What CMOs really want from their agencies
What happens when more than 700 senior marketers are given a space to speak candidly with no agencies, consultants or technology platforms in the room?
At our latest StudioGrow session, Mark Evans and Ritchie Mehta took us inside Golden Nuggets, the tightly curated CMO community they created to capture what marketing leaders are really thinking about the industry’s most pressing questions.
Every Wednesday, members receive a carefully framed provocation. The conversation unfolds under Chatham House Rule, before being distilled into a weekly digest, audio summary and executive presentation.
As Mark explained, the idea emerged from a persistent disconnect between clients and agencies.
“It felt like there was just a lot of guessing going on, which has a very material impact on everybody: the CMO who doesn’t deliver on expectations within the organisation, and the agency that doesn’t fulfil its potential, either in the pitch or post-pitch.”
Their insights offered an unusually direct view of how CMOs are approaching agency relationships, pitches, in-housing and commercial pressure.
The agency model is not dead, but it must evolve
The majority of CMOs still believe in the value of agencies, particularly within hybrid operating models. However, they are becoming much clearer about what external partners must contribute.
Agencies can no longer rely on scale, headcount or a broad list of services as evidence of value. Clients want a distinctive capability that would be difficult, expensive or impractical to recreate internally.
Ritchie described this as an agency’s “edge”.
“In a world where a CMO has very limited time, they are far more interested in what edge you bring.”
For buyers, this means evaluating agencies according to the capability gap they genuinely fill. Can they introduce specialist talent, technology or perspectives the internal team does not possess? Can they bring the outside world into the organisation and challenge internal assumptions?
For agencies, the implication is equally clear: simplify the proposition, articulate what makes it defensible and stop presenting increasingly commoditised services as differentiation.
Relationships break before pitches begin
One of the session’s most significant findings was that 40% of agency relationships break down within two years. More strikingly, 96% of CMOs acknowledged that the issues triggering a pitch often begin on the client side.
This should prompt both parties to examine the relationship well before a formal review becomes necessary.
Why tissue sessions matter
Mark and Ritchie highlighted that tissue and chemistry sessions remain significantly underused, despite often influencing the outcome of a pitch before the formal presentation even begins. These sessions give clients and agencies the opportunity to test chemistry, clarify the challenge and surface concerns early, rather than waiting until pitch day to discover that expectations are misaligned.
As Mark put it, “In the very best pitches I ran, the decision was made before the proper pitch started,” because the agency that builds trust early gains a meaningful first-mover advantage.
Clients should therefore create more opportunities to understand the people who will actually do the work, not only the senior leaders presenting on pitch day. Agencies, meanwhile, should treat tissue sessions as a chance to listen, challenge constructively and build trust, rather than simply rehearsing the final recommendation.
Commercial accountability must be shared
CMOs are under increasing pressure to defend budgets and demonstrate outcomes, particularly as CFOs become more influential in marketing decisions.
That pressure is changing what clients expect from agencies. There was clear frustration at how slowly some agencies are moving towards more outcomes-oriented models.
This does not mean every engagement can, or should, be reduced to a performance fee. It does mean both parties need greater alignment around the commercial problem, the measures of success and their respective responsibilities for achieving it.
The agencies most likely to thrive will not simply promise outputs. They will help CMOs explain, defend and improve marketing’s contribution to the wider business.
The overriding message from the session was not that clients need fewer agencies. It was that they need more valuable ones: partners with a genuine edge, commercial fluency and the confidence to invest in the relationship long before the pitch begins.
Want to learn more?
Mark and Ritchie’s Golden Nuggets community gives senior marketers access to candid peer conversations on the issues shaping the CMO agenda, while their weekly reports give agencies a rare window into what marketing leaders are really thinking.
If you are a marketer interested in joining the community, or an agency interested in accessing the reports and insights, reach out to Mark and Ritchie directly on LinkedIn to learn more.
