Twenty-five years after its foundation, Comon has announced a major strategic shift in its positioning, now defining itself as an intelligence and creativity agency, “because one cannot live without the other”. “Intelligence ensures precision, focus and direction. Creativity generates emotion, differentiation and impact. When combined, they deliver solutions that are not merely beautiful or strategic, but effective and sometimes transformative,” Ricardo Pereira, CEO of Comon, tells Marketeer.

According to the agency, this evolution reflects not merely a change in messaging, but a response to the accelerating loss of value in the advertising industry as it has been known over recent decades. Comon believes the market no longer needs advertising alone, but increasingly demands more integrated solutions, supported by data, technology, strategic thinking and format-agnostic creativity.

“The advertising market is in decline. It no longer needs advertising alone, but rather more creativity supported by data, technology, analysis, deep strategic thinking and format-agnostic ideas,” says Ricardo Pereira, CEO of Comon.

“The new positioning combines intellectual rigour grounded in technology with creative power. This allows us to offer solutions that address what brands are really facing today: complexity, fragmentation, speed and the need for relevance.”

In practice, this new positioning translates into the combination of four layers — data intelligence, strategy, creativity and technology — within a single point of contact. “This way, we can collect data, create information, transform information into powerful ideas, and powerful ideas into emotions and results,” he notes.

According to the CEO, this evolution does not replace the existing offering but expands it, incorporating new services such as a new approach to SEO, AI agents, personalisation at scale, creative automation and support for AI Martech adoption. The objective is to respond to an increasingly fragmented, fast-moving and demanding ecosystem, where brands’ relevance depends on their ability to generate emotion with measurable effectiveness.

According to Pereira, the traditional creative agency model no longer meets clients’ real needs, with consumers who are “distracted, demanding and short on time”, media that are “more fragmented”, a landscape with more noise and “better and more aggressive competition”, where “creative production is increasingly being mass-produced through AI automation, which further increases the noise”.

“Emotion is becoming even more important, and to achieve it we need the power of original ideas that reflect the authenticity of brands. But the idea alone is not enough. Nor is good craft enough. Intelligence derived from data and technology is needed to personalise it at scale and very quickly,” emphasises Ricardo Pereira.

“There is not much room for purism or for art alone. There has to be a lens of effectiveness, tangibility and continuous optimisation of communication and experience. This is a shock for a large part of the agency world.”

Anticipating the future rather than reacting

Comon rejects the idea that this change is a reaction to trends. “We are not reacting to buzzwords or to a specific client. We are looking at the systemic and long-term evolution of consumers and technology and equipping ourselves with what is needed not only to change our positioning now, but also to maintain a permanent dynamic of evolution and restlessness,” says the CEO.

Its relationship with technology is one of the clearest examples of this approach, with technology itself “playing a leading role and continuing to do so”. But instead of developing proprietary tools like the major agency networks, Comon is choosing to continuously test emerging solutions, while maintaining independence in their adoption.

“This allows us to present the solution that makes the most sense for each client’s specific context, without becoming dependent on a huge investment that then has to be sustained at the clients’ expense and which is unlikely to remain at the cutting edge of innovation when compared with other tools available on the market. On the other hand, consumers dictate the rules regarding the relevance and applicability of technology across brand touchpoints.”

In Comon’s view, the advertising industry is also “losing value at high speed”. “If the definition of the advertising industry is limited to advertising creativity, content and media buying, then investment is growing slowly. Going further, if we analyse the value generated, then yes, it is losing value, because the level of noise and inattention is such that impact is declining,” says the agency’s leader.

“However, if we zoom out and analyse the marketing industry in a broader context, the answer is different. The amount invested, as well as the impact and return generated, is growing. Marketing is much more than communication. Communication is more than advertising. We are witnessing a transformation of brands, businesses and the way they communicate and create new experiences with their consumers,” he explains.

And this transformation is being orchestrated by different stakeholders within organisations. “We deal with several of these stakeholders across an increasing number of clients, and they manage budgets and areas of responsibility that go far beyond advertising but are directly related to brands and their performance. This requires agencies to have an increasingly broad range of skills and tools and, above all, the ability to immerse themselves in businesses, not just communication. This allows us to generate greater value for brands, but also for the marketing industry,” he notes.

Comon, it should be remembered, has been part of the Nova Expressão SGPS media ecosystem since the beginning of 2025, a step that, according to Ricardo Pereira, was decisive in accelerating this evolution. “Nova Expressão’s investment allowed us to focus on the market, be closer to clients and update our vision and offering. That requires time and muscle — and we were given both, not only through the investment itself but also through Nova Expressão’s experience and network,” he explains.

On the other hand, as part of this new ecosystem, Comon “has also strengthened its management capabilities, as with the support of the holding company’s structure, the agency’s management team and I can focus on where we add the most value: clients and the work”.

“Finally, we also have a joint offering that combines the media and analytical capabilities of Nova Expressão, a media agency, with Comon’s creative, technological and performance capabilities, underpinned by the independence and strategic thinking for which we are recognised,” he concludes.