Progency’s Problem-Solving Prowess

Published May 11-17, 2025

1

Foundation

In my previous essay Progency: The AI-First Agency of the Future, I wrote: “What’s abundantly clear is that traditional agencies face an existential inflection point—consolidation merely addresses symptoms while ignoring the underlying disease. The Omnicom-IPG merger represents a defensive manoeuvre in an industry fundamentally threatened by both technological disruption and structural inefficiency. The path forward demands more than scale; it requires dismantling the acquisition-centric paradigm that has dominated marketing for two decades and replacing it with a retention-first model that eliminates the systemic waste of repeatedly paying to reach existing customers. The agency of the future will emerge not from incremental adaptation but from radical reinvention—one that transforms marketing from a cost centre driven by ephemeral impressions into a profit engine powered by sustainable customer relationships…[Progency] inverts the traditional marketing funnel by focusing primarily on keeping and growing existing customer relationships rather than the endless (and increasingly expensive) pursuit of new ones. This retention-first approach acknowledges a fundamental truth that adtech-oriented agencies have long ignored: acquiring a customer once and nurturing that relationship delivers far greater ROI than repeatedly paying platforms to reacquire the same customers… At the core of this new model lies the PEAK framework—a comprehensive approach combining Platform, Experts, AI Agents, and Kaizen continuous improvement methodology to deliver performance-based outcomes rather than just services or software.”

I also discussed three core services: NeoN (an email ad network), NeoMails (ZeroCPM emails), Neo360 (a parallel martech solution).

I ended the essay thus: “The Progency model fundamentally transforms the brand’s marketing from either a scattered agency approach or an overwhelmed in-house operation into a cohesive, AI-powered growth engine focused on maximising customer lifetime value while eliminating the massive waste inherent in traditional approaches…As we enter the era of NeoMarketing—the third major epoch following Traditional Marketing (1950s-1990s) and Modern Marketing (2000s-2020s)—Progency represents the ideal implementation partner. While NeoMarketing provides the philosophical framework for transforming marketing from a cost centre into a profit engine, Progency delivers the operational blueprint. Together, they create a pathway for brands to escape the $500 billion AdWaste trap and build sustainable, profitable customer relationships that drive genuine business growth.”

The key ideas are captured in this slide:

In this essay, I will demonstrate how Progency represents a revolutionary solution to marketing’s most expensive and persistent challenges. By addressing reacquisition through authenticated targeting rather than wasteful platform spending, enabling reactivation through interactive engagement rather than ignored broadcasts, and unlocking revenue upside through personalised experiences rather than generic messaging, Progency creates a comprehensive framework for marketing transformation. This isn’t merely about incremental improvement—it’s about fundamentally rewiring the economics of customer relationships to eliminate waste, maximise lifetime value, and transform marketing from a cost centre into the primary driver of sustainable business growth. The $500 billion currently wasted on Adtech is an opportunity to be seized through a radical reimagining of how brands build and monetise customer relationships.

2

10 Defining Elements

Before we discuss the three problems and solutions (NeoN for reacquisition, NeoMails for reactivation, Neo360 for revenue upside) I asked Claude to summarise my past Progency writings in 10 points.

In today’s digital marketplace, brands face an unprecedented challenge: despite massive investments in marketing technology, they continue to waste 70% of their budgets—approximately $500 billion annually—on reacquiring customers they already know. This systemic inefficiency demands not incremental improvement but fundamental reinvention. Enter Progency, a revolutionary approach that transcends traditional agency and SaaS models to create a new category altogether.

