Campaign Asia

Woolley Marketing: You cannot build a partnership on 90-day terms and a no-partnership clause

If you treat your agency like a vendor, you should not be surprised when they stop acting like a partner, says Darren Woolley.

Woolley Marketing: Why adland is trading magic for a faster milk cart

Allowing new AI technology to become the dominant consideration in choosing a partner means you value ‘more and faster’ over capability and performance.

If you want transformative work, stop benchmarking the average

In a bell-curve industry, excellence is statistically rare. Darren Woolley argues that benchmarking the average almost guarantees mediocrity.

Woolley Marketing: Why ‘value’ is the new cost-cutting strategy

After one too many 'pivot to value' conference speeches, Darren Woolley gets honest about what really happens once the doors close.

Woolley Marketing: How the holding companies built their own worst rivals

Networks continue to provide the plumbing, Darren Woolley writes, but the talent they trained runs the independent agencies marketers now call for creative magic.

Woolley Marketing: All I want for Christmas is… to fall in love with marketing, again

Darren Woolley unwraps his wishes for 2026—more time, more magic, more safety, and a future where humans shine brighter than ever.

While rivals look outward, WPP is consumed by its own internal crisis

WPP grapples with an inherited “failure of modern corporate governance,” Darren Woolley writes. Cindy Rose must now prove that the next chapter rests on integrity rather than growth at any cost.

Woolley Marketing: If I wanted a lucrative side hustle, I'd choose ad fraud

Ad fraud is now a top-tier global crime rivalling drug trafficking, yet barely treated as one. Darren Woolley asks why the industry tolerates losses it would never accept anywhere else.

Woolley Marketing: Why generative AI keeps thinking like an old white man

The datasets shaping AI’s creative output reflect decades of cultural bias. In marketing, that means the future we’re building could look suspiciously like the past unless humans reclaim the creative brief.

Why a fully AI-driven ad agency is still a fantasy (and that's not a bad thing)

Machines can’t make advertising great—people can, Darren Woolley writes.

Woolley Marketing: Is your marketing AI investment delivering

Darren Woolley outlines his benchmarks for validating AI marketing, including productivity, speed, scale, and quality, and states productivity and performance, efficiency and effectiveness go hand in hand.

The Dentsu sale is natural selection; the dinosaurs of advertising are running out of time

Dentsu’s potential sale, WPP’s turmoil, Omnicom and IPG’s merger chase all point to the fact that the giants of advertising are stumbling. As TrinityP3's Darren Woolley argues, this is natural selection at work: adapt or go extinct.

Woolley Marketing: We have the data, we have the AI. So why is marketing still so broken?

We're chasing a mirage of hyper-personalisation while our AI diligently learns from our own biased data, pushing customers further away with every well-funded, poorly-targeted click, opines Darren Woolley.

Woolley Marketing: If you care, don’t tell the agency they were a close second

Because sugar-coating the truth does more harm than good, Darren Woolley explains.

Woolley Marketing: Does the work still do the talking?

There was a time when the work spoke for itself—reels packed with iconic ads that did the creative magic. Today, even award-winning work needs a story to grab attention.

WPP Media: How did one of the world’s biggest comms companies mess up the messaging?

OPINION: Adland has been buzzing over the leaked news of GroupM’s rebrand. Is this WPP's bold reinvention or a sign of deeper troubles? TrinityP3's Darren Woolley looks at the communication missteps and what this shake-up means for advertisers, employees, and the future of media buying.

Woolley Marketing: How much transparency is too much transparency?

Trust in advertiser-agency relationships hinges not on absolute transparency, but on reasonable openness that empowers both sides without drowning them in irrelevant details, says Darren Woolley.

Woolley Marketing: Is it pessimism or realism to manage digital marketing?

Marketers looking to justify ROI should get used to asking straightforward questions and brace themselves for answers—even ones they may not want to hear, says Darren Woolley.

Woolley Marketing: Is agency new business a marketing or sales activity?

