, marks its 10th anniversary by embracing a long-term creative partnership model, focusing on authenticity and avoiding rapid scaling. It offers marketers insight into building enduring brands by resisting transitory trends and prioritizing deep client relationships. Combo's international expansion highlights a shift toward sustained and meaningful brand development.

INNOVATIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES

Rising Stars in 2025 Marketing Agencies

In 2025, marketing thrives on precision, adaptability, and measurable outcomes. ClearBrand excels with clarity-focused conversion systems, ideal for small to mid-sized B2B, service, and SaaS companies aiming for structured growth.

Meanwhile, Socium Media benefits eCommerce and SaaS brands looking for aggressive scaling and transparency through data-focused strategies.

The Sustainable Agency supports mission-led brands, aligning growth with ethical standards. Each agency's unique model highlights strategic opportunities for brands to connect with their audiences effectively and authentically.

AGENCY EMPLOYMENT TRENDS

U.S. Advertising Agency Employment Declines Indicating Structural Shift

U.S. advertising and public relations sectors experienced a monthly employment downturn from December 2024 to May 2025, signaling potential economic shifts and structural changes within the industry.

With leading agency holding companies achieving higher revenues while reducing workforce sizes, strategic reevaluations of resource utilization may become crucial. Such trends highlight a dual challenge for professionals: adapting to economic warnings while exploring efficient operational frameworks to sustain growth and innovation in advertising.

CANNES INSIGHTS

Cannes Lions 2025 Insights from Ad Executives Steal the Spotlight

Cannes Lions 2025 demonstrated a shift away from typical networking locales, with ad executives and agencies highlighting valuable industry trends. This year focused on the importance of creator measurement and tech, as well as purpose-driven marketing, spotlighting strategies by brands like Porsche and Lego to improve audience engagement. These insights are critical for marketing professionals seeking to enhance brand presence amid evolving advertising landscapes.

🏆 Announcing the ClickZ 25 of 25 Awards –
Powered by Fospha

While the world’s eyes were on Cannes last week, we’ve been spotlighting a different kind of creativity.

The ClickZ 25of25 Awards spotlights 25 standout DTC and digital-first campaigns that drove real impact this year — across five key sectors: luxury, beauty, wellness, home, and fashion.

Each winner represents smart, scaled, creatively sharp marketing — and we’re thrilled to celebrate their work.

You’ll find the full list — plus sector breakdowns and creative highlights — in our full awards report.

📥 Download the full report below

👉 Got a standout campaign or behind-the-scenes story to share? ClickZ is always looking to spotlight fresh creative — reach out to us, we’d love to hear from you.

Optimization Hub ⚙️

ECOMMERCE TRENDS

eCommerce Marketing Trends to Know of in 2025

In 2025, eCommerce marketing is driven by five crucial trends:

• personalization and enhanced customer experiences using data and AI

• the rise of mobile commerce and shoppable content

• the impact of social commerce coupled with influencer marketing

• the importance of data analytics and marketing automation

• the evolving roles of SEO and content marketing.

These trends highlight the strategic use of technology and platforms in capturing and retaining customers, emphasizing the need for tailored experiences, efficient data handling, and adaptive marketing strategies for professionals in the field.

GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS

Geographic Insights Help Brands Expand Into Underserved Markets With Amazon DSP

Geographic Insights and Activation (GIA) on Amazon DSP empowers marketers to efficiently tap into underpenetrated markets by leveraging Amazon's first-party data.

This tool enables advertisers to identify high-potential geographic areas, optimize campaigns, and combine online and offline sales data for improved reach and ROI. By addressing challenges of localized personalization and operational friction, GIA offers a precise means to enhance advertising effectiveness and expand customer bases.