1. AI-First Agency of the Future: Unlike traditional agencies retrofitting AI onto legacy processes, Progency is built from the ground up with AI at its core—creating a “Department of One” capable of executing sophisticated marketing strategies at unprecedented scale and precision.
2. Closing the Service Gap: Traditional SaaS martech has become “software without service,” leaving brands with powerful tools but inadequate expertise to leverage them. Progency adds a strategic layer of specialised talent and AI orchestration that transforms capabilities into outcomes.
3. Performance-Based Economics: Breaking free from traditional pricing models (CPM, MAU, MRR), Progency aligns its success directly with client results through revenue sharing and performance-based compensation—creating perfect incentive alignment where we win only when brands win.
4. Unlimited Upside Potential: By adopting adtech’s outcome-oriented economic model while focusing on retention and lifetime value, Progency creates infinitely scalable revenue potential without proportionally scaling human resources—a true paradigm shift in martech economics.
5. PEAK Framework Implementation: Progency operates on the revolutionary PEAK framework, combining Platform technology, Expert talent, AI agents, and Kaizen continuous improvement methodology to systematically enhance performance over time.
6. Problem-Solving Prowess: Rather than competing head-on with entrenched agencies or consultancies, Progency enters through specific problem-solving—targeting overlooked challenges and demonstrating immediate, measurable impact.
7. Dual-Lock Strategy: Progency creates enduring client relationships through both Product Lock (proprietary technology that delivers unique capabilities) and Progency Lock (specialised expertise and AI orchestration that maximises the value of technology investments).
8. Department of One for Segment of One: Through AI agent orchestration, Progency enables true N=1 personalisation at scale—treating each customer as a unique individual rather than a segment member, while requiring dramatically fewer human resources than traditional approaches.
9. AdWaste Elimination Engine: Instead of accepting the marketing status quo of wasteful reacquisition, Progency systematically redirects spending from expensive platforms to owned channels and authenticated targeting, transforming inefficiency into profit.
10. Transformational Rather Than Transactional: Unlike traditional agencies focused on campaigns or SaaS vendors selling access to tools, Progency delivers fundamental business transformation, shifting marketing from cost center to profit engine through deeper, more valuable customer relationships.

Progency represents nothing less than a complete reimagining of marketing services for the AI era—one that combines the strategic vision of consultancies, the creative capabilities of agencies, and the technological sophistication of martech platforms into a unified approach focused solely on delivering measurable business outcomes. By bridging the execution gap that plagues traditional models, Progency enables brands to finally break free from the costly cycle of continuous reacquisition while building deeper, more profitable customer relationships.

3

The Three Solutions

While traditional marketing approaches focus on creative campaigns and fleeting impressions, Progency targets the fundamental inefficiencies that drain marketing budgets and undermine profitability. Through our revolutionary combination of proprietary technology, expert talent, and AI orchestration, Progency systematically addresses three critical challenges that plague modern marketers: reacquisition, reactivation, and revenue upside.

1. Reacquisition: PII-based Retargeting

The Challenge: Brands waste 70% of their digital marketing budgets repeatedly paying Google and Meta premium prices to reach customers who already exist in their databases. This painful reality occurs because dormant customers (those inactive for 90+ days) become unreachable through owned channels, forcing brands into expensive platform-based retargeting that creates a vicious cycle of dependency.

The Progency Solution – NeoN: NeoN is an email-based ad network, replaces wasteful platform spending with precision targeting through authenticated identity. Instead of paying inflated auction prices, brands can precisely reach their dormant “Test” customers through the active email engagement channels (“Best” customers) of non-competing brands. This creates a dual advantage: publishers “print money” by monetising their engaged audience, while advertisers “save money” through dramatically more efficient reacquisition.

The Results: NeoN cuts reacquisition costs by 30-50% compared to traditional platforms while creating new revenue streams from existing email programs. By leveraging authenticated identity instead of cookies, NeoN delivers guaranteed audience reach with zero waste in targeting—all without the expensive intermediary “tax” of adtech platforms.

2. Reactivation: The Attention Recession Problem

The Challenge: Even active customers gradually disengage when emails and other communications fail to capture attention. With open rates in single digits and generic content that doesn’t resonate personally, brands watch valuable “Rest” customers (those showing declining engagement in the past 30-90 days) slip into dormancy, inevitably requiring costly reacquisition.

The Progency Solution – NeoMails: AMP-powered interactive email experiences transform static communications into dynamic, engaging hotlines. Through Atomic Rewards (Mu) that gamify engagement, Microns that deliver 15-60 second “brain gain” experiences, and SmartBlocks that collect zero-party data, NeoMails command attention and drive action within the inbox itself—eliminating the “click-through penalty” that typically loses 80-90% of potential conversions.

