What UM Has Learned From a Year of Full Colour Media — with Susan Kingston-Brown

Why It Matters

Full Colour Media shows how agencies can harness AI and analytics without sacrificing brand uniqueness, offering a blueprint for winning clients in an increasingly commodified media landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Full Colour Media counters bland algorithmic media planning.
• Research with Oxford revealed no universal advertising silver bullet.
• Agency embeds "stand against bland" question at every workflow step.
• New client wins demonstrate differentiated strategy across global markets.
• Integration of AI requires balancing efficiency with creative distinctiveness.

Summary

The Media Litter podcast interview with Susan Kingston‑Brown focuses on M’s Full Colour Media, a global omni‑channel planning proposition launched last year to push back against homogenised, algorithm‑driven buying. The initiative was born from research with Oxford’s Saïd Business School and coincided with Interpublic’s sale to Omnicom, prompting a re‑evaluation of agency identity.

Full Colour Media is built on the insight that no single formula works for all 10,000 brands studied; instead, each brand follows distinct consumer‑journey patterns. M therefore re‑engineered its diagnostics, workflow and media‑plan development around a "stand against bland" mantra, asking teams at every stage to identify how proposals diverge from the algorithmic mean.

Kingston‑Brown cites concrete outcomes: Tourism Ireland’s globally consistent yet locally tailored campaign, Amazon Music India’s market‑entry win, and internal cultural shifts such as new murals and breakout spaces that reinforce the colourful brand ethos. Employees report heightened curiosity and ownership as they seek non‑standard solutions.

The approach signals a broader industry tension between AI‑driven efficiency and the need for creative differentiation. Agencies that embed brand‑centric thinking into data‑heavy processes may retain relevance and win new business, while those that default to pure algorithmic optimization risk becoming indistinguishable.

Original Description

Last year, UM unveiled a new global omnichannel media planning proposition: Full Colour Media.

The approach, underpinned by a custom body of research developed in partnership with the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, seeks to move against the grain of generic, algorithm-driven media planning and towards a recentring of brand-driven advertising.

Since the debut of the proposition, UM has gone through a period of continued change as its parent, Interpublic Group, was acquired by Omnicom Group at the end of last year.

Susan Kingston-Brown is the global brand president for UM Worldwide.

She joined The Media Leader from the agency's new London offices at Bankside to discuss how Full Colour Media has developed over the past year, whether distinctive agency brands are still valuable at a time when some holding groups are consolidating their efforts, and how she has managed the transition to Omnicom with her team at UM.

Highlights:

5:26: What is Full Colour Media? Why UM embraced a new planning proposition.

15:10: Is there a conflict between AI and Full Colour Media?

20:20: The value of agency brands amid market consolidation.

26:29: How UM has managed the transition into Omnicom

35:00: Agency holding group valuations have declined. What's the argument against that investment thesis?

Related articles:

UM unveils ‘Full Colour Media’ proposition to fight brand blandness (https://uk.themedialeader.com/um-unveils-full-colour-media-proposition-to-fight-brand-blandness/)

UM global brand president: ‘The agency world will look different in a year’s time’ (https://uk.themedialeader.com/um-global-brand-president-the-agency-world-will-look-different-in-a-years-time/)

Will one and one equal ‘more than two’? Omnicom to complete purchase of IPG imminently (https://uk.themedialeader.com/will-one-and-one-equal-more-than-two-omnicom-to-complete-purchase-of-ipg-imminently/)