Quick answer
AI is changing agency work in ways that are hard to ignore - and if you're feeling behind, you're not imagining it. Over six weeks of podcast conversations, I spoke to agency owners, consultants, and clients about what's actually shifting and how people are responding. Agencies are rethinking how they sell, price, service clients, and operate. Clients are bringing more work in-house. The pace of change feels like it's speeding up. This post covers what I heard - and what a former Parachute Regiment officer who trained the British Army in mental resilience has to say about staying steady when it all feels like too much.
In September 2026, the Financial Times reported that agency groups including WPP, Omnicom and Dentsu had cut at least 18,000 jobs over the previous 18 months. The article says "few of the job cuts are linked to the widespread use of AI" - but it also goes on to say "executives say restructuring efforts are being carried out with AI tools in mind."
There's no doubt changes to the traditional agency business model are happening. And the agency clients I've been speaking to are already responding.
What is actually changing for agencies right now?
The agencies I've spoken to are adapting in four distinct ways.
Selling differently. A UK WordPress agency saw its core work slow down. Having already overhauled its own operations with AI, it now advises clients' CEOs on how to use AI for productivity - a consulting offer they'd never considered before.
Pricing differently. A US PR agency has packaged its most effective and profitable services into products and programmes, with the aim of moving away from charging by the hour.
Servicing clients differently. A European-based e-commerce agency is training its client-facing team to be more consultative and strategic, with the aim of deepening client relationships and making themselves more "sticky" as client budgets tighten.
Operating differently. My podcast guest Robert Patin, fractional CFO and founder of Creative Agency Success, is testing an "agency OS" with a handful of agencies, bringing their data into one place. "Clients don't pay for more admin. They pay for better outcomes," he told me. He wants AI to take the admin away so people can show up "more human and not less."
Every person I spoke to said some version of the same thing: the rate of change seems to be speeding up, and many working in the agency world are feeling like they are behind.
Are clients really doing more in-house - or does it just feel that way?
Yes - and the scale of it is worth paying attention to.
Zaynab Zubair, an ex-EY consultant who helps large enterprise clients adopt AI, was direct about it: "A lot of the clients are now doing all of that in-house." One CFO she worked with gave an AI agent his last six speeches and asked it to learn his tone. His press releases now take about an hour to draft instead of two to three weeks using an agency.
That's not a hypothetical future scenario. It's already happening.
Where do agencies start when they don't know where to start?
Roy Murphy, co-founder of AI consultancy G3NR8, thinks most agencies have more useful data than they realise. "You've got the data you need," he said. The problem is that it's spread across email, Slack, spreadsheets and the CRM, so nobody sees the whole picture. Pull it together, he argues, and an account manager can walk into a client review knowing which accounts are at risk and what issues to raise.
His advice for account managers wanting to get started: "You don't learn AI, you do it."
Is there still a genuine advantage for agencies over AI?
In an upcoming podcast episode, David Meikle (author of Tuning Up and How to Buy a Gorilla) and Richard Temple, CEO of media agency JAA Media, discuss their new book The Underdog Advantage, out in November.
Their argument is that underdogs rarely win by trying to be a smaller version of the market leader. They win by working out what's distinctive about their position and changing the terms of the fight. David also had a useful way of looking at the agency's advantage over AI: "Problems with unlimited possible solutions need creativity and lateral thinking, and that's where agencies need to be."
How do you stay resilient when the pace of change feels like too much?
Because this amount of change and uncertainty can be mentally draining, I asked James Elliott to share some practical thoughts on how to cope when it feels like you're standing in quicksand.
James served 14 years in the airborne forces and became second in command of British Army mental resilience training. He's also the author of Think Yourself Resilient. His starting point is to separate what you control from what you can influence from what you can't - and he's clear that attitude and effort are always within your control. "There is no such thing as 'it is what it is'. There is only, it is what I choose to make it."
When worry kicks in, he suggests changing the question. Instead of "why do I feel this way?", ask "why is my subconscious choosing for me to feel this way?" He recommends calming yourself down first - he uses breathing and grounding techniques - then asking what advice you'd give your child or best friend in exactly the same spot. Then take it.
He's also direct about rest. Having coached elite athletes, his view is that "you can only grow from the training that you recover from" - and the same goes for when you've had your foot to the floor at work.
And the line from the wall at the RAF parachute training school at Brize Norton, which he quoted and which stuck with me: "Knowledge dispels fear."
SUMMARY
The agency business model is under real pressure from multiple directions: clients bringing more work in-house, AI tools changing what agencies can credibly charge for, and structural job cuts at the major groups. Agencies that are adapting are rethinking how they sell (moving into advisory), price (products and programmes over hourly billing), service clients (deeper and more consultative), and operate (pulling fragmented data into one picture). The data most agencies need is already there - it's just spread across too many systems. And for those feeling the weight of so much change at once, the advice from someone who trains military resilience is worth taking seriously: separate what you can control, change the question when worry kicks in, and remember that knowledge dispels fear.
FAQ
What is actually changing for agencies because of AI?
Agencies are adapting across four areas: how they sell (moving into AI consulting and advisory), how they price (packaging services into products rather than charging by the hour), how they service clients (training teams to be more strategic and consultative), and how they operate (using AI to pull fragmented data together). The changes are already underway, not on the horizon.
Are clients really doing more work in-house now?
Yes, and more quickly than many agencies expected. Zaynab Zubair, who helps enterprise clients adopt AI, has seen clients build in-house capabilities that previously required agencies - including drafting press releases in an hour that used to take two to three weeks with external support.
Where do agencies start with AI when they don't know where to begin?
Most agencies have more useful data than they realise - it's spread across email, Slack, spreadsheets and their CRM. Pulling it together gives account managers a live view of which accounts are at risk, what issues to raise, and where growth opportunities might exist. As Roy Murphy of G3NR8 puts it: "You've got the data you need." And his advice on getting started: do it, don't just read about it.
Do agencies still have a genuine advantage over AI?
According to David Meikle, author of The Underdog Advantage (out November 2026), agencies are best placed where the problem has unlimited possible solutions - because that's where creativity and lateral thinking are needed most. The agencies that stay relevant won't do it by being cheaper or faster versions of larger competitors, but by changing the terms of the fight based on what's distinctively theirs.
How do you stay resilient when the pace of change in agencies feels overwhelming?
James Elliott, former Parachute Regiment officer and author of Think Yourself Resilient, suggests separating what you can control (always your attitude and effort) from what you can only influence or cannot change at all. When worry kicks in, shift the question from "why do I feel this way?" to "why is my subconscious choosing for me to feel this way?" And take rest seriously - as he puts it, "you can only grow from the training that you recover from."
What does "you don't learn AI, you do it" mean in practice?
It's Roy Murphy's shorthand for the idea that reading about AI tools is not the same as using them on real work problems. His advice is to spend time applying AI to an actual challenge you face - using non-sensitive data to start - rather than waiting until you feel ready. The capability builds through doing, not through study.
My conversation with James Elliott about how to be resilient is out now. Listen to the episode on the Creative Agency Account Manager podcast.
And here's to going into 2027 with plenty of knowledge about what's changing - and a bit less fear.
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