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Q&A with Jeffrey Kaplan, CEO of TARA Media

For decades, marketers have chased the dream of a “one-stop shop”—a single partner who could seamlessly manage every facet of a campaign, from creative to conversion. But as digital advertising fragmented and tech stacks ballooned, that dream felt increasingly out of reach. The complexity became too much. The full-service agency model, once dominant, was written off as a relic of a simpler time.

Now, things are changing again.

In today’s chaos-heavy ad environment—where platforms multiply, signals disappear, and every dollar is scrutinized—the appetite for simplification is back. But the new version of the one-stop shop looks very different from the old one. It’s not about being everything to everyone. It’s about offering the right solutions to the right clients.

To dig into what a modern “full-service” agency actually looks like in 2025, we sat down with Jeffrey Kaplan, CEO of recently rebranded TARA Media.

Here at AdTechGod, we feel like we have as firm a handle on the complexity of today’s advertising industry as anyone—and even WE find it overwhelming sometimes. What does this pressure feel like from the brand side?

You’re absolutely right—it’s overwhelming. On the brand side, there’s this constant pressure to connect a million dots: data sources, creative formats, attribution models, media platforms, compliance concerns. For a long time, the industry’s answer was just to add more partners—one for programmatic, one for measurement, another for creative, and so on. But that creates inefficiency. It creates silos. And frankly, it creates burnout.

Marketers are tired of duct-taping their strategies together. They want partners who can simplify without compromising sophistication. That’s where the modern full-service partner comes in.

So what does this mean for the agency model?

For years, agencies have responded by expanding services—but often for the wrong reasons. Too many treated service expansion as a margin play. They tried to become the end-all-be-all for every client, whether or not they had the right capabilities, tech, or experience. That’s not a sustainable strategy, and it’s not in the client’s best interest.

The right model isn’t about doing more for everyone. It’s about doing everything for the right clients. And it’s about building the capabilities those clients need—not just what the agency thinks people will pay for.

That makes sense, but this is how things have been working for a long time. How do we flip that model? 

It starts with clarity. You need to know who you’re serving and build your offerings around what they genuinely need. That’s exactly what drove our evolution from Popsycle to TARA Media.

We had clients who needed more than just campaign execution. They needed creative. They needed data. They needed help with attribution and performance transparency. And they didn’t want to pay five different vendors to get it all. So we built an agency around those needs.

Interesting. Tell me more about TARA Media’s journey to becoming that much-coveted “full-service” partner?

We officially rebranded to TARA Media this year, and that wasn’t just a name change—it was a reflection of how we’ve grown. We’re now a full-service agency that combines creative, media, data, and measurement under one roof. We have our own DSP—built originally for political and issue-based campaigns but now powering everything from nonprofit to commercial brand campaigns. We’ve layered in custom intent data, creative services, and attribution capabilities.

Most importantly, we’ve done it with transparency. Our pricing is straightforward. There’s no nickel-and-diming for data usage or setup help. Whether you’re a managed-service or self-service client, we show up the same way: to solve problems and help you grow.

Building a business differently in this industry can feel—well, pretty risky. How’s it going for you?

Honestly? Better than we could’ve imagined. Over the past six months, we’ve grown 240%. Part of that has been a growing client roster, but it’s also been increased use of our all-in-one media buying platform to execute digital campaigns for programmatic advertising.

You’ve said TARA Media isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. Who IS the right client for you?

We work with progressive political campaigns and advocacy organizations, and with issue-driven and educational clients. On the commercial side, we specialize in finance, nonprofit, and other values-driven sectors.

It’s a focused model, but a powerful one. When those clients come to us, we can deliver soup-to-nuts service that feels like a true partnership. They don’t need to translate strategy between five vendors. They don’t have to worry about extra fees eating into their budget. And they don’t have to worry about brand safety, because that’s baked into everything we do.

The “one-stop shop” has taken on a lot of baggage over the years. But it sounds like the idea still has legs—just with a new foundation.

Exactly. The old version was based on what agencies thought they could sell. The new version is based on what clients need. It’s not about stacking services to pad margins. It’s about aligning expertise with need—and being honest about what you can deliver. That’s what clients are looking for right now. Not promises. Not platforms. Partners.

Well, you must be doing something right. Let’s hear it for the new “one-stop shop.” Keep up the good work.

About TARA Media

TARA Media Strategies is a full-service marketing agency that taps into a unique combination of technology, data, and media expertise to design and execute outcome-driven digital media campaigns for agencies, brands, and nonprofits. Helping navigate today's complex marketing ecosystem, TARA Media's digital ad programs fuel growth through creative campaigns built on comprehensive audience data and executed through a proprietary all-in-one media buying platform that offers unrivaled affordability, speed, and transparency. Founded in 2017, TARA Media is a business-unit of holding company TARA Group. 

For more information, visit www.tara.media.