Is Your Brand for Rent? The Hidden Trap Behind Creativity.

Vodafone outsources its infrastructure to Publicis. BYD insources everything. In the process, they risk losing the only thing that matters: advertising equity. While everyone watches AI generate silly images, the "big boys" are redrawing the boundaries of power. And it's not a question of aesthetics, it's a question of sovereignty.

Listen to the podcast

The world is divided into two categories: those who have the platforms and those who dig.

On one side is Vodafone , which has just handed over not just a campaign to Publicis, but the keys to its house. Publicis no longer sells just ads: it sells "Cre(ai)tivity." A hideous neologism to describe a closed ecosystem of data, automation, and 24-hour production. Vodafone buys efficiency, speed, and scale. But the hidden price? It becomes a tenant of its own strategy. If it wanted to change in three years, it would discover it no longer owns the pipelines through which its marketing flows.

On the other hand, there's BYD . As we saw in the " The Marketing Engine " survey, the Chinese giant does the opposite: it internalizes. Creativity, media, data. Everything inside.

For them, marketing isn't an expense, it's a productive asset. They're building a "fortress" where their know-how is proprietary. It's total independence. The price?

Huge fixed costs and the risk of talking behind your back, losing freshness.

The Vendor Lock-in Paradox

We are faced with two extremes.

The "Platform" model (Vodafone) is convenient: turnkey. But it risks turning the brand into a commodity trader that shifts budgets to an algorithm it doesn't control, delegating crucial decisions to a "black box."

The "Fortress" model (BYD) is safe: you control everything. But it requires a corporate culture that few possess and deep pockets to maintain an in-house R&D department that doesn't become obsolete in six months .

The awkward question about AI

Is there a third way between the "golden handcuffs" of large holding companies and the costly autarchy of in-housing?

Probably yes, and it passes through a concept that Carlo De Matteo called Advertising Equity: the value of your campaigns' historical data must be yours, residing in your software, not in the agency's.

Today, agencies sell platforms to make you dependent. Companies build fortresses to feel safe.

But who is thinking about how to keep the creative magic alive amidst all this engineering?

The 3 Rules of the New Investigation:

3 TAKEAWAYS (To avoid falling into a trap)

GEO VOICE:

1. Don't rent the brain: Buy the execution, rent the technology, but the strategy and ownership of first-party data must remain strictly in-house .

2. Beware of Black Boxes: If you don't understand how your agency's AI makes decisions, don't sign that contract. Opacity isn't efficiency, it's risk.

3. Equity is memory: The real value today isn't the ad that aired yesterday, but the data on who watched it. That's your treasure. Don't leave it in someone else's cloud.

Conclusion: Who Controls the Switch?

"Marketing is dividing into two camps: those who build fortresses and those who sign leases. Which side are you on? Before you answer, check who holds the keys to your strategy. See you at the next survey."

To follow the entire investigation and delve deeper into the case, listen to the Cherry Picking episode

Learn more with Sherry

The AI extension for Cherry Picking. It's not an assistant. It's a detective.

If you have a question, be prepared to change your mind.

Learn more with Sherry