‘Clients should ask one question: will the agency’s board talk about you?’

Parry Jones became CEO of The Specialist Works in 2023, having worked at the independent media agency for 20 years. It was, he says, 'a long apprenticeship to the big job'. In this episode of the MediaCat UK podcast, we ask Parry about the state of media planning and buying ('the days of somebody being very charming and good at negotiating with a small number of different suppliers are gone'), the state of media in general ('there's so many ways a business can win now') and how to adapt the media-agency business model to suit different clients — even one that sells Christmas trees. We also chat about AI, and whether the technology benefits from the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. (In the podcast, I attribute this discovery to the physicist Murray Gell-Mann. In truth, it was a term coined by Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton, and only named after the famous scientist.) PS: Jones wanted to give a shout-out to his colleague, Georgia Holmes, who won Young TV Planner of the Year at the Thinkbox Awards earlier this month. Unfortunately, we fluffed the recording of that bit, so it's not in the podcast. But, Georgia, if you're reading this, please know that your boss is very proud.