As more and more clients like Kimberly-Clark become more savvy about the ad tech world, they are demanding transparency about what, exactly, they’re paying their agencies for – and how their data is being used.

via Clients Take the Reins on Programmatic | Digiday.

In my experience, agencies and brands are learning at the same pace as each other, and often times, brands and internal digital teams know as much as the agency folks. Plus, the media landscape is so complex, that the smartest brands are working on how to get in *front* of all the change, and start driving their *own* change. If they do, there is very real, very large upside for companies to take their programmatic buying in-house. Financially, for sure. But the most strategic value will come from the data and insights they gain from direct oversight of their trading. Insights about the performance, but also about their brands, their consumers. And, brands will need this info to help them understand the industry evolution.

Smart agencies will stop stressing about lost media planning fees, embrace their future as media strategists and analysts, and figure out how to help brands bring stuff in house. There will still be plenty of work for agencies to do as brands bring it in house, including analysis, larger scale efforts, and media operations. And, in some cases, an experimental, innovation focused “media lab” of sorts.