Adapt or Die: How Strategists Can Rule the Sky - Learnings from Stratfest 2025

The 4As StratFest in New York City wasnamp8217t just another industry gathering it served as wakeup call for strategists across agency lines media creative and communications This yearamp8217s conference theme amp8220Adapt or Dieamp8221 dared attendees to confront a hard truth the playbooks that built yesterdayamp8217s brands wonamp8217t win tomorrowamp8217s big battles It was a rallying cry to evolve not only as a discipline but as strategists reaffirm our value in an era of disruptionThe timing couldnamp8217t have been sharper WARCamp8217s Future of Strategy Report 2025 presented by Ann Marie Kerwinamp160in one of the interactive workshops revealed that 80 percent of strategists believe the discipline is at a crossroads The paradox Strategy is viewed as essential by clients yet often treated as optional inside organizations Kerwin underscored the need for strategists to evolve from amp8220thinkersamp8221 to growth partners connecting creativity to commerce and brand purpose to business performanceHere are the three key themes that permeated the conference discussionsFrom Strategists to Growth ArchitectsTodayamp8217s brand strategists media strategists comms strategists need to evolve as we are increasingly seeing that the future belongs to growth architects who know how to increase the aperture to fully comprehend the total business contextAt StratFest Tomas Gonsorcik Global Chief Strategy Officer at DDB Worldwide and StratFest CoChair emphasized that strategy must move beyond creating decks and toward delivering growth clarity His BERN model provided the roadmapBusiness Within the Business treat strategy as a commercial engine not a service layerEnvironment for Decisions simplify complexity to accelerate creative and media choicesRightShaped Talent blend creative empathy data mastery and financial fluencyNet Positive Outcomes measure success by business impact not output volumeThe Jay Chiat Awards 2025 set the tone the evening before the conference began Justin ThomasCopeland CEO of the 4As reflected on how this yearamp8217s winners raised the bar for boldness imagination and insight proving strategyamp8217s power to make the improbable possibleVML Belgium took homeamp160Grand Prixamp160for Finding Juliette and VML won Network of the Year showing that empathydriven storytelling can fuel measurable growthMadison Giller Arnold Worldwide and Kate Rush Sheehy GSDampampM were honored as Emerging and Visionary Strategists of the Year representing a generation fluent in both the magic of narrative and the math of analyticsElizabeth Paul Chief Brand Officer at The Martin Agency and StratFest CoChair reminded attendees that the true measure of strategy is always profitably growth for clients for brands and for the craft itselfStrategy is no longer a department Itamp8217s a growth disciplineFutureProof Skills From Thinkers to BuildersIf growth is the why capability is the howIn amp8220Donamp8217t Die Adaptingamp8221 James Hurman Cofounder of Tracksuit and Program Director of the Master of Advertising Effectiveness reminded attendees that while tools and tactics change the fundamentals of human decisionmaking stay constant Emotional campaigns he noted deliver stronger longterm returns than rational onesAcross sessions a consistent pattern emerged tomorrowamp8217s strategist must shift from thinker to builder able to design systems that connect creativity media and business outcomesThat evolution demands totalbusiness literacy Understanding margin pressure market headwinds and distribution levers is now as critical as decoding audience motivations and crafting quantifiable personas The role of creative and media must intersect creative strategists must grasp media and channel dynamics media strategists must connect shortterm performance to longterm brand equityThroughout the day the concept of the hourglass team surfaced senior strategists providing clarity and commercial grounding at the top with agile AIliterate practitioners iterating and optimizing below Strategy becomes a living adaptive system that moves with the vagaries of the market and the discipline of critical thinkingTomorrowamp8217s strategists wonamp8217t just interpret the market theyamp8217ll help shape itEmbracing AI as the Ultimate CoPilotArtificial intelligence has swiftly moved from novelty to necessity and at StratFest it became clear that AI has earned its seat at the strategy table as a copilot not as the captainIn amp8220AI The Next Great Shiftamp8221 Cori Moreno of Google explored how the acceleration of AI is transforming not just marketing tools but entire business models Her message was pragmatic leaders must harness AI to amplify creativity and efficiency without surrendering human intuitionLater in the fireside chat amp8220The New Playbook Agencies as Operating Systemsamp8221 Joe Maglio Cheil Network and Justin ThomasCopeland 4Aamp8217s argued that agencies must now operate like platforms fusing data creativity and technology to deliver alwayson growth In this new paradigm humans serve as the intelligence layer that keeps technology impactfulFor media strategists AI offers sharper precision in spend allocation and audience forecasting For creative strategists it opens new dimensions in storytelling and emotional mapping But as several speakers warned AI can accelerate insight yet only humans can assign meaningThe Future Belongs to Those Who DareBy the close of StratFest 2025 one truth resonated strategy has evolved from a planning function into a performance engine the connective force driving business brand and behavior forwardIn amp8220Strategy at the Speed of Lifeamp8221 Godis Rivera Chief Strategy Officer at Burrell Communications called for frameworks that enable proactive crossfunctional decisionmaking preparing organizations to respond to culture in real time Meanwhile Hannah Schweitzer of TBWAChiatDay named Emerging Strategist of 2024 urged the industry toward amp8220strategic subtractionamp8221 focusing less on volume and more on clarity judgment and creativity that cuts through complexityThese conversations crystallized a new vision creative and media strategists are no longer separate disciplines but complementary forces Together they cocreate growth The strategist of tomorrow will think like a business architect act like a builder and lead with empathy curiosity and commercial acumenThe future belongs to those who design the sky not those who just marvel at itPhoto at topamp160amp160Elizabeth Paul Chief Brand Officer at The Martin Agency and StratFest CoChair andamp160 Tomas Gonsorcik Global Chief Strategy Officer at DDB Worldwide and StratFest CoChair with Jay Chiat Award Winners Source 4AsPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of 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Adapt or Die: How Strategists Can Rule the Sky - Learnings from Stratfest 2025

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Adapt or Die: How Strategists Can Rule the Sky - Learnings from Stratfest 2025

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