Subscribe to the Agency Business newsletter.

Agency Business features agency CEOs and financial decision-makers alongside third party experts including agency pitch consultants. We are always accepting pitches, and are particularly interested in hearing from women and leaders of color.

Email us!

📩 Brian at brian@madisonandwall.com

📩 Olivia at olivia@fusionfrontmedia.com

Follow Madison and Wall and FusionFront Media on LinkedIn for updates.

📊 The Madison and Wall Podcast – Brian opens up about his latest work — plus crucial economic, financial, and industry trends.

🎬 Screen & Sponsor – Olivia & VaynerMedia's Jessie Holder explore how brands are shaping Hollywood.

Talia Arnold, managing director and co-founder of Exverus Media, joins co-hosts Olivia Morley and Brian Wieser to discuss how the Los Angeles-based agency has scaled without shortcuts—maintaining a lean team, independent ethos, and focus on solving complex marketing problems with creativity and tech-enabled insight.

Talia shares her nontraditional path into media, why she believes “anyone can start an agency, but not everyone is a chef,” and how Exverus grew from an attic startup into an award-winning agency serving Fortune 500 brands and fast-scaling CPG and streaming clients.

She also explains how Exverus manages to punch above its weight, how the team thinks about outsourcing and automation, and what makes their hiring philosophy different from the standard risk-averse approach.

Plus, Olivia, Brian, and Talia discuss:

• IPG Mediabrands moving talent offshore amid broader restructuring
• Publicis’ latest acquisition in the influencer space, Captiv8
• Ongoing leadership turnover at Gale.

Subscribe to the Agency Business newsletter.

Agency Business features agency CEOs and financial decision-makers alongside third party experts including agency pitch consultants. We are always accepting pitches, and are particularly interested in hearing from women and leaders of color.

Email us!

📩 Brian at brian@madisonandwall.com

📩 Olivia at olivia@fusionfrontmedia.com

Follow Madison and Wall and FusionFront Media on LinkedIn for updates.

📊 The Madison and Wall Podcast – Brian opens up about his latest work — plus crucial economic, financial, and industry trends.

🎬 Screen & Sponsor – Olivia & VaynerMedia's Jessie Holder explore how brands are shaping Hollywood.

Sean Corcoran, president of MissionOne Media and longtime agency leader, joins co-hosts Olivia Morley and Brian Wieser to discuss the launch of MissionOne within the growing “big indie” platform BarkleyOKRP—and what it takes to build a media brand inside a full-service agency structure.

Sean walks through his career path, from political work and affiliate marketing to stints as a Forrester analyst and co-founder of Mediahub. He explains how his experience defining media categories and evaluating agencies from the outside shaped his approach to building challenger shops on the inside.

At MissionOne, he’s aiming to blend the tech-forward strengths of acquisition Adlucent with a human-first, creative-led philosophy. He also unpacks how integrated P&L models help avoid internal competition, what it’s really like working with private equity backers like Keystone, and why the “murky middle” is the most dangerous place for agencies to be.

Plus, Olivia, Brian, and Sean discuss:

• Omnicom CEO John Wren’s $1 salary contract extension through 2028.
• Keurig Dr Pepper’s decision to disband its in-house agency, Liquid Sunshine.
• Dentsu’s ongoing struggles in the U.S. market.
• Globant’s surprising earnings guidance downgrade.

Subscribe to the Agency Business newsletter.

Agency Business features agency CEOs and financial decision-makers alongside third party experts including agency pitch consultants. We are always accepting pitches, and are particularly interested in hearing from women and leaders of color.

Email us!

📩 Brian at brian@madisonandwall.com

📩 Olivia at olivia@fusionfrontmedia.com

Follow Madison and Wall and FusionFront Media on LinkedIn for updates.

📊 The Madison and Wall Podcast – Brian opens up about his latest work — plus crucial economic, financial, and industry trends.

🎬 Screen & Sponsor – Olivia & VaynerMedia's Jessie Holder explore how brands are shaping Hollywood.