Guideline and Tinuiti challenge assumptions about agency buying power. Published on: Aug 13, 2026 Guideline is partnering with independent media agency Tinuiti to bring verified advertising market data into agency performance benchmarking, challenging the assumption that independent agencies must sacrifice media buying power because they lack the scale of holding-company networks. For years, media buying power has been closely associated with agency size. Large holding companies have traditionally positioned their scale, aggregated spending and relationships with media platforms as advantages when negotiating advertising costs. A new partnership between Guideline and Tinuiti is challenging that assumption by putting greater emphasis on verified market data rather than agency size alone. Guideline, an advertising intelligence provider, has added Tinuiti to its partner ecosystem as a strategic data contributor to its Guideline Ad Intelligence product. In return, Tinuiti gains access to Guideline's advertising intelligence data, giving the independent agency additional visibility into market-level media costs and competitive benchmarks. The partnership is significant because it addresses a persistent problem in media buying: advertisers often have limited independent visibility into whether the prices and performance reported by their agencies are competitive with broader market conditions. Agency-reported metrics can show whether a campaign met its internal objectives, but they do not necessarily answer a different question: did the advertiser receive a competitive media price compared with other buyers operating in the same market? Guideline's approach is designed to provide that external reference point. According to the companies, third-party validation has shown Tinuiti delivering double-digit media cost advantages across several key channels. The companies did not disclose the specific channels, benchmark methodology or underlying cost figures in the announcement, making the claim difficult to independently assess from the available information. Still, the underlying concept has broader implications for agency selection. Independent agencies have traditionally competed against global holding companies by emphasizing agility, specialist expertise and closer client relationships. Buying power, however, has often been perceived as one area where larger networks hold an inherent advantage. Verified market intelligence could change that equation if it demonstrates that actual media costs are determined by factors beyond aggregate agency spending. Media pricing can vary based on audience quality, inventory availability, campaign objectives, geographic targeting, seasonality, format, platform relationships and buying strategy. An agency with less overall spending could potentially achieve competitive pricing through specialization, optimization and efficient allocation. That makes benchmarking particularly relevant as advertisers become more focused on transparency. The advertising industry has spent years moving toward more measurable media investment. Programmatic buying has increased the amount of available campaign data, while platforms such as Google, Amazon and Meta provide advertisers with extensive reporting environments. Yet platform-level reporting primarily describes performance within an individual ecosystem. Independent market intelligence addresses a different problem: comparing performance and costs across the market. That distinction is becoming more important as advertisers diversify budgets across search, social, retail media, connected TV, programmatic advertising and other channels. Each environment has different pricing structures and measurement standards, making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. Guideline's Ad Intelligence product is positioned around this benchmarking challenge. Reuben Tozman, Guideline's Chief Data Strategy and Strategic Alliances Officer, said the value of advertising intelligence depends on the quality and scale of the underlying data. The company argues that agency partnerships can expand the market information available to advertisers while providing agencies with a broader reference point for decision-making. For Tinuiti, the partnership also provides a way to incorporate external market intelligence into client strategy. Jeremy Cornfeldt, President of Tinuiti, said access to independent market intelligence provides greater visibility into advertising trends and competitive benchmarks. That can help an agency connect brand and performance investments while evaluating whether media strategies remain competitive. The development comes as independent agencies continue to compete for increasingly sophisticated enterprise and growth-stage advertisers. Agencies such as Tinuiti increasingly position themselves around integrated performance marketing, media, commerce and customer acquisition rather than traditional media buying alone. The competitive landscape includes large agency holding companies, independent media agencies, specialist performance agencies and technology-enabled media buying platforms. Companies such as WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu still command substantial global spending, while independent firms compete by emphasizing specialization and flexibility. The real test for Guideline's proposition will be whether independent benchmarking becomes a standard part of agency evaluation. For marketers, that could mean moving beyond questions such as "How much does our agency spend?" toward more useful questions about effective media costs, channel-level competitiveness and the value generated from each advertising dollar. It could also change procurement conversations. Instead of treating agency scale as a proxy for negotiating leverage, brands could use verified market benchmarks to assess whether the actual rates and outcomes delivered by an agency are competitive. That would be a meaningful shift in how media buying performance is evaluated. Market Landscape Media buying is becoming increasingly data-driven, but transparency remains uneven across advertising channels. Advertisers can access detailed reporting from individual platforms, yet determining whether their media costs are competitive against the broader market is considerably harder. The rise of retail media, connected TV, programmatic advertising and commerce media has further fragmented the buying landscape. Each channel has different auction dynamics, inventory structures and measurement practices. In this environment, independent benchmarking can provide a reference point that platform dashboards and agency-reported results cannot necessarily provide on their own. The Guideline-Tinuiti partnership therefore reflects a broader movement toward independent advertising intelligence, where brands evaluate media investment using external market evidence rather than relying solely on agency scale or self-reported performance. Strategic Outlook If verified media benchmarks become more widely adopted, agency selection could become less dependent on perceived buying power and more focused on demonstrable performance. That would benefit independent agencies that can prove they achieve competitive media economics while retaining the strategic flexibility that often distinguishes them from larger holding-company networks. For advertisers, the bigger opportunity is greater accountability. Independent market data could help marketing leaders, procurement teams and agency executives identify inefficient spending, negotiate from stronger evidence and make more informed allocation decisions across increasingly complex media environments. Top Insights - Guideline and Tinuiti are using independent advertising intelligence to challenge the assumption that agency scale automatically determines media buying power and pricing advantages. - Third-party benchmarking reportedly found double-digit media cost advantages for Tinuiti across several channels, although methodology and channel-level results remain undisclosed. - Guideline Ad Intelligence gives marketers an external reference point for evaluating media costs instead of relying exclusively on agency or platform-reported performance metrics. - The partnership could strengthen independent agencies' competitive position by demonstrating buying efficiency through verified market data rather than global spending volume. - As advertising becomes fragmented across programmatic, retail media and connected TV, independent benchmarks could become increasingly important for enterprise media investment decisions.