The Results: NeoMails increase engagement rates by 4-10X compared to traditional email while simultaneously creating new revenue opportunities through ActionAds. By establishing reliable daily hotlines between brands and customers, NeoMails prevent the attention decline that leads to dormancy, breaking the cycle of reacquisition before it begins.

3. Revenue Upside: The Personalisation Gap Problem

The Challenge: Despite investing in sophisticated martech stacks, brands struggle to deliver truly personalised experiences that maximise customer lifetime value. Limited by human operational capacity and siloed data, marketing teams default to crude segmentation that treats diverse individuals as homogeneous groups, missing countless opportunities to increase purchase frequency, average order value, and overall retention.

The Progency Solution – Neo360: This is a comprehensive customer lifecycle optimisation service combines AI-native technology with specialist expertise to orchestrate genuinely personalised experiences at scale. Through a “Department of One” that leverages AI agents to handle segmentation, content creation, journey orchestration, and performance optimisation, Neo360 enables true N=1 personalisation without proportional staffing increases.

The Results: Neo360 delivers measurable revenue uplift through increased customer lifetime value, with compensation tied directly to performance improvements over established baselines. By operating across all channels (website, app, email, messaging) with consistent, personalised experiences, Neo360 transforms marketing from a cost centre into a profit engine that drives sustainable growth.

**

Together, these three solutions represent Progency’s systematic approach to eliminating AdWaste and maximising marketing effectiveness. Rather than accepting the status quo of wasteful spending and generic messaging, it addresses the root causes of marketing inefficiency—creating a pathway to sustainable, profitable growth through deeper, more valuable customer relationships. By directly tying its revenue to measurable performance outcomes (clicks and conversions) rather than software subscriptions or billable hours, Progency fundamentally reimagines the economics of martech—creating perfect alignment between vendor success and client results while enabling unlimited upside potential for both parties.

4

BRTN Framework

At the heart of Progency’s approach lies the revolutionary BRTN segmentation framework—a departure from traditional demographic or behavioural segmentation that instead categorises customers based on their actual engagement patterns and value contribution. This framework provides a comprehensive structure for deploying Progency’s three solutions strategically across the customer lifecycle, ensuring resources are allocated where they deliver maximum impact.

Best Customers (10-20% of Database)

Who They Are: These customers typically generate 60-80% of revenue and an astonishing 200% of profits. They have demonstrated consistent engagement and purchasing behaviour within the past 30 days.

Strategic Approach: Best customers warrant the brand’s dedicated internal attention through Velvet Rope Marketing (VRM)—special treatment that creates distinctly superior experiences to acknowledge and reinforce their value.

Progency’s Role: While the brand’s own team typically manages these customers directly, Progency complements these efforts through:

• Providing AI-powered personalisation capabilities that enhance VRM initiatives
• Creating referral programmes that transform Best customers into acquisition engines
• Enabling monetisation of engaged audiences through NeoN’s publisher capabilities

Rather than competing with internal teams for control of these relationships, Progency empowers them with enhanced capabilities while creating new revenue streams from existing engagement.

Rest Customers (40-50% of Database)

Who They Are: The critical middle segment showing declining engagement (30-90 days since last meaningful interaction). These customers represent marketing’s greatest untapped opportunity—and its greatest risk, as they stand on the precipice of disengagement.

Strategic Approach: Rest customers require immediate intervention to rebuild attention before dormancy sets in, yet most brands lack the resources to deliver this effectively.

Progency’s Role: For this vital segment, Progency offers two powerful complementary solutions:

Neo360 maximises value through comprehensive lifecycle optimisation:

• AI-orchestrated personalisation across all channels, not just email
• Seamless cross-channel journeys that maintain consistent messaging
• Predictive propensity models identifying the perfect next product or offer
• Performance optimisation that continuously refines engagement strategies

NeoMails delivers transformative engagement through:

• Interactive email experiences that create daily “hotlines” to recapture waning attention
• Atomic Rewards (Mu) that drive habitual engagement through gamification
• Microns that deliver 15-60 second “brain gain” experiences providing genuine value
• SmartBlocks enabling frictionless zero-party data collection to fuel deeper personalisation

Together, these solutions create a robust system for Rest customers—Neo360 ensures every interaction delivers maximum value through precise personalisation and journey orchestration, while NeoMails establishes the reliable hotline needed to prevent attention recession. This combined approach not only prevents the costly slide into dormancy but actively converts Rest customers into Best customers over time.

