By Lindsay Rittenhouse | July 23, 2026
Powers of Reasoning was started in 2023 by founder and CEO Kate O’Brien, a 15-year Omnicom Media Group veteran tired of watching clients blindly sign the same types of media contracts without being offered a full menu of options. So she set out to give clients more control over their buys, as well as the cost savings they’d been missing out on. That has allowed her seven-person shop to maintain double-digit profit margins since its opening, punch above its weight and manage more than $100 million in media spend.
It’s also one of the only independent media agencies to compete alongside the holding companies in principal-based media buying, the practice of a shop purchasing ad inventory in advance and reselling it to clients. But Powers of Reasoning says it’s engaging in the practice without markups and hidden fees. The agency discloses every buying option and lets the client choose, rather than standardizing one compensation structure across every account, as it claims its larger rivals do.
Powers of Reasoning is led by a team of former holding company executives who are majority female and 43% people of color. The agency—named Media Agency of the Year, Gold at Ad Age’s 2026 Small Agency Awards—grew revenue to $1.9 million in 2025 from $1.5 million in 2024, and projects to reach $3.5 million in 2026.
