The Four Modes Framework maps marketing categories along who chooses (people vs. agents) and brand control vs. brand influence, yielding four distinct modes: Brand-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Consumer, Agent-to-Consumer, and Agent-to-Agent.

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The Four Modes Framework maps marketing categories along who chooses (people vs. agents) and brand control vs. brand influence, yielding four distinct modes: Brand-to-Consumer, Consumer-to-Consumer, Agent-to-Consumer, and Agent-to-Agent.

The Four Modes Framework (PHD) maps categories on two axes - who chooses (people vs. agents) and brand control vs. brand influence - yielding four coexisting marketing modes: Brand→Consumer, Consumer→Consumer, Agent→Consumer and Agent→Agent. Each requires different strategy and capability design.

Source

PHD × WARC: From Abundance to Agents - How the delegation of choice is transforming marketing (2026)

PHD (Omnicom) & WARC; contributors James McDonald, Katie Sterling, Rohan Tambyrajah, Matt Prentis

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