By Sam Bradley • June 24, 2026 •
Ivy Liu
With half the industry’s dealmakers and powerbrokers gathered in the south of France this week, agencies have been falling over themselves to boast AI agent-related tests, case studies and partnerships. They’re not just competing with each other, but rather against the chance clients will use the same technology to bring more of their marketing operations in-house — and off the market.
WPP revealed it was testing a media buying and planning agent for premium video inventory just last week. Meanwhile Dentsu has struck a partnership with AI agent development company Newton Research, bolstering the AI analytics and media planning capabilities it offers through Dentsu.connect.
The partnership includes the testing of media-buying agents in the U.S., according to Caitlin Gelles, evp of data technology and measurement at Dentsu, as well as solutions to provide faster media analytics and campaign set-up. “We’re working on a couple of early-stage pilots [with clients] who want to use Newton for transactional buying,” she told Digiday.
