Brysa is a Salesforce and data consultancy based in the UK, advising media, industrial, and services clients on using Data Cloud and Agentforce to turn signals into action. Founder and CEO Satish Thiagarajan discusses his work, focusing on closing the loop between insight and execution in sales, marketing, and service.
— Satish Thiagarajan, Founder & CEO, Brysa
The media industry has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. We’re talking about a market that was only worth a few tens of billions not too long ago. Today, it’s on track to cross a trillion dollars. Most of that growth has stemmed from digital and social media. While this is all exciting to us, it has also resulted in a huge challenge - an incredibly fragmented media landscape that has splintered into a vast number of platforms, channels, formats, and audience touchpoints. And with that fragmentation comes a massive shift in client expectations.
Audiences today are not impressed just because your brand reached them. They expect relevance. They want personalised recommendations across touchpoints. They demand content that actually matters to them. Studies prove this. According to one, 70% of media consumers have higher expectations for customer service today than they did a year ago. Another one shows that 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a superior experience.
So, my advice is simple. Whether you’re a publisher managing assets or an agency helping businesses navigate media, stop relying on volume-driven strategies. Design focused and targeted media ecosystems, instead. And AI should be made a big part of that shift. It will make sure you don’t bombard people with more messages, but create real value by delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time, no matter the channel.
A lot of media businesses tend to oversimplify client expectations. They assume every client is only chasing ROI or ROAS. Yes, those metrics matter. But that’s not the full story. What their clients truly want is something deeper. They want their brand to grow in visibility and credibility. Their definition of success revolves around how their brand is perceived in the market, as opposed to a random number on a dashboard. In fact, companies that follow a structured “first-year experience” roadmap for new clients actually saw 15–28% better 12-month retention. This proves clients care about long-term value and brand affinity, not just short-term performance metrics.
Another misconception is that media companies think clients rely entirely on them for expertise. That’s no longer true. With the rise of AI platforms like GPT or Gemini, clients can get insights and second opinions themselves. The knowledge advantage media companies once had is shrinking. Going forward, clients won’t depend on media businesses. They’ll partner with them.
The final misconception is thinking that once a campaign launches, the job is done. The old “set it and forget it” mindset doesn’t work anymore. Clients expect in-flight optimisation. They want real-time insights and adjustments that actively improve campaign outcomes. Reports are useful, but they’re not enough. What matters is learning from every campaign and applying those insights to the next one. In other words, today’s clients demand a true Kaizen mindset from media companies.
Many media organisations lose clients right after the initial campaign win because they slip into a transactional mindset. They think delivering the campaign and sending a report is enough. But clients aren’t buying a ticket from point A to point B. They’re expecting a first-class journey. They want meaningful collaboration and a sense that their brand is becoming stronger along the way. That means communicating with every stakeholder, including finance teams and CFOs, who now play an active role in media investment decisions. Keeping them informed and free from surprises is essential. When that level of proactive engagement is missing, relationships weaken.
Also, the real difference between a loyal client and a brand advocate comes down to one thing: shared risk and shared ambition. Loyal clients stay because they see consistent results. But advocates emerge when media organisations put real skin in the game. When they ride out market fluctuations with clients and bring innovative ideas before a brief is even requested, clients stop being just a customer and become a partner who proudly talks about the media company and champions the brand without being asked. Such customers are 4x more likely to refer a brand than others.
The real shift that needs to happen is moving from “Here’s what we’re giving you” to “Here’s what we can achieve together.” It’s less like a vendor relationship and more like a marriage. If one side is focused only on what they want, the relationship won’t last. The real power comes from asking, “How do we co-create outcomes that matter?”
And this is where personalisation becomes incredibly meaningful. Today, 56% of consumers say they’ll become repeat buyers after a personalised experience, and 80% of business leaders report a 38% increase in consumer spend when experiences are personalised. Those aren’t small numbers, by any means. They prove that personalisation directly drives loyalty and revenue.
But let’s be clear: personalisation isn’t about sticking a client’s logo on a pitch deck. It’s about understanding their world. Clear knowledge of how their business runs, what pressures they face, who their customers are, and how those customers perceive them is necessary. When media companies live in the client’s shoes, even briefly, they stop selling campaigns and start shaping outcomes.
From a campaign perspective, personalisation shows up in experiment-driven, insight-led ads that make the end consumer feel genuinely spoken to. It could be a social ad, a broadcast campaign, or a brand film; the medium doesn’t matter. What matters is the human connection behind it. When media companies adopt that mindset, they stop being vendors and start being indispensable partners.
If there’s one message I want media leaders to take away, it’s this: client-centric transformation isn’t comfortable, but it’s essential. Many organisations assume that hiring a consultant or investing in new technology will magically fix their challenges. It won’t. Real transformation comes from within, and it requires leaders to walk through what I call the “valley of pain.” Things may feel harder before they get better, but there’s no shortcut around that journey.
Our role isn’t to sugarcoat the truth. We tell leaders upfront that their life is going to get more difficult before it improves. But the reason we exist is to structure that transition, reduce the risks, and make sure they’re solving the right problems, not just moving pain around. There’s nothing worse than going through the effort of change, only to realise you transformed the wrong thing and now have to start again.
Client-centricity is also not about chasing a CSAT score. It’s about earning trust and respect. Being honest enough to call out bad ideas, even when they come from paying clients, and ensuring that whatever the media company implement is practical, adoptable, and relevant to the teams who must live with it every day.
And yes, AI will accelerate this journey, not by replacing judgment, but by acting as a thinking partner, expanding perspectives, and helping leaders navigate complexity with clarity.
So the mindset shift is simple: put the client’s success first, even when it’s hard. Because if they don’t succeed, none of us do.
Originally published on Consultancy.uk:
Check out this interview at: https://www.consultancy.uk/news/42379/brysa-ceo-satish-thiagarajan-on-the-importance-of-client-centric-transformation