“I want to be a partner; I don’t necessarily need to resell you media,” he said. “I understand the necessity of that from an economic standpoint at a certain scale, but it’s not something we need to do.”
Another advantage for MissionOne will be access to BarkleyOKRP’s creatives. Currently about half of MissionOne’s clients are working with both agencies and the other half are independent media clients.
“I like that ratio,” Corcoran said. “We want to have clients that are combined creative and media, but we want a scaled media and analytics arm as well in order to attract clients and talent.”
Corcoran views MissionOne’s competitive set as other scaled independents and midsize holding companies. He said the agency’s ideal client spends between $50 million to $150 million on media and is looking to wrestle back transparency and control over an increasingly automated and opaque media buying process.
“The big platforms, while they are great partners, have built, essentially, tools that are doing the work itself. With [that and] principal buying, there is all kinds of bias everywhere running against the advertiser,” he said. “We’re not here to create bias. We’re here to remove bias. I want to be the agency people look to and say, ‘They are being great partners.’”
PE-backed
The launch of MissionOne Media is the latest strategic move from BarkleyOKRP since the agencies merged last March with backing from private equity firm Keystone Capital.
Under a new “big indie” positioning, BarkleyOKRP then acquired Austin, TX-based Adlucent two months later, adding heft to its media and analytics department.
Corcoran said MissionOne has ambitions to grow to manage “several billion” dollars in billings. He said with Keystone’s backing, the agency is looking at potential acquisitions and bringing on talent that “can become strategic partners to clients.”
