Executive Summary
AI is rewriting marketing’s talent equation. Large agencies, ad-tech firms, and platforms are automating routine work to unlock strategic creativity and, in the process, elevating CMOs into true transformation architects. Agentic AI, self-serve operating systems, and brand-side builds (from production accelerators to performance intelligence) are shifting resources toward strategy, design, and decisioning.
The craft still matters: Straight-talk creative feedback, relentless brand consistency, and the fusion of data with emotion are powering the next wave of ideas. Work is being rewired. Retail media becomes full-funnel and “phygital” (the combination of physical and digital); benchmarking moves from cost control to clarity and accountability; and procurement shifts from “price” to platform-native value.
Outcome-based and deliverables-led models gain momentum as leaders decide what to in-source versus scale with partners. Financials add urgency. Ad spend keeps climbing, inflation in media costs persists, and Big Tech’s AI investments and user scale reset expectations. Pitch dynamics intensify (lengthy reviews, global consolidation), while M&A, new collectives, and rebrands reshape capability maps across creative, media, data, and production.
Bottom line: The winners staff for imagination and instrument for impact. They codify expertise in software, measuring what matters, and paying for outcomes, not activity.
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Newsworthy Reports and Recent Developments
At AMS, we approach the agency management discipline as four distinct but complementary practice areas – Talent, Work and Performance, Financials, and Agency Reviews and Roster Changes – which is how we categorize the following developments.
Table of Contents
Talent……………. page 2
Work and Performance………………… page 8
Financials…………………………. page 10
Agency Reviews and Roster Changes……………… page 14
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Disclaimer: Our bimonthly Industry Updates provide a summary and analysis of noteworthy client-agency developments gathered from recent trade-related publications and news media. The information presented is based on publicly available sources and should not be considered exhaustive.
