Category: Insights

Green Square’s Nick Berry explores a creative production sector at a crossroads: legacy giants collapsing under their own weight while independents surge ahead. The question now is whether a new wave of VFX and production talent can seize the moment and redefine the industry’s future. Soon after Technicolor collapsed earlier this year, I wrote in The Drum about the potential fallout and the opportunity for a new wave of creative production companies to reimagine the future and fill the void. Six months on, and with the Ciclope Festival taking place in Berlin next week to celebrate craft and creativity across the visual arts, I thought it would be timely to look at the creative production and VFX industry and assess how things are shaping up. Soon after Technicolor closed its doors, Jellyfish Pictures met the same fate, and more recently another longstanding player, Glassworks VFX, also reached the end of the road. On the face of things, this paints a bleak picture for the industry. For Technicolor, servicing its huge debt was a massive challenge, but legacy players that have struggled have common traits, including costly physical technology, infrastructure and teams. This has clearly taken its toll on top of the undeniable impact of Covid, the writers’ strikes and so on. Pressure was also building from smaller, more nimble creative production houses, with lower costs and the ability to scale as required, with the cloud removing traditional capital-intensive barriers to entry. Outsourcing to cheaper locations has also helped the development of skills and capabilities globally, leading to more competition from shops with growing reputations in India and the Far East, as well as South America. With mega-mergers and consolidation within large network groups taking place within the ad industry, a lot has been made recently about the opportunity for independent agencies to flourish. This similarly applies to the creative production sector, where the unrelenting appetite for marketing and entertainment content shows no sign of diminishing. So, there is an exciting and fertile environment for ‘new kids on the block’ to thrive. The nature of the visual arts industry means that new, young talent will always push the boundaries, and if you balance this with experience to navigate briefs, budgets and manage client expectations, you can create an exciting winning formula. This mix of raw talent and experience is evident across the industry, with many independent creative production and VFX houses making hay on the back of technical capability, and agility, as well as creative fearlessness. And compared with a decade ago, it is now commonplace for creative production companies to work directly with brands alongside or instead of ad agencies. This is a sign of confidence in their capability and improved standing in the pecking order. As the new generation of creative production companies becomes the establishment, what can they learn from the legacy players that have fallen by the wayside? Jamie Smith, a partner at Sheridans, a leading media law firm, was general counsel at The Mill from 2012 to 2018, the period that spanned the acquisition by Technicolor. Jamie notes: “The biggest change when The Mill became part of Technicolor was that decision-making became centralized. It remained highly successful, but it was now a large machine. In my view, over time, this slowed the decision-making process and localized teams felt less empowered. “With this, the ability to recognize and reward talent diminished, which to me is the biggest issue with creative, talent-based businesses. You rely on talent, and if not careful, you can start to erode your competitive edge and become open to attack from those who can be more flexible.” To succeed in the current climate, Jamie thinks, “Studio leadership teams need to take strategic decisions looking at the next 12-24 months. Get ahead of technology and always ensure efficiency goes hand in hand with creativity. “I still see studios looking at the short term and not beyond. It’s great if your sales pipeline is strong, but not so good if there is an over-reliance on a client or niche type of work. “You need to be bold with hiring and firing. In its prime, The Mill was good at spotting and nurturing talent as well as making changes if it didn’t work. This not only makes people feel they belong to a great studio, but also that the people they are with are the best of the best.” As with all industries, the threat versus opportunity of AI is a major factor in how the future of creative production will play out. Certain aspects of production will inevitably be replaced, or enhanced and sped up, but this has always been the case in this incredibly dynamic and fast-moving industry. VFX tools have developed exponentially over the decades, and the question of how technology is used to advance creativity is not new. To emphasize this point, in a 1971 interview about the role of synthesizers and technology in their music, Pink Floyd said: “We couldn’t do what we do, as we do it, without it… Things are down to how you control them, and whether you are controlling them, and not the other way around… It’s about using the tools available, when they are available. “It’s like saying, give a man a Les Paul guitar and he becomes Eric Clapton… It’s not true… and give a man an amplifier and a synthesizer, he doesn’t become us.” This is a great mantra for the visual arts industry today, and it gives us reason to be excited and embrace the creative potential that further technological advances will present. As I noted a few months ago, there are lots of exciting creative production and VFX specialists gaining a reputation, some of whom are rising from the ashes of Technicolor, including… Arc Creative, which was formed as The Mill was sinking in the US. This new VFX shop was launched by some of The Mill’s US senior leadership in partnership with Dream Machine FX group. It’s been reported over 100 former Mill workers are now employed by Arc. In April, The Heist, a Thinkingbox company, hired key leaders from The Mill US and 30+ former Mill staffers and opened a new office in Chicago. Thinkingbox has also recently announced the launch of a London office led by former senior staff from The Mill UK and France. Folks, a Pitch Black company, also expanded and opened a studio in London and hired former Technicolor CEO Christian Roberton to lead its UK division, in April 2025. Stray was established in 2024 by former senior leaders from The Mill London, including Misha Stanford-Harris, who had been both MD and VP of Global Production before founding Stray. I caught up with Misha recently to discuss what the future holds for the industry and the factors that will underpin success moving forward. Misha says: “The VFX industry has gone through a recalibration. The technology environment allows startups to compete with larger legacy companies on a more even playing field. This has allowed their creative talent to shine and show their true value to the creative process. “The future is bright for companies that can harness technology with real creative talent driving the narrative. It goes without saying that you need to be nimble and able to pivot, as well as deliver great work! “The key is to offer something unique, and ensure creative collaboration with clients, so that you are integral to the process, not just a service.” In sum, resilience and innovation are fundamental to the visual arts industry, and I believe the future remains hugely positive and exciting. Following a turbulent few months, a celebration of creative excellence at Ciclope next week is important and timely to instill confidence across the industry and remind people of the joy and wonder generated by creative production companies to engage and delight customers and audiences alike. Read more

