Stagwell retires Assembly and launches Stagwell Media with 2,300 staff

Stagwell launched a global media agency called Stagwell Media on 6 October and will phase out the Assembly brand, Adweek and B&T reported. The new agency has more than 2,300 staff in over 50 markets. Its clients include Lenovo, Mastercard, Procter & Gamble and DP World.

Liz Rutgersson leads Stagwell Media, with five regional chiefs

Liz Rutgersson, who joined Stagwell in September, is chief executive of Stagwell Media globally and in the US. Connie Chan runs Asia-Pacific, Bridget Hopkins Europe, Alap Ghosh India and Ravi Rao the Middle East and North Africa.

Kacper Kłos, based in Poland, is global CEO for digital commerce. He was president of Brand New Galaxy, a commerce agency Stagwell bought in 2021 and merged into Assembly in 2024, Campaign reported at the time.

“Clients’ needs are changing more drastically,” Rutgersson told Adweek. She said clients want faster access to insights and closer links between disciplines.

Mark Penn says the old media agency model is out of date

Stagwell chairman and chief executive Mark Penn said the traditional media agency model “wasn’t built for the future of media”. The agency runs on Machine OS, Stagwell’s platform for AI agents, and sells tools called The Media Machine, Stagwell Search+ and Stagwell Curate.

It sits in Stagwell’s media and commerce unit next to Crispin, GALE, Goodstuff and Locaria. Slavi Samardzija chairs that unit globally.

Media accounts keep moving in Europe too. Recent moves include Omnicom winning L’Oréal media in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. German media agencies also expect AI advertising to pass search in time.

Lenovo, Mastercard and P&G move under the new Stagwell brand

For Assembly clients, the agency name on their work changes. The first test is whether Stagwell Media keeps Lenovo, Mastercard and P&G through the next review cycle and adds a large account under the new brand.