How Shell built its Agency of the Future roster

Sam Peña-Taylor

Shell, the oil and gas company, rethought and reviewed its creative and media agency roster to set itself up for the future – and found far deeper value in collaborating closely and at a high level with agency partners.

When the multinational oil and gas company Shell announced that it would be kicking off a wholesale agency review in October of 2017, it was a big deal.

It was the first such review of what had grown to a total roster of 90 agencies around the world, which was “probably 80 too many,” according to Carolyn McKeever, Global Head of Downstream Marketing Communications, speaking at the Festival of Marketing (London, October 2019).

Ad spend had also grown out of control, going way beyond the widely reported $200 million; McKeever suggested it was approaching double that in total spend. The...

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