Barry Dudley examines whether the launch of Horizon Global – a joint venture between Havas and Horizon Media Holdings, bringing together $20bn in combined billings and billed as the first AI-era agency network – is a genuine game-changer for media agencies or just glossy boardroom spin. Horizon Global is to be a new entity focused specifically on “US-centric global client opportunities,” allowing both parent entities to maintain their independence. The profits are split, leadership is shared between New York and Paris, and there is to be a combined tech offer that merges Horizon’s Blu platform with Havas’s Converged.AI to create BluConverged. The timing isn’t coincidental. With Omnicom’s pending acquisition of IPG creating a behemoth with billings reportedly north of $70bn, rumors swirling around Dentsu’s potential sale of its international operations, and WPP with a new CEO, the big holdco landscape is experiencing unprecedented change. Horizon Global is hoping to emerge as an alternative for global marketers who suddenly find their agency options dramatically reduced. Bob Lord, Horizon’s president who now also serves as interim CEO of the joint venture, puts it simply: “There is a lack of client choice out in the marketplace.”

Why this could be genius

The strategic logic behind Horizon Global is compelling on multiple fronts. First, it addresses a fundamental geographic imbalance that has long plagued both agencies. Horizon brings formidable US muscle to Havas, while Havas contributes strong European presence, particularly in France and Spain, to Horizon. Then there is speed to market. Interested clients can pick up the phone and enquire – it exists now. Unlike a full merger, which inevitably involves integration headaches and cultural clashes, Horizon Global will become its own thing while allowing the parent businesses to maintain their existing operations just the way they are. It’s collaboration without the pain of full integration. By contrast, the Omnicom-IPG deal was announced last December and only received FTC approval a few days ago, and even then, it was subject to conditions around commitment to political neutrality. If they get it right, the BluConverged platform will combine years of R&D investment by Havas and Horizon with access to a significantly bigger and deeper data pool. Perhaps most importantly, the timing of all of this capitalizes on market uncertainty. If you were a client who is thinking of pitching their global media business, would you add another network to the list when there aren’t that many candidates to put on the list in the first place? I suspect they might.

The challenges ahead

While Havas and Horizon have $20bn in combined billings, a significant portion will remain in those businesses. As mentioned above, the joint venture is aiming for “US-centric global client opportunities,” so is it clientless until the first of those ‘opportunities’ is converted? And even with the clout and influence of the parents’ $20bn, this is still somewhat dwarfed by the billings of WPP, Publicis and the soon-to-be-combined Omnicom-IPG. Then there is the scale challenge of servicing truly global clients. Although Horizon Global can claim a footprint of over 100 countries, the depth and quality of that coverage inevitably varies significantly from market to market. And while a joint venture may be quicker to make happen than a merger, it is not without its own operational complexities and ongoing challenges. It must navigate the inherent tensions of having two parent companies, with different cultures, strategic priorities and ways of working. The leadership team, split between New York and Paris, will need to maintain constant alignment while managing potentially competing interests. Interim CEO Bob Lord and global COO Renata Spackova both still have their existing day jobs to attend to at Horizon and Havas, respectively.

A missed opportunity

As someone who witnessed first-hand the power of an agency name during my time with a business called Naked, I do wonder if a trick has been missed here. Undoubtedly, there are many factors that make the likes of Mischief, Rethink, Uncommon and Special such unique and successful businesses, but I’ll bet that the name and the ethos that sits behind each of them will have often been a distinguishing pitch-winning factor, overtly or subliminally. But Horizon Global… BluConverged… What’s my suggestion, you ask? ‘The Other One.’ Where client relationships are everything and execution is paramount, even the most elegant partnership structures can crumble if they can’t deliver superior outcomes. Without this, the masterstroke soon becomes a mirage. But one thing is certain: the big media agency landscape just became a little more interesting. Read more