March 2025 | Bray & Co’s Creative AOR Win for Fidium Fiber Signals a Broader Shift in How Utility Brands Approach Differentiation

New York, NY — March 2025 — Bray & Co’s selection as Creative Agency of Record for Fidium Fiber begins to generate industry conversation, reflecting a broader shift in how utility and service brands are rethinking the role of creativity in driving growth.

While no creative work has yet been developed or launched, the appointment itself is notable. Internet service remains one of the most commoditized categories in marketing, with brands competing largely on identical claims around speed, reliability, and price. In that environment, creative differentiation has historically been treated as secondary to performance messaging and media weight.

Fidium Fiber’s decision to prioritize creative leadership early, before defining a platform or campaign, signals a meaningful change in approach.

Industry commentary across advertising and marketing publications, including Adweek, Campaign US, and Indie Agency News, increasingly points to a growing dissatisfaction with category sameness, particularly in utility and infrastructure-driven sectors. Brands are beginning to recognize that efficiency alone is not enough to build preference, and that over time, parity erodes both loyalty and margin.

The Fidium appointment reflects that realization.

Rather than asking for finished creative ideas during the pitch process, Fidium’s leadership focuses on strategic clarity and point of view. The central question is not what the advertising should look like, but how the category itself can be reframed in a way that feels human, relevant, and emotionally distinct.

“This moment isn’t about a campaign,” says Peter Bray, Founder and Executive Creative Director of Bray & Co. “It’s about recognizing that when categories become interchangeable, creativity has to lead before anything else can work.”

Industry observers note that this shift mirrors a broader reassessment happening across marketing leadership. As performance tools and targeting capabilities become increasingly standardized, brands are searching for new sources of advantage. Distinctiveness, memory, and emotional connection are resurfacing as critical drivers of effectiveness, particularly in categories where functional differentiation is minimal.

Coverage in Adweek and Campaign US over the past year has highlighted this trend, pointing to a renewed emphasis on brand clarity as a prerequisite for performance. Rather than viewing creativity as an output, leading brands are treating it as a strategic input, one that shapes how media, messaging, and customer experience ultimately perform.

The Fidium AOR win places Bray & Co squarely within that conversation.

Known for its senior-led approach and category-level thinking, the agency is increasingly sought out by brands facing parity pressure. The emphasis is not on volume or speed, but on helping brands define what they stand for before they attempt to amplify it.

Importantly, Bray & Co’s role as Creative AOR does not include media buying or executional output at this stage. The focus is on defining direction, challenging assumptions, and establishing a creative foundation that can support future work across markets and channels.

This approach resonates in categories where trust, confidence, and expectation matter as much as technical performance. In internet service, where consumers often expect frustration as a baseline, the opportunity is not simply to promise better service, but to change how the category feels.

Industry reaction suggests that brands watching the Fidium move are taking note. Commentary within Indie Agency News frames the appointment as an example of how independent agencies with clear points of view are increasingly being trusted with early-stage brand definition, particularly in categories where incumbents have struggled to evolve.

For Bray & Co, the moment reinforces a long-held belief: effectiveness begins before execution. Brands that invest in clarity at the outset are better positioned to create work that stands out, performs, and endures.

For the industry more broadly, the Fidium AOR win serves as a signal. As categories continue to crowd and consumers continue to tune out sameness, brands are recognizing that creative leadership is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

The work has not yet begun, but the direction is clear. In markets where expectations are low and differentiation is scarce, the brands willing to rethink the category before speaking into it are the ones most likely to rise above it.