[Marketing Week] Bob Koigi: The end of the billable hour?

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Agency Mania Solutions report finds traditional labour-based remuneration has declined sharply, while fixed-fee, output-based and performance-linked models gain ground.

Global brands are reassessing how they pay advertising and marketing agencies as AI changes the economics of producing creative, media and marketing work. The shift is moving commercial relationships away from measuring effort towards assessing outcomes, value and impact.

The direction of travel is clear: brands increasingly want agency compensation to reflect what the work delivers rather than how many hours or people are required to produce it.

AI is likely to accelerate that rethink. If agencies can deliver work faster with fewer resources, time becomes an increasingly unreliable measure of value. But the report suggests the answer will not be a single replacement model. Different disciplines have different measurability, meaning creative work, production, media and paid social may require different combinations of fixed, performance and value-based compensation.

The bigger challenge may be operational rather than financial. The research identifies strong briefing, trust and quality feedback as more important to agency performance than financial incentives. This suggests better commercial models cannot compensate for unclear scopes, weak collaboration or poor communication.

At the same time, agency relationships are becoming more complex, with more stakeholders, shorter timelines and greater demands for data, technology and transparency. Brands may therefore need to rethink not just remuneration, but the entire agency operating model.

The report points to a fundamental shift: the future agency relationship is likely to reward outcomes, but achieving those outcomes will depend on clearer expectations, stronger partnerships and greater transparency.

Campaigns of the week

ING and AKQA have launched The Perfect Job, an international employer brand campaign built around ING’s employee value proposition, Where You Shape What's Next.

Standard Chartered has introduced Move Ahead, a global brand campaign inspired by its Formula 1 partnership and the role of preparation, precision and sustained performance in achieving results.

KFC Australia has unveiled More Tender Than Ever, a campaign by Special supporting its Chicken Tenders and expanded range of 11 dipping sauces through a fictional boyband concept.

Agencies and accounts

iO has been selected by SETAR as its digital partner for the full redesign and redevelopment of the telecom provider’s website and webshop.

Spanish Christmas brand El Almendro has appointed Havas Creative to develop its Christmas campaign for the 2026-2027 season, following a competitive pitch.

M+C Saatchi Talk is now the lead UK agency for consumer PR, SEO and GEO by Frasers Group, covering Sports Direct, FRASERS and FLANNELS.

Partnerships and acquistions

Hearst UK has partnered with Intrepid Travel to create a programme of branded adventure holidays built around four of its consumer brands: Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Women’s Health and Runner’s World.

VIOOH and TuMedio have announced plans to expand programmatic access to digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising inventory across Spain and Portugal, adding more than 500 digital screens to VIOOH’s supply-side platform.

Adobe and the National Hockey League (NHL) have entered a partnership to use AI to develop and personalize fan experiences across the league’s digital and physical touchpoints.

Appointments

We Are Social has appointed Jeff Bowerman as Executive Creative Director in the UK, bringing more than two decades of digital advertising experience to the agency’s creative leadership team.

Havas Media Network has announced the appointments of Kunal Chakravarty as Head of New Business & Marketing, ANZ, and Agata Adamczak as Head of Organic & AI Performance within the Consumer Science & Analytics team.

Other major news of the week

RTL AdAlliance, RTL Group’s international advertising sales house, has opened an office in Spain as it expands its Total Video offering in one of Europe’s video advertising markets.

Contagious has released its Contagious Brands Report 2026, highlighting 45 brands from around the world that challenge category conventions and seek to stand out in crowded markets.

Bob Koigi is the editor-in-chief of Marketing Report.One

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