Indie agencies are betting on tech to outmaneuver the big guys

“If I were starting an agency tomorrow then one of the first roles I’d hire would be a chief technology officer,” said Robin Skidmore, founder and CEO of performance marketing agency Journey Further.

Eight years in to starting his own, he’s finally making that move as the agency ramps up its U.S. expansion. Enter Ben Terry, a digital ad veteran from Jellyfish, who joined earlier this year in the CTO role. Reporting to Skidmore as part of the global operations team, Terry’s immediate mandate is clear: build out Journey Further’s proprietary marketing tech platform while optimizing back-office systems to keep the agency running lean and fast. 

“There’s a massive opportunity to really put technology at the forefront of what Journey Further does,” said Terry. “But we’re not going to try and reinvent the wheel and spend a load of money on building tools that already exist in the marketplace because our budgets are fairly lean.”

For now, that means making Salient, a suite of in-house tools, more compelling to marketers. Currently, it’s a patchwork of solutions: a trends tracker, automated bidding, an A/B testing database, and real-time campaign performance analytics. The goal is to transform those individual tools into a unified platform, turning a collection of point solutions into something far more powerful. Eventually, that could even encompass creative production, an area Terry knows well, having founded and sold a company specializing in just that two decades ago. 

“Brands still go to their lead creative agency for the big idea but once they’ve got that they’re working with different agencies specifically in different channels, which means they risk losing the consistency of that original idea,” said Terry. “There’s an opportunity to address that with tech. We can look at the media strategy and performance of campaigns as well as the creative and the performance of it.”

Terry isn’t an anomaly. More independent agencies are bringing in tech-savvy executives, signalling just how central tech has become to staying competitive in an industry dominated by size and scale. 

Take digital ad agency IDHL, for instance. It recently promoted Richard Ellis to its first md of technology in January as part of a larger investment in its R&D team. The exec will be responsible for building and developing proprietary tech for the agency. But innovation comes with guardrails.

“We won’t roll out brand new emerging technology that isn’t trialed and tested on our clients’ websites,” said Lewis Sellers, group managing director of IDHL’s web and e-commerce division. “But equally, we always want to make sure that we’re testing that functionality internally so that we’re at the forefront of tech before rolling out on client sites.”

Some of that experimentation will focus on IDHL’s new partnership with enterprise e-commerce platform SCAYLE, which positions the agency as a reseller of the technology. It’s another way independent agencies are investing in tech to compete on their own terms, staking claims in areas where holding company rivals aren’t necessarily moving as fast. 

“SCALYE will always ultimately own the contract with the client for their platform whereas we’ll be responsible for making that platform work for the individual client,” said Sellers. 

For example, if a client wants to transfer data from the SCAYLE platform into other systems, IDHL has middleware to facilitate that. They can also develop custom apps for clients looking to integrate specific parts of SCAYLE’s offering, from inventory management to checkout solution.  

“Our roadmap will heavily be shaped by the client demand, but where we’re seeing the need at the moment is they’re wanting to ultimately go faster online,” said Sellers. “That means they want a platform with tech that allows faster routes to market but also also reduces the complexity of their existing tech stack — or at least makes it easier to navigate.”

If commerce is one major area where agencies are building out their tech offerings, creator-focused tech is another. The Brandtech Group, BrainLabs and Stagwell Group have all either snapped up creator agencies with proprietary tech or built it themselves to gain an edge. They recognize that standing out in the increasingly competitive creator economy requires more than just partnerships, it demands real investment in the technology that powers these relationships.

Whether through AI-driven analytics, influencer performance tracking or content distribution tools, these agencies are betting big that the future of creator marketing will be as much about tech infrastructure as it is about talent.

None of these moves are exactly new. Agencies have been talking about being more like tech companies for years. However, the intent is sharper now, the execution more defined. That’s certainly the case at PMG, which has been developing its own AI-powered analytic platform, Alli, since 2019. 

Alli pulls in data from various sources including social networks, ad tech vendors and CRM software, allowing users to ask natural questions and receive actionable insights. It also features a creative insights tool for marketers to analyze content performance, as well as an audience planning feature that generates dynamic, AI-driven user profiles. 

“By integrating our proprietary technology into our service offerings, we create “sticky” solutions.,” said Ben Vincent, chief technology officer at BrainLabs. “These are unique value propositions that are difficult for competitors to replicate, fostering long-term client relationships and increasing retention. This “stickiness” translates to longer client lifecycles, enhanced revenue predictability, and a more robust foundation for long-term growth. In essence, our technology becomes a core component of our value proposition, creating a symbiotic relationship with our clients and solidifying our position as a leader in the digital marketing space.”

At its core, all these efforts signal a deeper transformation. Agencies are, by nature, service-driven businesses, and that model comes with volatility given its reliance on recurring client contracts. Tech platforms, on the other hand, operate with the steadiness of subscription-based revenue. No, that doesn’t mean agencies will morph into platforms overnight. But they might start looking a little more like them.