Test Customers (30-40% of Database)

Who They Are: These customers have gone dormant or inactive (90+ days without engagement), representing a massive unrealised value pool. They know the brand but have disconnected from regular communications.

Strategic Approach: Traditional approaches rely on expensive retargeting through Adtech platforms like Google and Meta, creating the “AdWaste” phenomenon of paying premium prices to reach customers already in the database.

Progency’s Role: NeoN provides a revolutionary alternative:

• Authenticated identity targeting enables precise reconnection with dormant customers
• Brand-to-brand collaboration creates an efficient marketplace without platform intermediaries
• PII-based matching ensures messages reach exactly the right people with zero waste
• Interactive ActionAds enable frictionless transactions directly within partner emails

This approach dramatically reduces reacquisition costs while maintaining the privacy and data ownership that traditional adtech platforms compromise.

Next Customers (New Acquisitions)

Who They Are: Genuinely new prospects with no existing relationship with the brand.

Strategic Approach: While traditional acquisition remains important, NeoN provides a complementary approach that leverages authenticated identity rather than cookie-based targeting.

Progency’s Role: For new customer acquisition, NeoN offers:

• Precision targeting based on verified traits and interests
• Contextual relevance through placement in related content
• Significantly lower costs compared to auction-based platforms
• More effective measurement through authenticated identity

**

The BRTN framework ensures every customer segment receives the appropriate intervention at the right time—transforming the traditional marketing funnel into a comprehensive lifecycle management system that maximises value at every stage while systematically eliminating AdWaste.

5

Pitches – 1

I asked the AIs to craft pitches to Maya, a B2C CMO, for Progency.

Claude

Subject: A New Approach to Solve Your Three Most Expensive Marketing Challenges

Dear Maya,

I hope this message finds you well. As a CMO navigating today’s complex marketing landscape, you’re likely facing three persistent challenges that consume both your budget and attention:

1. The cost of reacquiring customers who’ve gone dormant
2. The struggle to keep semi-engaged customers from slipping away
3. The difficulty of delivering truly personalised experiences at scale

I’m reaching out because these challenges represent not just pain points but a $35M+ opportunity for brands like yours. Let me explain.

The Hidden Profit Leak in Your Marketing Budget

Our analysis of similar B2C companies shows that approximately 70% of digital marketing budgets—often $10-50M annually—is spent repeatedly paying Google and Meta to reach customers who are already in your database.

This isn’t because your team lacks skill; it’s a structural inefficiency built into the current marketing ecosystem. When customers go dormant, your only options have been:

• Continue emailing them (risking deliverability)
• Stop contacting them (losing the relationship)
• Pay Google/Meta steep prices to “rediscover” them (wasting budget)

Introducing Progency: Performance Marketing Reinvented

Progency isn’t another agency or martech platform. We’re a new category altogether—combining proprietary technology, specialist expertise, and AI orchestration to solve your three most expensive challenges:

For Your “Test” Customers (Dormant 90+ Days)

NeoN: Our email-based authenticated advertising network lets you precisely reach your dormant customers through the active email audiences of non-competing brands. This cuts reacquisition costs by 30-50% while simultaneously creating new revenue when you monetise your own email audience.

For Your “Rest” Customers (Wavering 30-90 Days)

NeoMails: AMP-powered interactive email experiences transform your existing emails into engaging hotlines with 4-10X higher engagement rates. Through gamification, micro-experiences, and in-email transactions, we prevent customer dormancy before it begins.

For Maximum Revenue Growth

Neo360: Our comprehensive lifecycle optimisation service delivers true N=1 personalisation through AI-orchestrated customer journeys. This “Department of One” handles segmentation, content creation, and cross-channel orchestration—all with performance-based compensation tied directly to revenue uplift.

