the best agencies aren’t agencies anymore

The new best agencies are artist-led. Because who else actually understands culture?

why did we let agencies control culture?

Let’s be honest: a lot of advertising creatives are artists who played it safe. Agencies love hiring “cool” people, but then strip them of their cool. Those who survive become fluent in brand-safe mediocrity. The rest? They build their own thing — and often, they’re the ones winning.

artists are the new agencies

We’re witnessing a shift — not because brands got smarter, but because artists stopped waiting for brands to catch up.

Artists got tired of translating cultural nuance to people who didn’t get it. So they stopped consulting and started owning. Now, they’re not waiting for a brief. They’re building the blueprint.

• pgLang (Kendrick Lamar & Dave Free) isn’t just a label — it’s a decentralized creative ecosystem. No job titles, no categories. Just pure storytelling, across film, music, and branding.

See: Fast Company, 2024

• OVO (Drake) blurred the line between record label and lifestyle brand, building a multi-pronged empire rooted in cultural cool.

Recent example: their Montreal Canadiens collab sold out within hours.
Source: Daily Hive, 2024

These aren’t artists with side hustles. They’re running full-fledged creative agencies — just without calling them that.

These aren’t musicians with side projects. These are companies that function like agencies—but better.

this isn’t just a hip-hop thing. the playbook is being rewritten across every sector:

• Reese Witherspoon (Hello Sunshine): Built a media company after realizing the industry didn’t understand real women. So she told better stories — and sold the company for $900M.

• LeBron James (SpringHill): Started with the mantra “more than an athlete.” Built a media and brand company that now co-produces Netflix docs, sneakers, and Super Bowl ads.

• Dwayne Johnson (Seven Bucks Creative): Treats every campaign like a WWE promo — part performance, part strategy, all entertainment.

These aren’t celebrity brands. These are cultural institutions built by people who understand what the audience wants — and how to give it to them without a focus group.

agencies keep studying culture. artists are the culture.

Agencies spend months on decks. Artists spend minutes in group chats.
Agencies want data. Artists have instinct.
Agencies follow trends. Artists create what becomes the trend.

There’s a reason why some of the most impactful campaigns of the last few years weren’t led by agencies — they were led by people who never wanted to work in advertising to begin with.

Beyoncé’s ad work across decades — from Pepsi to Tiffany & Co., to the recent Verizon spot — shows what happens when an artist demands creative control and gets it. These aren’t just brand deals. They’re partnerships, where the brand gets relevance and the artist gets reach, equity, and creative direction.

so what happens now?

• More artist-led agencies that don’t even call themselves agencies. Just hubs for cultural production, powered by intuition over insight decks.

• More direct-to-artist brand partnerships, where the artist has equity, decision-making power, and space to build something that outlasts the campaign.

• More pressure on traditional agencies to get out of the way — or finally bring artists into the core of their strategy, not just the “inspo” deck.

The power shift is already happening.

If you’re still observing culture from the outside, you’re already behind. 💌