Agencies Navigate Immigration Policies; Big 5 Ad-Tech Offerings: Monday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. How the Ad Industry Is Navigating Trump's Ever-Changing Immigration Policies The ad industry looks for the best talent in every corner of the world. David Ogilvy is one of the shining examples: In 1938, he arrived in New Jersey from his native England and build an advertising empire. But during President Donald Trump's administration, bringing and keeping foreign employees stateside has become more difficult. With thousands of foreign employees, the industry has had to be nimble. Those caught flat-footed are often stuck in the middle of a complex political web. Read more: This week's cover story shows how agencies are navigating the visa process and what they've done to generally dodge any political crossfire. Making Sense of the 5 Major Holding Companies’ Data Offerings In April, Publicis bought Epsilon for $4.4 billion, less than a year after IPG agreed to purchase Acxiom for $2.3 billion. And in 2016, IPG rival Dentsu Aegis Network spent $1 billion on a majority stake in Merkle, a performance marketing outfit with expertise in digital, search and customer-relationship-management data services. But all data is not created equal, and marketers need to do their homework before aligning themselves with one company over another. Read more: Reporters Erik Oster and Shoshana Wodinsky break down the ad-tech offerings of all five major holding companies. 3 Agencies That Are Moving Away From the Traditional AOR Model Avi Dan, founder and CEO of search consultancy Avidan Strategies, estimates that AOR relationships still compose 70%–80% of agencies’ revenues but thinks that number has been in decline for the past three to four years and is closer to 50% for small and midsize shops. Read more: Those decreasing AOR relationships have left agencies scrambling. Here's how Erich & Kallman, MediaMonks and Falkon have all adjusted in their own ways to remain successful. Brand Safety Worries Are Hurting News Publishers Ahead of 2020 Election The 4A's and Digital Content Next are devising a standardized means of analyzing sentiment on recognized news websites to provide advertisers with more sophisticated brand safety standards, stopping their ads from being served next to hot-button political content. Read more: Programmatic editor Ronan Shields explains what the 4A's and DCN are doing. Just Briefly: The Rest of Today's Top News and Insights Advertising Week N.Y. Said the ‘Future Is Female,’ Then Ended With Pitbull and Twerking R/GA Promotes Jess Greenwood to Global Chief Marketing Officer Scandinavian Airlines CEO Warns of Carbon Taxes Unless Industry Acts on Sustainability Ad of the Day: 30,000 Toy Cars Illustrate How Mass Transit Could Dramatically Reduce Traffic [kickout id="1"] Most things look cuter when they’re in miniature, but does that still apply to something like thousands of cars stuck in gridlock? A new ad campaign for Swedish public transit service Västtrafik turns toy cars into an imposing illustration of the 30,000 vehicles that could be removed from the road through a current promotion offering drivers in the region free bus transport for two weeks. Hispanic Heritage Month On the Adweek Podcast: Analyzing the Highs and Lows This Hispanic Heritage Month Listen: On this week’s episode of Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad, we’re joined by Marina Filippelli, COO, director of client services at Orcí, and Isaac Mizrahi, COO of Alma, to discuss where marketers are getting it right—and wrong—when marketing to their Latino consumers. Retail reporter Ann-Marie Alcántara also joined for the discussion.