Half of the world’s biggest advertisers are dissatisfied with their agency arrangements, according to a poll by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Agency Mania Solutions.
The survey of around 70 multinational companies found that 49% of respondents either disagree or strongly disagree that their agency roster and commercial arrangements are ‘fit for purpose, both for today and for future needs’. Only 3% strongly agree that they are.
Other measures suggest trust between clients and agencies may be weakening, too. Eighty-nine percent of respondents still believe their agencies give them value for their money, but the share who strongly agree has fallen from 17% to 7% since 2022. Thae share of respondents who strongly agreed in 2018 was also 7%, so it’s possible that the increase to 17% in 2022 was an anomaly. But the proportion who say they understand what drives agency costs and profits has also dropped from 53% in 2022 to 45% now, which is also below the 2018 level, indicating that there is at least some reason for concern.
At the same time, 39% of respondents say managing agencies has become more difficult in the past year, compared with 12% who find it easier.
However, the authors of the study point out that 34% of respondents also say their agencies are performing better or much better than they used to, compared with 22% who say worse or much worse. So, the authors suggest, the perceived increase in difficulty could be a result of things like rising expectations, more complex scopes and shorter turnaround times, rather than the fault of agencies.
A run-down of agency capabilities seems to confirm that expectations are high. Eighty-three percent of respondents believe that it is essential — and should be included as standard — that agencies respond quickly and adapt with agility. Meanwhile, 72% expect agency partners to bring ‘distinctive strategic thinking that helps shape the business problem’, and 71% expect agency partners to assign high-calibre talent to work on their account.
Distinctive strategic thinking and high-calibre talent were also the two capabilities that clients were most willing to pay a premium for, although at 20% and 22%, respectively, the numbers are still relatively low, which suggests few clients are prepared to shell out extra for a higher level of service. And why would they be? As Caroline Johnson, the founder of The Business Model Company, has previously pointed out, agencies have for years been overdelivering to keep good relationships with clients, running what she describes as a ‘goodwill service model’ or an ‘all-you-can-eat-buffet’.
What clients are increasingly prepared to remunerate, however, is output. Only 17% now pay agencies mainly for time and staff, down from 54% in 2011 and 33% in 2022. Fixed-fee and output-based deals have risen from 20% to 35% since 2011. AI will no doubt accelerate this shift, given that it weakens the relationship between time-spent creating something and the thing’s value.
It’s possible that the new remuneration structures could be contributing to the decline in trust, too. If more clients are paying agencies for outputs, then they have less visibility into the amount of labour that goes into the work, which could affect the proportion of respondents who feel they understand what drives agencies’ profits and costs.
Time-based pay has not disappeared, however; four in ten brands still pay mainly for time. But compensation structures that pay for labour and add a performance bonus have more than doubled to 23% since 2011.
The next move is paying for results; of the brands surveyed, 58% expect to use more performance-based fee structures in the future. That said, only 47% of brands use these structures at the moment, a figure virtually unchanged since 2022. Those who do use it, tend to do so sparingly, too. In most cases, performance-related pay makes up less than 20% of an agency’s total remuneration. Nor is the adoption of performance-related pay spread evenly throughout the industry. At present, only 27% of clients say they use performance-based compensation models with creative and production agencies, compared with 67% who say the same for media agencies.
But the research suggests that money is not the main lever for increasing performance — at least not in the eyes of clients. Respondents rated great briefing as the biggest driver of good agency work, scoring it 5.6 out of 6. Respect and trust scored 5.2 and high-quality feedback 5.1. Financial incentives scored just 3.9, and long-term relationships 3.8.
It’s strange that so many clients seem keen to press on with new pay structures that reward agency performance when they don’t believe it’s important for improving the quality of work. But, then, it’s also odd that so many respondents feel their agency roster is fit for purpose, and seem to doubt that long-term relationships lead to better work, and yet agency relationships, on average, now last longer than they did in 2018 — although not for creative and media agencies specifically. This suggests there is much uncertainty and a certain degree of inertia in the industry.
What seems most likely from this snapshot of the industry, is that no one commercial model will dominate like the billable hour once did, and that clients and agencies will continue to use multiple different pay structures, varying them to suit the task and the nature of the relationship between both parties.
The survey was carried out in May and June 2026 and drew responses from around 70 multinational companies across seven sectors. Seven in ten respondents have global responsibility, and most work in marketing procurement.
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