I’ve managed agencies all over the world — running PR across Asia Pacific for JPMorgan Chase, picking partners for LabMorgan spin-offs, managing comms at IBM Research. Every one of those situations had a conventional answer: go with the big name, optimize for scale and prioritize efficiency.
But every instinct I’d built told me to look past the brand. I picked the people — the ones who made me feel like my company was their only client, who were already thinking ahead on my behalf before I knew to ask the question.
That hasn’t changed, and it’s not just me. The other day, a PE firm that had seen our work reached out because a portfolio company was frustrated with their current fintech agency. That PE firm keeps a short list of firms they trust, and we’re glad to be on it. But we also know we’re right for some companies and not all, and we value that level of scrutiny. The point is: they weren’t looking for the biggest agency. They were looking for the right one.
I thought about all of this the moment I read last week’s news: Omnicom is merging Golin and Ketchum and folding Porter Novelli into FleishmanHillard. It’s the most significant PR agency consolidation in a decade, and the strategic logic is straightforward. Holding companies have too many agencies serving overlapping markets, and the economics no longer support the redundancy.
I get it. I’ve sat on the client side of that equation more times than I can count.
But here’s what makes this consolidation different from every merger that came before it. The work clients need most right now is precision positioning for AI-driven search. That work requires exactly the opposite of what massive, standardized agencies produce. And if you’re a communications leader approaching a high-stakes business moment—an acquisition, a funding round, an exit—this isn’t an industry story. It’s a risk to your business.
The Game Changed. Most Agencies Haven’t Caught Up.
More than 60% of Google searches now end without a single click to any website. When a B2B buyer asks ChatGPT or Perplexity to recommend vendors in your category, AI delivers a short list directly. The same is true when an investor, an acquirer’s diligence team or an analyst does their research. No website visit, no sales conversation, and no opportunity to pitch your differentiation.
I wrote about this recently when a colleague shared a story that stunned me: a mid-market bank CEO asked ChatGPT to recommend the top three fraud prevention providers for community banking. The AI gave him three names. My colleague’s company (despite $2M in annual content marketing and a twelve-person sales team) wasn’t on the list. The CEO never knew they existed.
That’s not a marketing failure. That’s invisibility at the algorithm level and it’s happening in every B2B category right now.
This is Generative Engine Optimization and it represents a fundamental shift in how brand authority is built and evaluated. GEO ensures your company’s narrative shows up accurately in AI-generated answers, knowledge panels, and featured snippets. It requires a precision approach to content architecture that is structurally difficult for large, merged agencies to deliver.
Why Agency Consolidation Makes Precision Harder, Not Easier
After 30 years in this industry (on the client side, the agency side, and now running my own firm) I’ve watched enough mergers to know the pattern. Here’s what happens when agencies consolidate, and why it’s particularly dangerous right now.
Standardization replaces customization. Merged entities create unified processes for efficiency. Every client gets the same playbook, the same approval workflows, the same “best practices.” But your authority architecture is as unique as your competitive positioning. When AI is evaluating genuine expertise, cookie-cutter strategies fail. I’ve never seen a high-stakes moment navigated successfully with a template.
Service development slows to a crawl. Zero-click strategy requires rapid experimentation. You test how AI engines interpret your content, adjust, and test again. We’ve built new diagnostic tools when clients needed them. Large agencies have approval layers that span geographies, practice areas and leadership hierarchies. By the time they get sign-off, that “new” tool is obsolete.
Senior thinking gets lost in the handoff. This is the one that makes my blood boil because I lived it as a client. Large agencies follow a familiar pattern: senior people win the business, junior people do the work. You know the feeling. The team in the pitch is not the team on the Monday morning call. AI-driven positioning requires strategic depth at the execution stage, not just oversight. That nuance doesn’t survive the handoff from the team that sold the engagement to the team that delivers it.
Integration distraction creates competitive gaps. Every major agency merger produces 12 to 18 months of internal focus while the combined entity figures out whose systems, processes, and people “win.” I’m watching this play out right now with clients whose agencies are going through it. Meanwhile, their competitors are feeding AI engines the right signals. If your company is approaching a material business moment in that window, you can’t afford to wait while your agency reorganizes.
What to Look for in a B2B Communications Agency for High-Stakes Moments
When I was choosing agencies at JPMorgan and IBM, I wasn’t comparing logos on a capabilities deck. I was asking myself: Which agency is going to understand the complexity of what we’re doing? Who will think three moves ahead? Who will I trust at 10 p.m. on a Friday when the deal terms change?
The questions haven’t changed, and the stakes have only gotten higher. If you’re evaluating your agency relationship right now, or choosing one for the first time at a new company, here’s what matters:
Communications tied to your business milestone, not vanity metrics. If you’re preparing for a Series C, every piece of earned authority should position you as the category leader investors need to see. If you’re approaching an acquisition, every communications asset should contribute to the narrative that protects your valuation. I’ve seen too many companies measure impressions while the deal outcome (the thing that actually matters) goes unprotected.
