The Traditional Agency Model is Broken—here’s how we’re fixing it
For decades, brands and companies have paid for bloated agency retainers and received junior-level output—a charade built on a particular kind of value arbitrage and a culture of burnout. As an increasingly challenging business environment and AI converge, this relic model of a bygone era is facing a reckoning.
But beyond that, a more agile, transparent, and strategically sound model is emerging—one built for humans.
If you have worked in a company that has at some point needed external support from an agency or consultancy, you might have sat in a gleaming boardroom listening to a senior agency partner deliver a pitch so flawlessly curated that you felt a genuine sense of relief.
“Finally,” you might have thought, “this is what we need.”
You might have then signed a six-figure retainer, convinced you were in the safest of hands.
Then, they vanished.
In their place appeared a team of junior associates and managers, bright-eyed and deeply terrified, who were clearly learning the ropes on your dime. Your relief may have turned into a familiar, sinking feeling.
It was the great agency charade, playing out in real-time, and you were paying for a front-row seat.
This experience isn’t unique to you, of course. It’s the industry’s dirty little secret.
For decades, the professional services agency has managed to defy gravity despite being plagued by a reputation for churn work, template “frameworks” masquerading as strategy, and a service-provider mindset that borders on parody. It has persisted, largely because true disruption never quite reached its shores. Until now.
The convergence of two powerful forces—persistent global economic headwinds leading to business uncertainty, coupled with the exponential rise of artificial intelligence—is creating a perfect storm that the traditional agency model cannot weather.
The model that was built for a bygone era characterised by information asymmetry and lavish marketing budgets is not just showing cracks; it is fundamentally broken. And if we were to wager, it is in for a lot more pain.
The Human Cost of a Broken model
If we are to be brutally honest about how the traditional agency model actually works, we’d see that it’s a human problem before it’s a business one. It’s a system built on a fundamental breach of trust.
Clients and brands are sold a promise of senior-level strategic counsel, but the work is executed by the most junior people in the room learning on your dime. The agency, meanwhile, profits from this value arbitrage. The senior partners who brought in the business are incentivised to do just that—bring in more business—not to get their hands dirty with your account.
Not only does this shortchange clients; it chews up and spits out young talent. Burnt-out associates and brilliant young minds drowning under the weight of promises they didn’t make and lack the experience to fulfill, are paid too little, worked too hard, and offered a career path that looks less like a ladder and more like a hamster wheel.
The inevitable outcome is subpar work, high turnover, and a constant cycle of client dissatisfaction. It is a model that prioritises the agency’s profitability over the client’s success, and worse, over its own people’s well-being.
The Twin Forces of Disruption coming for agencies
For years, this broken system has been tolerated because there were few viable alternatives. But that is changing, and fast. Today’s global business environment, characterised by cautious capital, economic uncertainty, and greater scrutiny on ROI, means that companies can no longer afford to subsidise the inefficiencies of the traditional agency model. Every dollar must be justified by tangible business outcomes, not by vanity metrics, personal relationships, or the prestige of an agency’s brand.
Simultaneously, the rise of generative AI is automating many of the tactical tasks that once justified large agency teams. As we mentioned in another piece, Boston Consulting Group’s research confirms that communications is one of the functions with the highest potential for Gen AI transformation, with potential productivity gains of up to 50%. Drafting press releases, scheduling social media posts, and conducting brand research, sentiment analysis, or media monitoring can now be done with a level of efficiency that no team of junior associates can match.
But there is a deeper, more human disruption at play. The very senior talent that agencies use to win business is increasingly opting out of the corporate world altogether. Seasoned communications veterans with decades of experience navigating complex stakeholder environments are no longer willing to tie their fate to a single corporation, especially in an era of frequent and thoughtlessly communicated layoffs.
More and more are choosing to take their fate into their own hands, stepping out of the corporate shadow to build something of their own—something authentic and aligned with their values.
At ACID, we work with many of them, and we see this as a huge net positive for the industry, for brands, and for practitioners across the board.
how to fix a broken model
So, what will replace the broken agency model? For one, we believe the answer will involve a massive shift in the way we think about how professional services are delivered to companies.
Part of that shift has already been gaining momentum in markets like the United States for over a decade: the idea of fractional leadership.
We’ll admit, when we first heard the term, it sounded like more corporate jargon. But the concept is beautifully simple and deeply human. Instead of hiring a full-time Head of Comms or engaging an agency, a company brings in a seasoned communications leader for a fraction of their time, typically one or two days a week.
Unlike simplistic “freelancer” or “part-time” arrangements, fractional leaders become deeply embedded in the business, providing the strategic counsel and hands-on execution that a lean in-house team may not have access to, at a cost that is comparable to hiring a mid-level manager on a full-time payroll, and definitely less than a typical agency retainer.
The second part of that shift is what has led to ACID—a fractional consultancy designed to ensure everyone wins.
a fractional consultancy?
ACID is a fractional consultancy that leverages fractional comms veterans and domain experts to achieve their client’s business outcomes, in less time and for less money.
In traditional agencies, brands and companies pay expensive retainers for access to full-time comms managers, but in reality, each brand only receives a fraction of the attention it pays for.
On top of this, each brand’s account is managed primarily by junior executives, even though they pay for retainers that are pegged to the compensation of senior directors. Agencies can charge upwards of S$15,000 a month, while only two junior executives with less than two years of experience generate the bulk of the output.
ACID was designed as an alternative to the tired traditional agency model—with us, you’re guaranteed senior-only support, you'll always receive experienced counsel that moves the needle on business outcomes, and you’ll pay less than a retainer at a reputable network agency.
a win-win-win
ACID’s model is designed to be a win-win-win: our clients get access to world-class communications leadership at a fair price, our consultants get to do meaningful work with clients they believe in, and we get to build a sustainable business that is not predicated on the exploitation of junior talent.
For companies and startups, the benefits are immense. You get access to C-1 level experience without the overhead of a full-time hire. You get a strategic partner who is invested in your business outcomes, not in maximising their billable hours. And you get higher quality work, delivered in less time, from someone who has seen how things play out and what needs to be done.
For senior comms professionals, ACID’s unique model offers a new lease on life. It provides the autonomy to choose their clients, the flexibility to determine the value of their time, and the ability to escape the burnout culture of the traditional agency model.
It allows them to do what they want to do—good work with brands they believe in—without the bureaucracy, misaligned incentives, and toxic politics of a traditional agency.
The traditional agency model, with its bloated overhead, misaligned incentives, and human cost, is a relic. As the forces of economic change and technological disruption continue to intensify, its decline is not just likely; it is inevitable.
The future of strategic communications belongs to more agile, more transparent, and more value-driven models.