The Agency Model Is Broken. KNOWN Fixed It. Can Malaysia Build Its Own?

By The Malketeer

What Malaysian startup and struggling agencies can learn from the world’s most data-driven, culture-led creative company

When a new agency called Known quietly emerged in the US from a merger of data scientists, branding experts, Emmy-winning storytellers and media futurists in 2020, few could have predicted just how fast it would disrupt the ad world’s comfort zone.

But in just a few short years, Known became, well, known—for all the right reasons.

“Known has effectively rebuilt the agency model from the ground up,” wrote Adweek, lauding its end-to-end integration of strategy, creative, media, and machine-learning.

Forbes hailed it as “a blueprint for agencies of the future.”

Fast Company listed it among the world’s most innovative companies for “erasing the lines between agency, consultancy, and media lab.”

What truly sets Known apart isn’t just its list of blockbuster clients—from Netflix and Google to HBO, Meta, and the Obama Foundation—but its radical fusion of data and creativity.

At Known, every idea is pressure-tested with audience simulations, media analytics, and predictive modelling before it even leaves the pitch room.

And unlike legacy agencies stuck in silos, Known operates like a high-speed collider: engineers, creative leads, media buyers, brand architects, and analysts sit side by side, forging campaigns that feel both surgically precise and culturally seismic.

So, what does this mean for Malaysia?

In an industry where many local agencies are still reeling from pandemic shocks, reduced budgets, and high client churn, Known offers more than inspiration—it offers a survival strategy.

Here are eight deeply relevant lessons from Known to help Malaysian startup agencies and struggling shops reset, thrive, and redefine their game.

1. Data Is Your Canvas. Paint With It.

What Known Does:
They don’t guess—they simulate. Their proprietary tech, Savant, predicts the effectiveness of campaigns before they’re launched.

Malaysian Lesson:
Use available tools—AI, social listening, analytics dashboards—to make smarter, faster, bolder decisions.

Even if you’re a small agency, start building a culture where data fuels your creative fire.

“It’s not data vs creativity. It’s creativity because of data.” — Inspired by Known’s founding principle

2. Break the Walls, Build the Pods

What Known Does:
They’ve flattened hierarchies and merged disciplines. Teams are formed around problems, not departments.

Malaysian Lesson:
Ditch departmental silos. Instead, form ‘scrum pods’—compact teams with one strategist, one creative, one media buyer, one client lead.

Try This:
Assign pods to client brands. Empower them to co-create. Not pass-the-baton.

3. Don’t Just Sell a Story. Simulate Its Success.

What Known Does:
Their campaign ideas come with predictive performance data attached—showing clients not just what could work, but what’s likely to work.

Malaysian Lesson:
Make ROI your story. Even a simple Google Trends graph or YouTube engagement chart can change a pitch’s trajectory.

“Stop pitching ideas. Start pitching outcomes.”

4. Be the Culture, Not Just in It

What Known Does:
Their work on House of the Dragon, Queen Charlotte, and Barack Obama’s Netflix series wasn’t just award-winning—it was culture-shaping.

Malaysian Lesson:
Infuse your campaigns with cultural fluency. The way Malaysians speak, laugh, protest, love, hustle—that is your creative goldmine. Think like the late Yasmin Ahmad.

Try This:
Craft hyperlocal content for TikTok. Remix traditional festivals with modern relevance. Let Gen Z rewrite your script.

5. Go Beyond Full-Service. Be Full-Throttle.

What Known Does:
They offer full-funnel strategy: from market research and brand architecture to AI-driven media buying and campaign optimisation.

Malaysian Lesson:
Stop selling one-offs. Position your agency as a growth partner, not a production vendor.

Try This:
Package branding, campaign, and eCommerce consulting together. Tie success fees to business growth.

6. Show Your Brain. Not Just Your Work.

What Known Does:
They regularly publish thought leadership, trend insights, and strategy reports—establishing them as media thinkers, not just media doers.

Malaysian Lesson:
Post behind-the-scenes. Start a newsletter. Release a “Malaysian Culture Trends Report”.
Let clients know how you think—not just what you’ve done.

“Agencies who showcase their intelligence don’t chase clients. They attract them.”

7. Treat Talent Like Tomorrow’s Celebrities

What Known Does:
They invest in their people like rockstars—training them across data, storytelling, AI, behavioural science.

Malaysian Lesson:
Train your team in pitch theatre, prompt writing, YouTube strategy, even meme design. Turn them into creative athletes.

Try This:
Run a monthly in-house “pitch battle” with judges. Invite young talents to reverse-mentor your leadership team.

8. Stay Curious. Stay Uncomfortable. Stay Human.

Known thrives because it refuses to behave like a “big” agency.

It remains agile, experimental, always hungry. Its founders often say: “We are never done reinventing.”

That mindset is everything.

If Malaysian agencies want to survive AI disruption, media fragmentation, talent drain, and shrinking retainers—they’ll need to embrace reinvention, not resist it.

You Don’t Need to Be in New York to Think Like Known.

You can be in Puchong or Penang. In Rawang or Rantau Panjang.

What matters isn’t your postcode—it’s your playbook.

And this is your call to rise.