The death of big agencies isn’t an asteroid-level extinction. There’s no one big cataclysmic event that saw a decline in the model that defined how creativity was sold for close to a century. It’s more a death by 1000 cuts, and 999 of those cuts are various forms of inefficiency at scale. RIP and all that, but it’s not all doom and gloom
We’re not here to celebrate the demise. Instead, think of this article like a post-mortem, looking at what went wrong and how we can turn those learnings into big opportunities for growth, unrestricted creativity, and bills without excessive bloat.
Why chasing the next big thing became a tipping point
What makes a big agency attractive? For brands that want to cut through the noise and connect with audiences, it’s often the promise of prestige, a laundry list of awards, and an account list that’s equally impressive. But behind each piece of silverware and each account won is a story that’s not as glamorous.
A constant need for big agencies to chase the next shiny thing means they’re always adjusting priorities. The resources and the people who won you over are put onto the next pitch, rather than doing the work you signed up for.
To make up for it, they’ll often throw bodies onto accounts to sort things out. Producers, junior creatives, strategists, account managers, account managers, account managers (seriously, what are y’all doing up there), and you get the picture. A lot of roles to keep the cogs moving, which means you end up paying for their internal machinery rather than the output. The person you’re briefing is then booking a meeting to brief someone else. It’s layers within layers, and time you’re paying for.
It’s bloated, it’s inefficient, it’s fun to work at, but it’s not the best for you, the client. Having been there myself in agencies big and small, I’ve seen how it plays out first-hand, which is why I wanted to be part of a different way, where the work is as pure as it can be, and the service clients receive reflects their bills.
Who is really accountable for your account?
As a side effect of this bloat, accountability thins out as teams expand. When your work is going through 10+ people, ownership becomes murky. It’s all fun and games when things go well, but when they go wrong, accountability is scarcely seen. In my experience, we often had CDs selling an idea that the client loved in the room, but when it came time to execute that idea and turn it into reality, they were nowhere to be seen.
So hours of meetings, planning, and late nights went into rebuilding an idea to match the reality of the resources available under the account. And who do you think paid for those hours and that wasted time?
Outside of campaign work, you’ll often have faces you don’t see or interact with working on your brand. And as time goes on and you’re no longer the new exciting name in their books, you’ll likely see a degradation in service. It’s the way things go, and why brands open up for new pitches after an average of 3.75 years.
Talent has been trickling out for some time
You’ve probably seen a lot of indie agencies open within the last five years, or been in touch with a gun creative who nails the freelance projects you send their way. The brutal truth of this is that some of the most talented people working at the big-name agencies are also sick of the inefficient machines they’ve become. They just want to work on cool projects and make their clients happy, and that’s way more common when you have a direct line to the client and work on the idea and execution yourself.
Look at Howatson+Company’s growth cap as an example. It shows that people starting indie agencies are often doing it as a means to create a model that’s sustainable, and they’re putting their money where the work is. And in this case, it’s not a new player entering the field, like countless new wave agencies; they are formed by the people who made incredible work for legacy agencies and have since moved into their own space. Same talent. Same work. Way less bloat. It results in happier clients and happier workers.
If you’re a founder looking for someone who will work on your brand with the same passion you have, who are you going to choose? A direct line to senior creatives and operators, or a prestige brand that’s running on a model that doesn’t work like it used to?
The rise of the boutique solution
Inefficiencies of scale and cost aside, the rise of the boutique agency has come about during a time of rapid change. Brands need more than a 30s TVC that gets trade press flowers, they need to connect with their audience through mediums that go against the rules of thumb big agencies are built on.
Lo-fi, direct work, like a cost-effective content strategy, can move the dial for your brand without the need for excessive fanfare. Your one-off brand strategy could give you the tools to deliver award-winning work in-house. It’s a different game now, and it’s changing almost daily.
The real difference, and the one that matters most in a world increasingly dominated by AI slop, is the humans behind the work. It’s more important than ever to have direct lines to the people creating your creative and servicing your brand.
And if you are in that spot and want to connect with people who think the same, drop us a line at Heretics. We’d love to talk. And believe me when I tell you, anytime you work with us, it’s Sam and me directly. No layers of account management. Just work we can all be proud of.