The agility to move at the speed Zero-click demands. AI-driven search is evolving in weeks, not quarters. Your partner should be building new tools and adapting strategy in real time. If they’re waiting on a holding company approval cycle to develop new capabilities, they’re already behind.
Senior strategic depth on every engagement. The team that wins your business should be the team that does the work. Full stop. When someone is building your authority architecture for AI visibility, they need to understand both how AI engines evaluate expertise and how to connect that positioning to the deal, the raise, or the exit you’re navigating. That’s not junior-level work.
Undivided commitment. When a firm is positioning you so AI recommends you first in your category, you need their full intelligence aligned behind your company, not split across competing clients in the same space. This isn’t just about ethics. It’s about whether the people doing the work are fully invested in your outcome.
What This Means If You’re Approaching a Material Moment
The Omnicom consolidation will trigger exactly what you’d expect: a wave of senior talent leaving merged entities, some client churn as portfolios are rationalized, and an initial period where the newly combined agencies struggle to articulate what they are beyond “bigger.”
If your needs are primarily tactical—broad distribution, high-volume content, media monitoring at scale—a consolidated mega-agency may serve you well. There’s nothing wrong with scale when scale is what you need.
But if your company is approaching a moment that defines its trajectory (funding round, a market entry, etc.) you need a different kind of partner. You need a B2B communications agency built for high-stakes moments—one that understands the intersection of communications and corporate strategy, that won’t be distracted by its own internal reorganization, and that measures success in whether the business outcome you’re working toward actually happens.
The choice isn’t between big agencies and small agencies. It’s between agencies consolidating for operational efficiency and partners built for the strategic precision this moment demands.
I know which one I chose every time I was the client. And I know which one I built when I had the chance to build my own.
Find Out Where Your Brand Authority Stands Before the Stakes Are Live
When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews recommend companies in your category, they’re scoring the same signals that have always mattered: media authority, third-party validation, executive visibility and consistent brand presence. The difference is that now, those signals determine whether you make the shortlist before a human being is ever involved.
The Brand Authority Index (BAI) measures six weighted factors—from media authority and executive visibility to technical readiness and entity coherence—that determine whether AI recommends you or your competitor when stakeholders search for solutions in your category.
For a limited time, we’re offering the BAI at a special introductory rate for a limited number of companies. Spots are limited.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and why should communications leaders care?
GEO is the discipline of ensuring your company appears accurately in AI-generated responses when stakeholders (buyers, investors, acquirers, analysts) use tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity to research your category. Unlike traditional SEO, which optimizes for search rankings, GEO determines whether AI models recognize your company as a credible, authoritative answer. For communications leaders approaching high-stakes moments, it’s the difference between being in the conversation and being invisible to the people making decisions about your company’s future.
How does GEO impact M&A, funding rounds, and other high-stakes transactions?
When an acquirer’s diligence team, an investor evaluating a deal or a potential partner researches your company, they’re increasingly using AI tools alongside traditional methods. If AI doesn’t surface your company as a category leader—or worse, positions a competitor more favorably—that perception gap directly affects deal value, investor confidence and competitive positioning. Eighty-nine percent of B2B buyers now use generative AI during their purchasing process, and more than 60% of searches end without a click. The due diligence process has changed, and your AI visibility is now part of the narrative that protects or erodes your valuation.
How do I assess my company’s AI visibility right now?
The fastest gut check: open ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity and ask it to recommend the top three companies in your category. Then ask it why it chose those companies. If you’re not on that list, or if the reasoning doesn’t reflect your actual differentiation, you have a visibility gap that’s likely costing you opportunities you’ll never know about. For a comprehensive view, the Red Fan Brand Authority Index measures six weighted factors that determine how AI engines evaluate your brand against competitors.
How quickly can GEO produce results compared to traditional SEO?
Unlike traditional SEO, which typically takes 6–12 months, GEO can show measurable shifts in AI visibility within weeks. That said, the real urgency isn’t speed—it’s timing. AI datasets are solidifying around established category leaders right now. Companies that build their authority architecture early will be significantly harder to displace. If you have a material business moment in the next two to three quarters, the window to shape how AI positions your company is closing.
What’s the risk of waiting on GEO?
The risk is losing deals, partnerships and investor interest you’ll never know existed. When prospects and stakeholders build shortlists based on AI recommendations before ever visiting your website or talking to your team, every moment of invisibility is a compounding disadvantage. Your marketing spend increases while pipeline shrinks, not because your product is wrong, but because AI doesn’t know you’re a credible option. The longer you wait, the more entrenched your competitors become in the AI datasets that matter.