Every agency is trying to find the sales pitch that will win the business, but in the process, you might lose the very differentiation that secured your place in the pitch in the first place, says Darren Woolley.

Woolley Marketing: Walking the line between evolution and alienation

Numerous holding companies, including WPP, Dentsu, and Publicis, are rebranding their agencies by shedding legacies. Darren Woolley asks would they advise clients to undertake similar transformations?

Woolley Marketing: Why change is not always disruption

From Netflix to Nvidia, true disruption is rare. Darren Woolley shares his nuanced perspective on the difference between evolution and revolution in business.

An AI lens on the marketing headaches of 2024

Privacy fracas, economic turmoil, and an attention-fleeting digital world—Trinity P3 founder and chief executive Darren Woolley asked AI to prioritise the pain points that dominated marketing agendas across Asia-Pacific in 2024. Here's his take.

Woolley Marketing: An agency village can be the dream team or a disaster

Every marketing ecosystem has its weak link. Darren Woolley explains how to spot—and avoid becoming—the "village idiot" before your agency network collapses under its own weight.

Woolley Marketing: Why we must remember our target audience are humans too

"...But do you think following me around the internet and serving me ads often at a lower price offer will make me buy you? Junk is junk at any price," Woolley writes, pointing to the futility of chasing informed consumers.

Woolley Marketing: Is the path for media going backwards or forward?

This month, Darren Woolley tackles the harsh reality of today’s media landscape: Fight a losing battle for transparency or outsmart the competition in a system rigged by tech giants?

Woolley Marketing: To ban or not to ban advertising?

From sugary drinks to gambling, calls for ad bans are growing louder. But is silencing the messenger really the answer? Darren Woolley argues for a more nuanced approach to tackling societal ills.

GARM vs X: A case of good cause, bad execution

"Advertisers have a responsibility to act in the best interests of their shareholders and customers, but that does not give them the right to flout anti-cartel laws," argues Darren Woolley, highlighting the complexities of brand safety in the wake of GARM's dissolution.

Woolley Marketing: Is procurement the villain or the patsy?

Spend time with any procurement person, and you will find a professional who is diligent, often analytical, and typically curious. But why is the agency-procurement relationship often contentious? Darren Woolley explores.

Where did all the agency juniors go?

Over time, the proportion of agency staff on an account roster described as 'junior' has shrunk. Today, it is nearly non-existent.

Where is it written that marketers must write better briefs?

Clients think they write great briefs. Agencies disagree. Who's right? In search of an answer, the founder and CEO of pitch consultancy TrinityP3 compares the situation to other professions, such as architecture, the law and medicine.

When advertisers hoard hot agencies

It's common practice for big brands to tie up the best and brightest agencies in exclusive contracts that effectively take them out of the market, according to the founder and CEO of consultant TrinityP3. Is this anti-competitive bullying, or just smart business?

Are advertisers to blame for agency inefficiencies?

Compensation practices make it difficult, if not impossible, for agencies to justify the cost of investing in the technology they need to optimise their production operations, writes the founder and CEO of TrinityP3.

How agencies are increasingly profiting from missing people

Agency retainer models fail to incentivise a reduction in staff churn with consequences for both employees and advertisers, says one industry consultant.

The often-hidden costs of in-house agencies

The founder and CEO of marketing consultancy TrinityP3 uses a side-by-side comparison to dig into the costs you might not have considered.

Does Coke's pitch of its entire global agency roster smell of desperation?

The company certainly ruined a lot of holiday seasons for incumbent and hopeful agencies alike. But what is the move actually meant to accomplish? TrinityP3's founder and CEO considers the possibilities, and the risks.

Has marketing lost its heart and soul?

Even as procurement teams are emphasising sustainability and philanthropy, marketers appear uninterested—or in some cases hostile toward—pro bono work their agencies may be doing for charities. That's a mistake, according to the founder and CEO of TrinityP3.

No, I can't list the 'best' agencies. Sincerely, a pitch consultant