Ad execs are now working as Trump tariff policy translators for advertisers

The Monday after President Trump’s tariffs rattled global markets and raised the specter of a recession, global agency group Dept did what few in advertising are built to do: it pivoted to policy. The shop stood up a 10-person team of strategists — not to pitch an idea but to translate Trump’s policies on tariffs into something a marketer could act on.

And not a moment too soon. Unlike past macroeconomic crises, this one put marketers at the center. The ripple effects hit every part of their remit: media budgets, pricing models, procurement timelines. The usual buffers between policy and marketing disappeared overnight. 

So Dept adapted. Less about campaigns, more about contingency. A team of Trump policy interpreters helping clients contort their way through the chaos. They’re working along two tracks: with marketers based in the U.S. and with those outside it looking to sell into the country — each facing a different set of questions and a shared sense of uncertainty.

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