The Future of Agency Values Lies in Platforms, Not Mergers

Holding company megamergers, consolidations, and the opportunity they’re missing: Why platforms—and more importantly, systems—are the future of agency value. 

Megaholdco mergers are dominating headlines, but for all the wrong reasons: hundreds of millions of dollars in synergy promises to shareholders; sweeping layoffs across strategy, design, client service and creative; and bluster about sheer size. None of this meaningfully benefits the stakeholders who matter most in the equation: clients and talent.

At the same time, the traditional value proposition of massive agencies—capability at scale—is eroding. In an environment defined by complex market forces, new technologies and increasingly sophisticated workflows, an agency’s size is secondary to how fast, flexible and precise it can be.

Complexity demands systems, not size

Healthcare has never been more complex. Success now requires daily fluency across government, policy, regulatory, economic, clinical, scientific, and behavioral domains. Scale has become secondary to skill and success is achieved through systems that enable rapid access to expertise, innovation, and agility as market and client needs evolve.  

Clients need partners who can:

• Shape complex stakeholder environments through powerful communications and PR
• Execute flawlessly within those environments, driving asset and organizational performance across clinical trial strategy, advertising, branding, medical communications, and media
• Deliver immediate, expert-driven partnership, rapid deployment and data-led optimization—every day

Why the holdcos keep getting it wrong

The largest players are leveraging AI innovation to amplify scale (with a subhead dedicated to old-school volume-based discounts). But history is clear: consolidated mega-agency models may deliver short-term savings enabled by cost-cutting staffing models vs strategic stewardship, only to then lead to partnership failure. The pendulum swings back to non-network and independent shops: Clients value the expertise and agility; procurement resists the cost. And the cycle repeats.

AI has changed the equation—not because it replaces expertise (it doesn’t), but because it removes churn, cost and inefficiency from execution. Anyone can use AI. The differentiator is how an agency uses it and who is guiding it.

AI cannot replicate human ingenuity, creativity, intuition, or expert judgment. In today’s healthcare environment, those capabilities are non-negotiable. 

Platforms deliver greater value because they’re built for agility

Building an agile platform is an entirely different ambition from building a holdco. The goal isn’t to sell “more for less” or to assemble numerous competitive agencies in each vertical we serve. It’s to configure the right adjacent experts and capabilities for life science innovators, then enable them to operate in an integrated way on top of technology that’s constantly evolving.

At Spectrum Science, our platform is built on:

• Expert leaders running lean, agile teams that shape environments and execute brilliantly within them
• A system that identifies and deploys SME talent on demand, flexing across adjacent capabilities under a single P&L, assembled instantly around client needs
• Tools and technologies that evolve continuously, with no proprietary lock-ins, only what best serves teams and clients
• A model designed for change unburdened by unnecessary overhead, enabling rapid pivots and deep strategic partnerships

What clients really pay for—and what they shouldn’t

When clients buy into mass holdco consolidation, they unintentionally fund experimental tech partnerships, unused real estate and transactional, fragmented P&L models that slow access to critical expertise.

When they invest in an agile system, they invest in a proactive partnership, better outcomes and real value—not tech contracts, office overhead, or shareholder appeasement.

Value is no longer defined by “capability at scale.” And value-per-hour pricing is fading fast.

The future belongs to innovators who reject mass consolidation

Sophisticated life science innovators already see through the mega narrative. They’re choosing platforms that provide:

• Outcomes-based pricing
• Real-time access to expert partners
• Systems built for agility in environment shaping and execution

Consolidation that fails to deliver innovative value beyond low rates will soon be a relic—an inflexible, overburdened answer to a question no one is asking.

The era ahead belongs to systems that elevate ingenuity.

And at Spectrum, we’ve spent years designing exactly the kind of platform today’s life science innovators need most. If you’re looking for a partner whose focus is driving momentum for you and your brand, we’d love to talk.