Tinuiti named Media Agency of Record for Wolverine Worldwide to unify brand and performance marketing across its North American brand portfolio. Jul 23 2026 NEW YORK - July 23, 2026 - Tinuiti, a leading independent media agency, today announced it has been named Media Agency of Record for Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW), a global leader in footwear and apparel, to advance the Company's next phase of growth through a unified approach to brand and performance marketing. The partnership will support Wolverine Worldwide's strategy to further unify its brand portfolio - including Merrell(R), Saucony(R), Chaco(R), Wolverine(R), and Cat(R) Footwear - under an integrated, data-driven approach to media, marketing, and consumer engagement across the United States and Canada. Through a single, measurement-driven framework powered by Tinuiti's proprietary Bliss Point technology and advanced analytics, the partnership brings together brand and performance media across paid search, paid social, programmatic and display, streaming and video, influencer marketing, and strategic media planning, all supported by robust cross-channel measurement capabilities. At Wolverine Worldwide, Tinuiti, Inc. is focused on building a more connected, insight-driven marketing model across its North American portfolio, one that brings together powerful storytelling with measurable business impact. As Tinuiti, Inc. continue to evolve how its brands engage consumers, Tinuiti, Inc. were looking for a partner that could help Tinuiti, Inc. unify brand and performance in a more intentional, data-led way. Tinuiti brings the capabilities, technology, and mindset to help accelerate that vision and support its long-term growth strategy. Brett Parent, Chief Strategy Officer of Wolverine Worldwide The future belongs to brands that stop treating brand and performance as separate investments. Wolverine Worldwide has an extraordinary portfolio, and Tinuiti, Inc. is excited to help connect every marketing investment decision to measurable business outcomes through a unified strategy powered by data, technology, and creativity. Jeremy Cornfeldt, President, Tinuiti Tinuiti helps marketers understand the full enterprise value of their media investments by connecting brand and performance within its proprietary Bliss Point Marketing Operating System, the ultimate brand and performance unifier, which fuels decisions across Audience, Creative, Media and Measurement. The result is smarter investment decisions, more confident budget allocation, less waste across fragmented media investments, and greater business impact across DTC, retail, and every place consumers choose to shop. Complementing this foundation, Tinuiti's Creative Suite - including its exclusive AdCopy AI paid search technology - will guide messaging strategy and scale high-performing search creative across Wolverine Worldwide's portfolio, ensuring paid search execution is continuously optimized in lockstep with broader media investment decisions. For Wolverine Worldwide, the partnership reinforces its commitment to evolving how its brands connect with consumers in a rapidly changing media landscape - leveraging data, creativity, and cross-channel integration to drive stronger brand equity and business performance. As the company continues to invest in its portfolio and North American capabilities, partnerships like this will play a key role in enabling future growth. This latest Agency of Record win builds on Tinuiti's continued momentum as brands increasingly seek a unified approach to brand and performance marketing. Following the appointment of Abbey Klaassen as Chief Executive Officer, the agency continues to expand its roster of leading consumer brands - including Carter's, Inc., Serta Simmons Bedding, and now Wolverine Worldwide - reflecting growing demand for its integrated media model and proprietary Bliss Point Marketing Operating System. Tinuiti also continues to help many of the world's leading brands - including e.l.f. Beauty, Instacart, and Liquid I.V. - navigate major cultural moments and tentpole events such as Amazon Prime Day, Super Bowl LX, and the Winter Olympics, demonstrating its ability to translate cultural moments into measurable business growth. Tinuiti also recently hosted Tinuiti Live in New York City, where marketers and industry leaders explored "The Orchestration Era: Bridging Human Strategy & Agentic Execution" - highlighting how AI-powered execution, unified measurement, and human strategy are reshaping modern marketing. Watch the sessions here. About Tinuiti Tinuiti is a media agency that not only builds brands, but architects business outcomes. Guided by its mission to "Love Growth. Hate Waste.", Tinuiti creates immediate and lasting growth for clients. At the center is Tinuiti's Bliss Point Marketing Operating System - the ultimate brand and performance unifier - which fuels decisions across Audience, Creative, Media and Measurement. This approach allows Tinuiti to treat each client's business like its own - making smarter decisions, faster, and with greater accountability. With over $4.5 billion in media under management and 1,200 employees across the U.S., Mexico and EMEA, Tinuiti delivers measurable impact for leading brands. For more information visit https://tinuiti.com/.

Tinuiti has been named digital agency of record for Serta Simmons Bedding, supporting its portfolio of brands including Serta, Beautyrest and Tuft & Needle. The partnership will cover integrated media strategy and execution across paid search, paid social, TV and streaming, affiliate marketing and analytics. The independent media agency will bring a unified, full-funnel approach designed to drive performance and unlock growth across direct-to-consumer and digital channels. Tinuiti will deploy cross-channel media management powered by proprietary technology and data science capabilities. Tim Oakhill, CMO at Serta Simmons Bedding, said the company selected Tinuiti for its ability to unify media, data and measurement into a single, performance-driven strategy. The appointment follows Tinuiti's recent wins including Carter's and campaigns for e.l.f. Beauty and Instacart.