Media Buying Briefing: Linda Boff on the power of independent agencies, and the need for financial discipline

August 31, 2026

By Michael Bürgi Anyone in the marketing or agency world knows Linda Boff. The longtime CMO for GE in its heyday, Boff is somewhat of a marketing guru, having worked with multiple agencies over her years.

Today she’s the CEO of independent marketing services group Said Differently, which is private-equity owned and operates a bit differently than your usual agency. For one, it’s fully remote and runs on only about 25 full-time staffers, with a network of about 2,000 people available on a freelance basis for whatever it is the client needs. Most of the work is project-based, and Boff proudly declared no client — which includes UNICEF, designer Marc Jacobs, Honeywell and Brookfield, and a roster of some 25 B2C and B2B clients — has never not returned for a second project. This is a member-exclusive article from Digiday. Continue reading it on digiday.com and subscribe to continue reading content like this. …read more

Source:: Digiday