The Difference: Our Skin in Your Game

Unlike traditional agencies billing for time or martech vendors charging subscription fees regardless of results, our business model aligns perfectly with yours:

• NeoN: Pay only for successful engagements with your dormant customers
• NeoMails: Zero CPM email sending with revenue sharing from monetisation
• Neo360: Base fee plus performance incentives tied to measurable revenue lift

Next Steps: A Risk-Free Assessment

I’d welcome the opportunity to conduct a no-obligation analysis of your customer database to identify:

1. Your potential savings from reduced reacquisition costs
2. Your revenue upside from improved engagement and personalisation
3. A 90-day implementation roadmap with clear KPIs and measurement framework

Could we schedule a brief 30-minute call next week to explore whether this approach might be valuable for your business?

Warm regards,

[Your Name]
Founder, Progency

P.S. I’ve attached a one-page case study showing how a similar B2C brand reduced their Google/Meta spend by 42% while simultaneously increasing customer lifetime value by 28% through our approach.

6

Pitches – 2

ChatGPT

🎭 Scene: Maya’s Marketing War Room

Maya, CMO of a fast-growing eCommerce brand, sits in her Monday leadership meeting. The numbers are in.

• CAC is up again.
• Email open rates hover in the single digits.
• Ad budgets are climbing, yet revenue is flat.
• Her CFO is demanding a 20% cut in customer acquisition cost.

She sighs. “Why are we spending millions to reacquire customers we already have in our database?”

🎯 Slide 1: Maya’s Problem in One Sentence

You’re paying Google and Meta to reach customers you already know.

Up to 70% of your digital ad budget is going toward reacquisition. Dormant and disengaged customers are unreachable through owned channels, forcing you back into the auction treadmill.

That’s AdWaste. And it’s eating your margins.

🚀 Slide 2: Enter Progency

The AI-First Agency of the Future
Built for outcomes, not hours. For retention, not reacquisition.

Progency helps you:

• Reactivate Rest customers before they go dormant
• Reconnect with Test customers without paying adtech taxes
• Maximise revenue from every customer with true N=1 personalisation

All powered by AI agents. All aligned with your KPIs. All on a pay-for-performance model.

🧠 Slide 3: How We Solve Maya’s 3 Big Problems

1. Reacquisition → NeoN

Reach dormant customers via email-based identity targeting—not cookies.

• Use other brands’ inboxes to reach your lost customers via partnerships
• Save 30–50% vs. Meta and Google
• Monetise your own “Best” customers’ attention while helping others

✅ Authenticated. Zero-waste. Platform-free.

2. Reactivation → NeoMails

AMP-powered, interactive emails that behave like mini-apps

• Atomic Rewards (Mu) to gamify attention
• Microns to deliver 60-second brain-gain bursts
• SmartBlocks for zero-party data

✅ Engagement up 4–10x.
✅ Drop-off-free. Clickthrough-free. Future-ready.

3. Revenue Upside → Neo360

“Department of One” with AI agents for N=1 personalisation

• AI handles segmentation, orchestration, and testing
• Your team focuses on strategy, not ops
• Continuous improvement via Kaizen methodology

✅ LTV ↑ 30–40%
✅ Personalisation without adding headcount

💡 Slide 4: What Makes Progency Different?

• PEAK Framework: Platform + Experts + AI agents + Kaizen
• No SaaS licence hell – we run the tools, optimise them, and tie our fees to your success
• Dual Lock-In: Product Lock (our IP), Progency Lock (our orchestration layer)

💰 Slide 5: You Pay When We Deliver

📉 No retainer.
📉 No hourly billing.
📈 We get paid only if you:

• Increase revenue from reactivated users
• Reduce AdWaste
• Improve LTV or retention

Perfect alignment. Predictable upside.

🎁 Slide 6: What We Don’t Replace

You keep:

• Your brand voice
• Your strategic direction
• Your creative team

We bring:

• AI scale
• Deep execution
• Performance accountability

Together, we build a profit flywheel from your existing customer base.

🛠 Slide 7: Start Small, Prove Fast

Let’s begin with a pilot on your “Rest” segment (30–90 days inactive).
We’ll show:

• Uplift in open & click rates
• Incremental revenue from NeoMails
• Reduction in retargeting costs

Give us 90 days. You’ll never see your customer base the same way again.

