Stagwell Formalizes Constellation Network Offering With Leadership Changes

Stagwell's Constellation network is expanding and formalizing its offering, and it has a fresh take on how a holding company can organize to serve its clients. As part of this process it's investing in a leadership expansion, with 72andSunny founder John Boiler pivoting roles and welcoming a new digital leader to the top. Constellation is Stagwell's solution to addressing multifaceted client needs. It's made up of agencies 72andSunny, Brand Citizens, Crispin Porter Bogusky, The Harris Poll, Hecho Studios, Instrument, Redscout and Team Enterprises. Boiler, who was the network's first chair and has held the role from 2019 to present, will become the network's first creative chair. Justin Lewis, the founder and current CEO of Stagwell digital agency Instrument, will succeed Boiler as the network's chair, while Kara Place will transition from president at Instrument, to CEO. The leadership changes signal that Constellation is going to market in a more formal way and bolstering structural support at the network level. It's a new network compared to those at other holding companies and a fresh structural model. Other holding groups have created "group-level" entities that sit above individual agency brands, like Publicis' Publicis Media, for example, which allows the group's media agencies to go to market together when a client requires it. Outside of the big holding companies, other groups like Acceleration Community of Companies (ACC) go to market as a collective. In the ACC collective, every agency under the ACC umbrella is connected. Constellation, by contrast, is more exclusive. Not every Stagwell agency is part of it. "We're trying to be something that's new. It's a little more bespoke and unique than [other models]. It is a consultative model at the Constellation level, where we will put best in class consultants and consultative experiences to bear on really complex problems," Lewis told Adweek. Creating a new network Constellation formed organically, according to Boiler, when Stagwell agency founders and CEOs with close personal relationships came together to establish the network. "Our dance steps are tighter, you know, we're not stepping on each other's toes. And we're not making problems for our clients that they have to figure out later," Boiler said, noting that was the "modus operandi" at the onset. As the network expands, its putting digital at the top. Lewis is a former Marine Corps member whose experience rescuing Captain Scott O’Grady from Bosnia after he was shot down in 1995 was represented in the film Behind Enemy Lines. Later, Lewis taught himself how to program and pursued a career in development before founding and leading Instrument. Instrument serves clients including Nike, Google and Levi's, and Lewis plans to take his experience working on digital engagements for those clients and implement it at the Constellation level. “Justin is a digital native and this is an exciting investment in the next phase of Constellation’s growth. Justin knows how to help brands achieve digitally led, creatively compelling work and we’re excited for him to bring that expertise to the network,” said Mark Penn, Stagwell's chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Working in partnership with John as creative chair, the future of Constellation is bright. And, as she’s helped Instrument grow into one of the most innovative digital agencies in our industry, Kara is a great leader as the agency enters its next chapter,” he added. A multi-agency approach According to Lewis, Constellation's purview is three-fold. First, it aims to deliver "strategic-like continuity" to clients, he said. The network allows Stagwell clients to take a multi-agency approach to solving big problems. "With big technology brands, with sport brands, with travel and entertainment brands, executing work across sort of full funnel marketing and product offerings is terribly complex," Lewis added. Working with a network like Constellation as opposed to several individual agencies that are not connected makes it possible for marketing approach to be interconnected and aligned. Google and Marriott are two large brands that utilize the network, drawing from the expertise of more than just their primary agency partner. Google's Year in Search campaign came from the partnership, as well as Marriott Bonvoy campaigns and its omnichannel activations. Second, the network will take advantage of what Lewis describes as "best in class businesses across data insights, creativity, technology and experiential," where agencies like 72andSunny and Crispin Porter Bogusky and more can collaborate to deliver on a single business goal. Finally, Constellation wants to drive strategic impact for clients, drawing from the collective to solve business problems in a consultative way. When a brand comes to Constellation with a project, the network level will compile the best agencies in the network, creating a bespoke solution specific to the client's needs. As opposed to many holding groups that aim to consolidate revenue to simplify revenue structures, or create a "single P&L model," Constellation agencies will all retain their individual P&L's. The network's agencies will continue to manage their own revenue structures, instead of folding them into a collective. "That's super deliberate," Place said. "The whole point is not to smash agencies together into a single P&L because it's easier to manage. People want to work at Instrument, they want to work at 72andSunny or Harris and we don't want to get rid of the underlying brands. We do want to create a structure where the brands can work together." Following a Review, Lenovo Appoints Stagwell’s Assembly as New Media AOR