Why the agency–client model is breaking and what replaces it

The industry’s long-standing tensions are not a people problem or a cost problem, but a structural one. Agentic AI may finally offer a way out.

I’ve spent over two decades working with some of the most respected agencies in the industry McCann, BBH, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy and Mather, MediaMonks, Cartwheel and CLA across organisations such as Marico, Amazon and now Kotak. Different brands, different eras, different market contexts. Yet one tension has remained stubbornly constant.

Clients expect great output.

Agencies expect great briefs.

Both believe they are right.

And both often leave dissatisfied.

For years, this has been framed as a people problem talent shortages, rising costs, high churn or mismatched expectations. The uncomfortable truth is this. The agency–client dilemma is not primarily a talent or cost issue. It is a structural problem.

A model built for a slower world

The traditional servicing-led agency model was designed for a very different era one where brand worlds were stable, channels were limited, campaigns ran in long cycles and briefs evolved slowly. In that context, human-heavy, relationship-led structures worked.

Today’s marketing reality looks nothing like that.

Marketing is always on. Media is real time. Creative is modular and multi-format. Consumer journeys are fragmented. Performance data feeds back instantly. Brands are often redefining their positioning even as campaigns are live. Yet many agency models still operate as if the world has not fundamentally changed.

The result is predictable friction. Clients feel agencies are not delivering at the expected level. Agencies feel briefs are unclear, unstable or constantly shifting. When both sides are transforming simultaneously new brand thinking, new operating models, new talent execution volatility becomes inevitable.

This is where most conversations stall. Blame gets apportioned. Agencies get changed. The cycle quietly repeats.

When comfort became the enemy of progress

Long-standing agency relationships often create comfort. Comfort creates predictability. Predictability can also breed stagnation.

Across organisations, legacy models multiple agencies, multiple creative styles and fragmented ownership gradually dilute brand coherence and accountability. What appears stable on the surface often hides systemic inefficiency underneath.

At the same time, marketing has become too complex and too fast-moving to scale on people-dependent structures alone. Growth can no longer rely on who is available, staffed or awake. It requires systems that can operate continuously and coherently.

Agentic AI as infrastructure, not hype

This is where Agentic AI fundamentally changes the agency–client equation.

Unlike traditional automation, agentic systems do not merely execute tasks. They can reason, decide, orchestrate and learn. Applied to marketing, this enables systems that operate across the full value chain from research and insight generation to creative development, media orchestration and performance optimisation.

The shift is not about replacing humans. It is about removing friction.

Agentic systems reduce dependency on manual handoffs, fragmented teams and inconsistent interpretation of briefs. They create continuity between insight, idea, execution and optimisation something the traditional agency model has always struggled to deliver at scale.

From servicing partners to marketing systems

This evolution forces a rethink of what agencies are and what they should become.

The next-generation model moves from servicing-led structures to self-serve, enterprise-grade marketing systems. From people-heavy execution to IP and system-led leverage. From output debates to system-level accountability.

In this world, agencies do not disappear. They evolve. Their value shifts upstream into building intelligence layers, creative systems and orchestration frameworks that brands can plug into continuously.

For clients, this means faster execution, stronger governance and more predictable outcomes. For agencies, it means less firefighting and more durable value creation. For talent, it means focusing on higher-order thinking instead of repetitive production.

A structural reset, not a cosmetic one

What makes this moment different from previous reinventions is that the solution finally matches the problem. We are no longer trying to fix a structural issue with better process documents or more senior people. We are redesigning the operating system itself.

The future of marketing will not be defined by which agency you appoint. It will be defined by what system your organisation runs on.

And that may finally be the breakthrough needed to resolve a dilemma the industry has lived with for far too long.

Kedarswamy Ravangave is the Head of Marketing at Kotak Mahindra Bank. Views expressed are personal