u/Alert_Fan8142

I’m doing quite a bit of work on the advertising agency/holdco space at the moment and would really appreciate some views from people actually working in the industry.

My background is more finance/consulting than advertising, so please assume fairly limited prior knowledge!

The main thing I’m trying to understand is: **how important are proprietary data assets in practice when clients are choosing agencies, and are the holdcos’ data capabilities as differentiated as they would have investors believe?**

From the outside, it feels like Publicis/Epsilon is significantly ahead, while WPP is at more of a disadvantage given its lack of a comparable proprietary data asset (albeit it is trying to aggregate and activate data through its Open Intelligence platform). Does Liveramp change this at all?

But how much does that actually matter in what is still, fundamentally, a people business?

interested in any views, including if I’m thinking about the whole thing completely wrong. Commentary from agency, advertiser or adtech people all welcome!

I’m doing quite a bit of work on the advertising agency/holdco space at the moment and would really appreciate some views from people actually working in the industry.

My background is more finance/consulting than advertising, so please assume fairly limited prior knowledge!

The main thing I’m trying to understand is: how important are proprietary data assets in practice when clients are choosing agencies, and are the holdcos’ data capabilities as differentiated as they would have investors believe?

From the outside, it feels like Publicis/Epsilon is significantly ahead, while WPP is at more of a disadvantage given its lack of a comparable proprietary data asset (albeit it is trying to aggregate and activate data through its Open Intelligence platform). Does Liveramp change this at all?

But how much does that actually matter in what is still, fundamentally, a people business?

interested in any views, including if I’m thinking about the whole thing completely wrong. Commentary from agency, advertiser or adtech people all welcome!

I bought a flat in a converted 1901 Victorian house in Stamford Hill about a year ago for £520k. I ended up paying £20k over asking after being heavily pushed by the estate agent. I was a FTB, buying alone, and in hindsight I feel like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

It needed a bit of TLC but is a good size. However the building had a history of subsidence/movement apparently related to a tree, which had subsequently been removed. Before buying, I had the previous structural report and commissioned my own structural engineer. Both concluded that the historic movement had ceased and the property was structurally sound, so I thought I had done the sensible due diligence.

Fast forward a year and I’ve now noticed several cracks appearing/reappearing, including one beside a window which seems to have progressed over the summer. I’ve also discovered cracking in the external brickwork in roughly the same location.

Now I’m in a complete spiral about buying the flat in the first place. I’m not particularly sold on Stamford Hill either, and I’m now catastrophising that I’ve spent £520k on a structurally problematic flat in an area I don’t love, that I’ll never be able to sell it, and that I’m somehow going to be stuck here forever. Emotionally I feel like I’ve made a massive financial/life mistake.

Have I fucked up?