🌅 Closing Scene: Maya’s New Morning

Instead of firefighting, Maya now checks her AI Co-Marketer dashboard.
AdWaste is down 62%. LTV is up 34%.
NeoMails engagement is above 50%.
And her CFO? Now funding retention more than acquisition.

Maya smiles. Marketing is no longer a cost centre—it’s the profit engine driving the company forward.

7

Pitches – 3

DeepSeek

Pitch Conversation: Andy (Progency) and Maya (B2C CMO)

Andy: Maya, thanks for taking the time. I know your team is juggling a dozen priorities, so I’ll cut to the chase. Progency exists to solve one problem: the $5 million AdWaste crisis draining your marketing budget. We’ve helped brands like yours turn marketing from a cost center into a profit engine by focusing on retention, not just acquisition. Can I share how?

Maya: Retention’s important, Andy, but we already invest in loyalty programs and email marketing. How is this different?

Andy: Fair question. Traditional loyalty programs and email campaigns still leak value because they treat customers as segments, not individuals. Let me ask: Are you paying Google and Meta to retarget customers who already know your brand?

Maya: Of course—it’s unavoidable. If customers go dormant, we have to reacquire them.

Andy: That’s the $5 million problem. Brands waste 70% of budgets reaching people they already own. Progency stops that cycle. Our NeoN solution replaces platform retargeting with authenticated email networks. Instead of paying Meta’s auction tax, you reach dormant customers through non-competing brands’ engaged audiences. We’ve cut reacquisition costs by 30-50% for clients.

Maya: Interesting, but we’ve built a martech stack over years. Adding another tool sounds messy.

Andy: Progency isn’t another tool—it’s a performance partner. We plug into your stack with our PEAK framework: Platform tech, Experts, AI agents, and Kaizen optimization. For example, NeoMails transforms your emails into interactive hotlines. AMP-powered experiences drive 4-10X higher engagement by embedding rewards, micro-experiences, and zero-party data collection in the inbox. No more “click-through penalty.”

Maya: AI’s a buzzword. How does this actually work without requiring my team to become data scientists?

Andy: Totally valid. Our Department of One model uses AI agents to handle personalization, segmentation, and journey orchestration. Your team stays in control of strategy, while our AI executes N=1 campaigns at scale. For your “Rest” customers—those slipping into disengagement—Neo360 predicts their next best action and delivers hyper-personalized experiences across all channels. No hiring spree required.

Maya: Sounds idealistic. How do you prove ROI?

Andy: We’re 100% performance-aligned. Our fees are tied to revenue uplift from increased CLTV, not hours or CPMs. For example, a beauty brand using Neo360 saw a 22% lift in repeat purchase rates within 90 days by personalizing cross-channel journeys. Another client reduced reacquisition spend by 45% with NeoN. We commit to beating your current benchmarks—or you walk away.

Maya: What about new customer acquisition? We can’t ignore growth.

Andy: Absolutely. Our BRTN framework includes “Next” customers. NeoN uses authenticated identity targeting for new prospects, cutting acquisition costs by 30% versus cookie-based ads. But the bigger win? Turning your “Best” customers into advocates. With Velvet Rope Marketing, we help you monetize their loyalty through referral programs and even revenue-sharing via NeoN’s publisher network.

Maya: I’m intrigued, but my CFO will ask about upfront costs.

Andy: Zero upfront investment. We scale with you—our revenue-sharing model means we only win if you do. Imagine redirecting even 20% of your AdWaste budget into owned-channel retention. That’s $1 million back on a $5 million ad spend, plus the upside of deeper customer relationships.

Maya: Let’s pilot this. Where do we start?

Andy: We’ll run a 90-day sprint on your “Rest” segment—activate NeoMails and Neo360. You’ll see engagement spikes and CLTV lifts within 30 days. If we don’t beat your current metrics, you owe nothing. Deal?

Maya: Deal. Let’s save that $5 million.

Closing Note: Progency isn’t about chasing shiny objects—it’s about rewiring marketing economics. Ready to turn your dormant customers into profit? Let’s talk.

(Pitch ends with a clear next step: scheduling the 90-day pilot and aligning on KPIs.)