Back in 2013 when Dan Sands, Paul Mackender and I founded Agent3, we had a simple objective; to use what we believed were the three ‘agents of change’ in modern marketing - Data, Technology and Content, to deliver industry leading marketing outcomes for our customers. I’ll let you into a secret though; for the first couple of years of our existence, we spent time playing around with this notion building a series of compelling, but bespoke, solutions for our initial set of customers. It was lots of fun, but it didn’t lead to particularly strong growth for our business. However, the catalyst to our subsequent growth was the emergence of Account Based Marketing (ABM), around the middle of the last decade, as an approach that delivered unrivalled impact for brands.
It was the realization that we could use our three ‘agents of change’ to build repeatable, measurable ABM solutions that created the platform for us to then go on to build the world’s first global ABM agency. Fast forward ten years and we had established 8 global offices, won a bunch of industry awards and were working with some amazing brands. And most importantly, we’d established an amazing array of colleagues within the business who were committed to pushing the boundaries of what was possible in B2B marketing. So far, so good.
But just as the emergence of ABM proved to be an inflection point for our business, so too has the recent emergence of AI as both a disruptor and accelerator of marketing impact. Hyperbole abounds around the topic of AI but I can only call it as I see it; it represents the most fundamental change in the way that B2B marketing will operate in the 35 years I have been working in the sector. Terrifying? On one level yes, because so much change is inevitable in the coming weeks, months and years. Exciting? Absolutely! Because, to my mind, the possibility for AI to transform B2B marketing into an objective, outcome oriented discipline which delivers true value to brands, is game changing for agencies and brands alike.
So, how to respond to this (once in a lifetime) opportunity? You run towards it. At full pelt. Which is what we intend to do. While the Agent3 brand is a dear and beloved one, fitting around us like a comforting blanket, it’s time to cast it aside in favour of a new beginning. The creation of the Pretzl brand, and Agent3’s inclusion in it, is a deliberate, thoughtful and ambitious move to establish a business that can help its customers redefine what great B2B marketing looks like.
When our parent company, Next Fifteen, first approached us with the germ of a plan to establish a new B2B offer nearly two years ago, we recognised both the potential, and the need, for such an offer immediately. In short, we were being given the opportunity to establish a new offer in the market with the benefit of immediate scale (we’ll have 12 offices) and the scale of resources resulting from 250+ clients and north of $60m of global revenues. What’s not to like?
Let me be clear though, as the first CEO of Pretzl, this is not a consolidation ‘play’; there are already plenty of those out in the marketplace! So, our goal with Pretzl is not to simply build a better agency. It’s to radically reimagine what B2B marketing can deliver for brands through the synthesis of people and technology. We call this TaPaaS - technology and people as a service. As you’d expect, AI will sit at the heart of the new Pretzl offer; we’re very carefully building the business with it at the centre rather than bolting it on to our existing processes. As a result, we’re confident that our offer, when fully launched, will deliver unrivalled impact for our customers. We’re beyond excited to see just how powerful our solutions will be, and what it means for our ability to help our customers’ growth efforts.
There’s way more information on exactly how Pretzl will deliver value on www.pretzl.com so feel free to go and check out our plans there, to learn more. For now though, this will be the last ever blog from Agent3. That’s sad on one level because we truly have had a blast in building the business. But on another level, for Pretzl’s potential to be realised, and for it to change the landscape for B2B marketing in the process, we know we have to give up the brand and move on to our incredibly exciting future. So, to conclude, I want to thank every single person who has contributed to the Agent3 story to date; from our people and our customers, to our partners and our investors. We truly, truly, could not have done it without you. Here’s to the next chapter!