Pathlabs and Primitive Named Finalists for the 2026 Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards
 |
Pathlabs Marketing |
 |
June 8, 2026 |
Pathlabs and Primitive have been named finalists for the 2026 Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards in the Best Agency Partnership category.
The recognition highlights the work between Pathlabs and Primitive, a digital marketing and growth agency, and how the partnership helped Primitive scale digital media execution, grow client investment, and expand what the agency could confidently bring to market.
What Are the Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards?
The Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards recognize companies, campaigns, and partnerships driving strong results across the modern media landscape.
This year’s finalists include brands, agencies, platforms, and media teams such as Uber Advertising, the NFL, WPP Media, Mazda, Pathlabs, and Primitive.
What Pathlabs and Primitive Were Recognized For
Primitive partnered with Pathlabs when demand for digital media execution began outpacing the agency’s internal capacity.
Rather than acting like an outside vendor, Pathlabs worked as an embedded Media Execution Partner, bringing platform access, channel expertise, buying power, reporting support, and day-to-day execution depth to help Primitive support larger, more complex media programs.
The partnership gave Primitive more confidence in its media offering while protecting the client trust the agency had already built.
“Pathlabs has expanded our capabilities, and without a doubt we win more because we’re not doing this alone. They genuinely feel, act, and function as an extension of our team, and the ROI of partnering with them has been huge.”
What the Partnership Produced
The results were significant.
Within one year of partnership, Primitive achieved 4x growth in digital media billings, increased client ad spend by 109%, and won 13 new clients.
The partnership also helped Primitive expand into new verticals, shorten sales cycles, and create more space for internal leaders to focus on strategy, growth, and client relationships.
What’s Coming Next
We’re grateful to Digiday for the recognition and to the team at Primitive for building a partnership worth celebrating.
The full Pathlabs and Primitive case study will be available soon, with a deeper look at how the partnership came together and what made the work successful.
Digiday Media Buying & Planning Awards final winners will be announced later this year.
