48% of strategists feel their client doesn’t pay enough: WARC study

News Delhi: Strategists worldwide are looking for opportunities to demonstrate their value, as budget cuts and the evolution of AI disrupt the discipline. These are key findings included in The Future of Strategy 2024 report, released today by WARC. 

This annual WARC study highlights challenges facing agency strategists and outlines three ways to reignite the discipline, pivotal to the marketing ecosystem. 

The research is based on a global survey with 1,148 strategists worldwide, the majority of which are agency-side, fielded between July-August 2024, as well as topics explored at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and discussions with strategists from around the world.

Lena Roland, Content Director, WARC Strategy, said, “Our annual Future of Strategy report acts as a temperature check for how strategists are feeling about the state of the discipline.The report looks at how strategy careers are evolving, the biggest forces impacting the function, and the core values strategists can bring to help marketers get a more realistic understanding of people and cultural trends.”  

The report looks at key challenges facing agency strategists today, and outlines three ways to reignite the discipline:

Top challenges facing agency strategists include

1. Lack of ‘whole’ strategy thinking

Specialists roles are important but the ‘splintering’ of strategy can be problematic, especially if teams are not connected to clients’ broader brand and business goals. 

Suzanne Powers, Founder, Powers Creativity, said, “Specialism is incredibly important, but perhaps all the tiny cuts and/or slivers of the strategic skill set, while well intentioned to bring in needed expertise, have eroded the power and magic of ‘whole’ strategy thinking a.k.a. diagnosing, designing and activating the plan for the total system.”

2. Strategy is undervalued: Only one in four strategists (24%) agree that clients pay sufficiently for the value of their work

Great strategy can have a profoundly positive impact on clients’ business, yet the impact of strategy can be hard to measure and prove.

Half of all strategists (48%) disagree that clients pay sufficiently for the value of their work, and only one in four agree (24%). This is consistent across all markets.

Geraldine Gaillemin, Managing Partner, The BluePrint, said, “(Strategists) are often essential to winning the client over during the pitch and longer term a key holder of the senior client relationship. Yet it’s hard for them to prove their value and their worth during a time when more and more is being asked of them.”

According to the survey, the dominant agency time based business model needs a rethink: 44% of strategists prefer a fixed/project based fee.

3. Core skills are under threat: Only 43% of strategists agree that their company invests in training to support their professional development

Reduced training budgets, tight deadlines, hybrid working, and senior talent leaving agencies mean a skills gap is emerging. Strategists must hone their critical thinking or risk becoming mere transmitters of information.

Only 43% of strategists agree that their company invests in training to support their professional development, with 31% disagreeing. Regionally, agreement is lowest among strategists in North America (39%).

Three opportunities to reignite strategy and address the client-strategy disconnect

1. Adopt ‘whole’ strategy thinking

Strategy is bigger than an ad or digital idea. This means knowing the big picture and ensuring different ‘flavours’ of strategy are working in service of the broader brand and business goals. 

Leaders should ensure the whole team knows and understands the ‘big ambition’. Knowledge of the commercial side of a client's business is important.

2. Understand the customer

Marketers have lost sight of the customer, and this is evident in client briefs. Just 24% of strategists say detailed information about the target audience features in the majority of client briefs, while 13% say this information does not feature in any briefs.

Strategists can close the client disconnect by showing clients they understand their customers and can help clients get to a better understanding of market dynamics, and the diagnosis of their brand.

3. Burst the ‘strategy bubble’

Marketers can operate in a ‘bubble’ far removed from the reality of their customers’ lives. Strategists must retain the link to ‘real life’, and can do so by using a variety of research tools, including in-person research.

Half of all strategists (48%) say they are spending less time conducting in-person research compared to last year.

The impact of AI on strategy - “cautiously progressive”:

More than half of strategists (59%) say they are integrating AI into their strategy development process in a “cautiously progressive” way

A fifth (20%) of strategists are taking an aggressive approach, and looking to adopt AI whenever they can. Speedy access to research and insight (74%) and streamlining repetitive tasks (74%) are the top opportunities strategists see in leveraging AI in the strategy process. 

The most significant limitations for the use of AI remain the same as in 2023: skewed outputs (71%), lack of creativity and originality (63%) and ethical / legal considerations (48%). 

Proving the value of strategy is even more important in the age of AI. Strategists must identify the skills that AI can not replace, such as getting buy-in for a strategy and double down on them. 

Liston Pitman, Strategy Director, eatbigfish, says: “AI can spit out an idea, but it can’t get a group of people aligned around or invested in it. It can’t see your culture or truly understand the humans who make it up. And it can’t go meeting-to-meeting, layer-by-layer advocating for the strategy.”

A lack of progress in DEI and climate:

11% of strategists in North America have had no discussion around DEI

DEI and climate are largely absent from client briefs, highlighting the tension of balancing commercial priorities with better outcomes for people and planet.

Commitment to DEI is waning, especially in North America, where 11% of strategists have had no discussion around DEI, up from 5% in 2023. 

Globally, 68% of strategists agree that it is important for brands to take a stand on environmental issues (7 percentage point drop from 2023).