If\u00a0you\u2019re in an agency right now, it\u2019s\u00a0hard to avoid the truth.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a bit grim.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0hear many growth stories. What I hear,\u00a0over and over, is rapid decline.\u00a0Shrinking margins. Fewer big bets. And a natural (if slightly unpleasant) instinct for leadership to protect themselves inside corporate structures, which slowly drains the joy and hope out of everyone below.<\/p>\n
Layer in cost-of-living and the maths gets uglier. The \u201cbest\u201d agencies are clustered in expensive cities. Life is expensive. Salomons are expensive. Ketamine is expensive.\u00a0The cultural payoff of agency life starts to feel paper thin.<\/p>\n
So if you\u2019re doing career calculus, and you love creativity, teamwork, strategic, lateral thinking, and thriving in chaos, here\u2019s what I\u2019m seeing people do next.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
Stay: Be passionate and try to be part of the solution. Play the long game and build substance into your personal brand.<\/p>\n
Jump to a platform: One with arguably cleaner balance sheets and more certainty. Freedom of the soul and financial freedom are more closely linked than we sometimes admit.<\/p>\n
Back yourself and start being independent: It\u2019s hard but rewarding \u2014 but make sure you have deep relationships, a strong point of difference, and a high tolerance for stress.<\/p>\n
Go in-house: In reality, the market is brutal and roles are more competitive than people admit.<\/p>\n
Use your skills to build a product or brand: Stop renting out your skills and start applying them. Learn e-commerce. Get serious about social media and distribution.<\/p>\n
Get into martech: This is a spot where creativity and strategy are still undervalued \u2014 but you might have to rethink your feelings toward the word \u201csales\u201d.<\/p>\n
None of these paths are inherently right or wrong. They are simply different trade-offs.<\/p>\n
If you are going to stay, here are some things I would be doing to stand out and help your agency thrive.<\/p>\n
Learn the language of customer and consumer strategy<\/p>\n
CMOs increasingly answer to GMs of consumer, CFOs and CEOs who don\u2019t own marketing, but absolutely dictate direction. This sits alongside a battle cry: get upstream or get commoditised. If you live purely in delivery, you will get squeezed. Own the brief earlier and tie yourself to outcomes, not outputs.<\/p>\n
Please, stop selling hours<\/p>\n
Procurement is better at that game than you are, and it will undervalue your IP every time.<\/p>\n
People want agencies with great people supported by productised capability \u2014 tools, IP, repeatable systems, AI workflows. That is what allows you to get in the fight alongside clients in the constant battle for efficiency.<\/p>\n
By understanding your clients\u2019 pressure to change, you reduce the effort,\u00a0risk\u00a0and political cost of that change \u2014 and you become extremely hard to replace.<\/p>\n
At the very least, understand what agentic AI means<\/p>\n
You\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0need to build it for clients, but you do need to understand who\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0using it with and where it fits into their operating model. Many organisations will adopt a new operating system within 18 months. If you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0speak the language, you\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be invited into the room.<\/p>\n
Another thing that will get you into the room is measurement to justify decisions. The era of \u201ctrust me, I\u2019m a creative genius\u201d is over. Measurement, projected\u00a0outcomes\u00a0and first-party data can sit comfortably alongside world-class creative leadership. In fact, they make it stronger.<\/p>\n
Finally, treat your brand as a moat<\/p>\n
Pitches are won before ChatGPT or Midjourney is ever opened \u2014 we just pretend they\u00a0aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Experience, reputation and desire are worth investing in. Superficial positioning and thinly veiled corporate greed are not. Agencies aren\u2019t being punished because creativity doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s because too much behaviour is not in line with today\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n
AI is easy to blame. But you rarely bleed out from one dramatic blow, it\u2019s usually from the cuts you kept telling yourself didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
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