Look Ahead

Agency as Marketing Purveyor

Finance evolves from tracking labor to managing portfolios of monetized products, IP and technology. As agencies move from fee-based services to selling proprietary solutions, finance teams will become stewards of multi-stream revenue portfolios rather than time-based P&Ls. This means shifting from utilization and realization metrics toward margin management, recurring revenue and asset/product performance. Revenue recognition will grow more complex, blending licensing, subscriptions and variable outcomes. Finance functions will need to master product P&L reporting, capitalized development costs and new pricing governance—reflecting a business model closer to a SaaS or tech consultancy than a traditional professional service firm.

The CFO becomes a growth architect, not just a cost controller. In this model, the finance function must be reoriented around capital allocation and commercialization strategy. The CFO’s remit expands from financial reporting to helping identify and fund internal ventures—evaluating build vs. buy vs. partner decisions across technology and platforms. Rather than simply ensuring margin compliance, finance leaders will orchestrate cross-functional investments that convert intellectual property into recurring revenue. Forecasting will emphasize customer lifetime value and renewal economics rather than project margins alone.

Financial governance will need new transparency standards. As agencies straddle roles—both “advisor” and “provider”—finance will have to manage dual-accountability frameworks that separate client funds from proprietary commerce. Reselling media, tech or data introduces principal-versus-agent risk, demanding new disclosure practices and governance mechanisms to preserve trust. Expect more formalized margin reporting, clearer delineation of internal vs. pass-through revenue and an expanded role for internal audit and compliance. The finance organization becomes both regulator and commercial enabler.

Compensation equity and capability models will be rewritten. Traditional job architecture built on title and billability will no longer map to a hybrid enterprise. Roles such as product manager, data engineer or platform architect will require new pay bands and incentive logic. Compensation philosophy will need to balance client-service reliability with innovation-driven value creation. Expect a rise in equity-linked or long-term incentive programs, especially in PE-backed or platform-oriented networks where the line between “agency” and “tech enterprise” continues to blur.

Compensation models will pivot from rewarding effort to rewarding enterprise value creation. Staff and leadership incentives will increasingly align with commercial outcomes rather than labor inputs. Agencies will begin using tiered or royalty-style reward systems for those who create or scale proprietary tools and solutions. For many, this will mean smaller emphasis on individual billability and larger focus on team-based or product-line profitability. The highest earners in the next-generation agency won’t necessarily be those with the highest billable rates—but those who generate or commercialize scalable assets.