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Agencies are differentiating their tech stacks by building custom agentic AI tools for their clients and licensing them to create new revenue streams, while also rethinking data ownership.
Agency leaders largely agree that agencies owning data causes problems, such as accusations of biased campaign optimization and advertisers' wariness of 'black boxes.' Sir Martin Sorrell and Bob Lord emphasize transparency and neutrality, with Lord advocating for clients to retain ownership of both underlying data and AI models built on it, citing past instances of agencies misusing client data for competitors.
AI is fundamentally transforming agency business models, moving from human-centric DSP usage to machine-to-machine interactions for greater intelligence and efficiency. This also poses a threat to DSPs by enabling direct data signals from SSPs. Agencies face an 'existential threat' from end-to-end platforms like Meta's, pushing them to become validators. The traditional FTE (full-time equivalent) compensation model is becoming obsolete, with calls for a shift to outcome-based pricing and direct software licensing to clients, despite current industry inertia.