“Agencies need to get their acts together to improve their value, delivery and strategic approach, which were all top reasons clients cited for ending relationships with agencies,” Koufman said.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for marketers. While the survey saw a decline in satisfaction with the value that agencies offer their clients, the reception of agencies’ strategic approaches improved overall when compared to Setup’s 2022 findings. Their conclusion: “Agencies are bringing strong strategies to the table, but charging too much for it in the clients’ eyes,” the report reads.
In addition, this year’s Marketing Relationship Survey showed that chemistry and professionalism are the two more important aspects for brands looking to select a new agency partner, while content creation and video was the agency service that saw the highest year-over-year increase in demand from clients.
The survey drew on responses from a mix of representatives from both traditional full-service and strictly digital agencies, 61% of whom work for a shop with between 500 and 10,000 employees. Agency respondents included Publicis Groupe/Razorfish, Sagepath Reply and Morrison Agency, according to Setup.
Representation from the client side included those from business-to-business brands and business-to-consumer brands, the bulk of whom hold director-level or higher positions at companies including Sam’s Club, Great Clips, Intuit Mailchimp, MGM Studios and Invesco. Over 90% of brand-side respondents identified themselves as having been involved in a past agency selection process.