Widely-read stories in MAD’s “Mediapsssst” column over the past year were all over the Adland map. 

Readers were particularly fascinated with the sale early in the year of Cincinnati-based media agency Empower, which took outsiders (at least) by surprise. The ensuing culture clash and exodus of many of the agency’s veterans also commanded a lot of industry attention.   

Stories about return-to-work mandates also proved to be of great interest, including a November piece about how the mandates were driving employee churn.  

Twitter advertising stories were also a big draw including this one. It’s no secret that the company has struggled to retain advertisers since Elon Musk acquired the platform in late 2022. 

Readers are always drawn to stories about big account switches and Papa John’s was among them this year. The pizza giant selected Dentsu’s Carat as its new media agency in November and switched to The Martin Agency for creative earlier this month.  

Agency branding commanded attention including this effort by Starcom, its first brand identity and positioning makeover in two decades.  

Stories about new agencies also attracted a lot of reader interest including this piece about a new full-service media agency that IPG’s UM is reportedly gestating. When news broke early in the year about the effort, UM had put a jobs bulletin on LinkedIn seeking talent for the new shop. But UM declined to comment and there is still no word about a launch.  

Who knows, maybe Red is being designed to serve as IPG’s principal media buying and reselling vehicle. It’s a practice that IPG has long resisted but that CEO Philippe Krakowsky confirmed in July was being reevaluated as reported in this widely-read column. He didn’t mention Red and said the big question regarding a change in policy was how much added value would be in it for clients.