A look back at our receipts from late April 2026 reveals a distinct thread of anxiety around the future of the advertising agency. How would they adapt to increasingly powerful platforms and a growing demand for data transparency? The question of a reckoning seemed to be in the air.
On the one hand, there was a cynical take, articulated by Garett Sloane, that the tools being built by major platforms would become so ubiquitous that clients may not "even need an agency um to to do some of this stuff." This reflects a long-running fear: that technology would eventually automate away core agency functions, particularly around media buying and campaign management.
At the same time, there was a sense that the industry itself was ripe for a shakeup. Michael Kingston offered a candid view that perhaps only "the top 10% of agencies are are truly in it for the customer to win," with everyone else just "looking for finally a a clean set of data to make better decisions." This suggests a landscape where many agencies were perceived as falling short of true partnership, creating an opening for new models or providers to emerge.
The topic was clearly a hot one. You could hear the journalistic gears turning in another exchange with Garett Sloane, who, when prompted about the story, immediately started asking about sources. "I we'll we'll go write that story," he said, confirming the press was actively chasing the narrative.
**What we're watching:** The tension between these two pressures — technological displacement and the demand for genuine client-centricity — continues to define the agency landscape. We're tracking how the leaders are differentiating themselves and whether Kingston's "top 10%" are pulling away from the pack.