• by Fern Siegel , 3 hours ago

Media by Mother has turned five — and that milestone is accompanied by a new managing director and an agency repositioning.

The agency's goal isn't to acquire AOR status, but to aid brands in graduating beyond agency reliance.

“Media has gotten more complex, but not harder,” said CEO David Gaines. “Our job is to make it navigable again, with smart strategy, creative systems and lightweight tech that give clients more control. Because maybe the real job of a media agency isn’t to stay. It’s to build the thing, show you how it works and get out of the way.”

“Algorithms dictate how media attention flows, and eventually you hit diminishing returns,” said Gaines. “Once you’ve got the system running, the next unlock isn’t more media, it’s changing something bigger behind it.”

For Media by Mother, that means staff. It has named Kathy Richter as managing director to lead the New York team and Maria Van Buskirk as co-lead and head of communications strategy. Previously, Richter served as a managing director at Wavemaker and earlier at Maxus Global. She worked as a consultant until she joined Mother.

“At a time of significant change across the entire industry, I’m proud to be part of an independent, small but mighty agency that understands not just how to build trust in the client+agency relationship, but why it matters and how to translate that trust into meaningful, sustained growth,” Richter told Agency Daily.

Van Buskirk is the founding head of strategyof Media by Mother, joining in 2021. Prior to that, she was a global strategy director at Essence. “Our vision is to prove that media independence delivers a real competitive advantage. We're a small group of heavyweight minds who move fast, think without compromise, and are focused entirely on unlocking growth for our clients. Independence means our structure serves the strategy, not the other way around,” she added to AD.

Media by Mother's client roster has included Bombay Sapphire, Dave & Busters, SoulCycle, Cheerios and Buick. It's part of the broader Mother U.S. network. Mother is a global creative agency with offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Berlin.