Last year’s agency review scene resembled what Stephan Argent, founder of pitch consultancy Listenmore, jokingly described as a “singles mixer on steroids,” with more than 150 pitches in total.
But with about 30 reviews already completed so far this year—including Rogers moving its creative assignment from Sid Lee to Publicis, and Metrolinx moving to Ogilvy—Argent predicts that 2023 could be similarly busy, with upwards of 120 reviews if the pace set during the first quarter continues.
“It’s busy,” said Argent. “We’re at mid-March and we’re at 30 reviews? Wow.” While there were 124 reviews in 2022, Argent said that a typical pre-pandemic year tended to see about 100 reviews.
While the pandemic “ice jam” that saw review activity grind to a halt for the better part of two years has been cleared, Argent said that’s not the primary reason for the sharp uptick in reviews in 2024.
Instead, he identified a few probable causes, from high turnover among both brands and agencies; to clients increasingly looking to bring functions like programmatic and digital production in-house; to inflationary pressures forcing clients to seek out cost-cutting measures.
The latter, he said in a recent blog post, “is a recipe for a tinderbox of change potentially as explosive as last year.”
Argent said he’d be surprised if budget cuts hadn’t already been completed by clients who’ve been anticipating a recession and high-interest rates. “I don’t think it’s just about saving money. I think it’s about ensuring that your teams are able to work most efficiently, and you’re maximizing the value from all of the efforts you’re putting out.”
The in-housing trend is also likely to continue, he said, noting that clients are “far more receptive” to the idea of taking more direct control of some aspects of their marketing—whether that’s programmatic buying, digital production. Clients, he said, are open to “responsible experimentation” with in-housing.
But he also identified the post-pandemic trend towards working from home as a key culprit in increased review activity, saying that a lack of face-to-face interaction can lead to breakdowns in the often-delicate relationship between client and agency. “Process is breaking down, culture is disappearing, and collaboration is becoming problematic,” he said.
Argent recounted a recent conversation with an agency CEO who had tried to institute a policy mandating employees work of the office three days a week, only to be rebuffed by employees who increasingly have the power to look elsewhere for employment if they don’t like an employer’s policies.
“How do you build culture, seamless process and camaraderie and teamwork, when everybody is working remotely?” he said. “I just don’t see how this can continue, and for everyone to expect agency relationships to run seamlessly.”
He said that parts of the client-agency relationship can “start to rattle” when not being properly addressed. “If it’s not fixed quickly, that’s going to raise the temperature on the relationship,” he said. “In the worst case, it’s going to go to a review.”
While online tools like Zoom and Google Meet are useful, they can’t replicate the in-person experience that is so crucial in a relationship-driven business such as marketing, he said. “If I were an agency CEO, I think I would have to be a lot tougher in having people back in the office to make the machine work properly… I don’t know how you do it otherwise.”
This is an industry that prides itself on coming up with creative solutions to business challenges, but Argent agreed that remote work is a tricky one for agency CEOs.
“Agencies need to take a long, hard look at their client list and figure out what’s working and what’s not, and where those clients have challenges, I think you do have to mandate [in-office work]. Maybe it’s not one-size-fits-all, but I do think there needs to be a long, hard look at how these remote relationships are working on a client-by-client basis.”
Clients and agencies, he said, would “do themselves a favour” to have a frank discussion about how their relationship is working and how it can be improved. “If you feel that the solution is mandating people back to work, that’s what you’ve got to do. Or do you want to lose the client?”
