How Agencies Win: Navigating the New Business Landscape

The agency model is undergoing a fundamental reset. After years of incremental change, we've reached an inflection point where the old playbook no longer applies. However, what truly excites me is that this disruption isn't just about survival—it's about unlocking unprecedented growth for both our agencies and the clients we serve.

Over the past 12 months, leading our global growth and client teams, we've welcomed more than 50 new clients into the DEPT family. Each conversation, each pitch, each partnership has reinforced the same truth: the agencies winning today are the ones who've fundamentally reimagined what it means to be a partner. Success today requires us to rethink how we operate, what we offer, and how we create measurable impact.

The Growth Opportunity in Disruption

Through dozens of client engagements this year, five seismic shifts have emerged as the defining forces reshaping our industry - and each represents a massive growth opportunity for those willing to lead.

• Clients now expect B2C experiences—and this expectation creates immediate competitive advantage.

Think about your last online purchase: seamless, personalised, instant. Your clients want the same from you. In our new business conversations, the agencies that advance aren't necessarily those with the biggest case studies - they're the ones who make the entire engagement feel effortless. This isn't just about smoother processes; it's about accelerating sales cycles and increasing conversion rates. When you deliver exceptional experiences from first contact, you grow faster. We've seen this firsthand: our most successful new client relationships began with interactions that felt more like partnerships than pitches.

• The convergence of creative and marketing unlocks exponential impact.

For too long, we've operated in silos—data teams brief creative teams, who then "make it sing." However, one pattern is unmistakable: clients choose partners who can integrate these disciplines from the outset. They're tired of playing telephone between their media agency, creative agency, and tech partner. The most successful agencies are building integrated teams where strategists, creatives, and data specialists collaborate in real-time. The result? Better results, consistently. And better results drive both client growth and agency expansion.

• AI and hyper-personalisation are revenue multipliers.

We're past the hype cycle and deep into implementation. In virtually every client conversation, AI isn't a nice-to-have - it's expected. The agencies that win aren't those that talk about AI; they're the ones deploying it to deliver personalisation at scale. This creates both better outcomes for clients and entirely new revenue streams for agencies. Every client conversation now has the potential to expand from campaign execution to transformation partnerships. That's growth.

• Trust is the ultimate growth driver.

In a world flooded with generative AI and deepfakes, authenticity has become the most valuable currency. What I've learned this year is that building a powerful, authentic reputation isn't just good ethics - it's a smart growth strategy. Our strongest new business wins came through referrals and a strong reputation, rather than cold outreach. Trust shortens sales cycles, increases client lifetime value, and generates referrals that no amount of marketing can buy. Your reputation becomes your most powerful business development engine.

• Consultative partnerships foster deeper, longer-lasting relationships from the outset.

The clients we've welcomed this year didn't want vendors to execute briefs - they wanted partners to drive business impact. This shift is transformational for agency growth. When you're embedded in client strategy rather than executing tactics, you become indispensable. Project fees become retained relationships. Single-channel work expands into full-funnel partnerships. This is how you build sustainable, compounding growth.

The Defining Question of Tomorrow

12 months on the frontlines reveal a fundamental shift: from transactional selling to meaningful impact. The agencies growing fastest obsess over client outcomes - real business growth, not just campaign metrics.

The industry is bifurcating. Some agencies cling to 2019's playbook - competing on price, operating in silos, treating new business as a numbers game. They're struggling. Others are transforming—building integrated capabilities, deploying AI at scale, and showing up as strategic partners. They're thriving.

The gap widens daily. Clients want partners who drive growth, not vendors who execute campaigns. The market rewards agencies that are willing to reimagine their model fundamentally.

The question isn't whether change is coming - it's already here. Will you lead the transformation, or will it transform you?

Andrew Dimitriou is the global chief client and growth officer for DEPT