WARC

Brands Navigating a Vast Agency Ecosystem

Brands face an expanding and diverse agency market and must balance fit, scalability and relationship quality when selecting partners. Data from Agency by Agency shows the UK agency sector has nearly doubled in ten years. Three consultants — Sophie Verachten, Luke Fleming and Rachel Said — identify core issues: finding agencies that truly understand brand positioning and can scale with channels; overcoming distrust after poor agency experiences and avoiding siloed delivery; and choosing value and compliance over lowest price in affiliate and partnerships. To help matchmaking, PI LIVE Europe and the Agency Advisory Board are building a free Agency Ecosystem Map directory, updated biannually, that will list agencies’ service types, territories, specialisms and accolades.

EV Boom Meets Rising Pressure from China

The European car market grew again in 2026, driven mainly by battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and strong sales from Chinese manufacturers. European registrations rose in H1 2026, with BEVs reaching a 20.7% market share and Germany showing particularly strong EV growth. Chinese brands such as BYD, Geely, SAIC, Chery and Leapmotor have rapidly increased European volumes, capturing roughly 10% of the market in June. Established European automakers are not benefiting uniformly; some (e.g., Volkswagen) show only modest growth. The shift is changing competitive dynamics and forces automakers to adapt communication and marketing strategies amid pressure on margins and more constrained automotive advertising budgets in some markets (WARC forecast).

WARC: Social Media Alone Can't Sustain Brand Growth

A WARC analysis, reported by HORIZONT, warns that brands' growing investment in social and creator marketing faces three structural limits and cannot by itself generate unlimited long-term brand growth. The study argues that while brands optimize content and paid media for social algorithms, sustained growth requires combining social/creator activity with broader emotional brand marketing. The article was published on August 12, 2026 and authored by Nora Halwax for HORIZONT.