Are Ad Agencies the Next Generation Insights Leaders?
The slow subversion of the traditional insights advisor
This week a large population of insights and ad agency personnel will collide in southern France for the annual Cannes Lions festival; the marketing world’s annual beachfront circus, where martech/adtech companies, agencies and brands rub shoulders and boast about their new offerings and successes. Amongst the mimosas, beach pavilions, and yacht parties, a new trend is emerging: agencies as curators of specialized knowledge and data for brands.
Been There Done That: Agencies and Market Research
Advertising agencies have been flirting with market research for decades. It’s always seemed like a logical pairing; agencies have the strategic vision and client relationships; research firms provide the data and credibility.
However, the dance often ended with two left feet. I’ve seen this firsthand having been in meetings with agency reps and brand marketers delivering the unwelcome news that a campaign has flopped in spectacular fashion. I never received a more evil eye than from the agency reps unhappy with measurement outcomes. Still, despite this perceived conflict of interest, agencies have long known that data and knowledge is key to performance, credibility and client longevity. And because of that awareness, we’ve seen agencies buy into the insights space.
Consider Interpublic Group (IPG)’s acquisition of NFO back in 2000. It seemed brilliant, integrate deep consumer insights into advertising strategy. But this marriage highlighted the cultural differences between traditional marketing research and agency models. Clients questioned the independence of the insights produced as agencies aim to create interesting advertising, so the perceived impartiality of their market research offers became a sticking point. Also, a major accounting scandal diverted IPG leadership’s attention from this integration for years. The divestiture of the asset to TNS in 2008 was a straightforward decision, as the company focused on streamlining operations to regain investor confidence.
Then there’s the WPP and Kantar saga. WPP’s ownership of Kantar was an even bigger play, signaling ambitions for agency-integrated insights at scale. However, with WPP’s service led portfolio approach, growth through client/revenue acquisition was the currency that fueled investments. Meanwhile, Kantar had reached saturation and needed investment in data and infrastructure to drive future growth of a model outside of the WPP norm. As WPP started seeing major shifts coming in the advertising and media market, the decision to divest managerial control of Kantar to Bain Capital became logical and practical.
Not to be left behind, Publicis took a different tack, acquiring Digitas and Razorfish, digital agencies with rich analytics capabilities. While successful as digital shops, these acquisitions didn’t transform Publicis into a credible player in core market research. However, this was enough to show the value of a data led approach and Publicis’ later acquisition of Epsilon provided the company with a treasure trove of consumer data and sophisticated analytics, enhancing its ability to deliver insights and real-time activation capabilities. Perhaps this move hints at the first genuine success of an agency in bridging the gap between advertising strategy and deep consumer insights.
Agency Business Model Evolution
The Death of the 15% Model
One of the fundamental challenges for bringing marketing research and agencies together has been a structural challenge: the compensation models of both entities.
Looking back, it’s clear the way agencies earn revenue has steadily evolved, setting up their most recent play for consumer insights leadership. A couple of decades ago advertising agencies operated on a commission model, taking a 15% cut of media spend, a profitable and straightforward system for traditional media. The rise of digital and programmatic advertising shattered this model, creating a complex, opaque supply chain that prompted clients to demand greater transparency. In response, many agencies established ‘black box’ trading desks, engaging in media arbitrage by buying inventory in bulk and reselling it to clients at an undisclosed markup to protect their margins. Client pressure, landmark industry reports like the ANA’s 2016 study, and the growing trend of brands in-housing their own marketing capabilities eroded this practice.
The Shift Toward Tech and Data Services
Today, agencies are navigating a fragmented and competitive landscape by diversifying their revenue streams. They rely on labor-based retainers and project fees, while also adopting high-risk, high-reward performance models tied to business outcomes. They are also now moving upstream to offer strategic consulting and developing sophisticated technology and data services. This is helping clients manage first-party data for delivering insights and helping to position themselves as indispensable partners in a complex digital world.
While the measurement based selling practice of marketing research firms hasn’t changed, through sheer tenacity and forced evolution Agencies have become smarter and savvier about the value of the insights, analytics, modeling, and real-time optimization, many now sitting on mountains of real-time data, richer, deeper, and timelier than traditional market research sources.
Agency Superpowers: Client Proximity & Transparency
Strategic Access to Power
Agencies have a close partnership with the Chief Marketing Officer, giving them direct strategic influence within client organizations. When the CMO is looking for help in determining how to measure marketing effectiveness, it’s more often a senior agency data lead or technologist who steps in to guide the conversation, not someone from a traditional measurement firm.
This senior-level engagement provides agencies privileged access to critical business problems, enabling rapid, actionable responses. In contrast, insights firms rarely have direct connections at such senior levels. Even when client organizations have an executive dedicated to measurement, research firms’ contacts live further down within the marketing organization, among the managers responsible for measurement or analytics.
The Risk of Proximity
This close partnership also means agencies fly closer to the sun, becoming vulnerable to the frequent turnover of CMOs and shifts in marketing strategies. Agencies often find themselves caught up in endless pitch cycles, shouldering blame when marketing initiatives falter. Meanwhile, measurement firms fly under the radar, enjoying longevity with measurement programs that often run for years, if not decades.
Evolving Attitudes Toward Conflict of Interest
As a result, marketing research leaders looking at agencies often feel comfort in that agencies remain conflicted, they produce campaigns and then measure their effectiveness, raising eyebrows at impartiality. The credibility gap remains agencies’ Achilles’ heel, challenging their attempts to dominate the insights arena.
But here’s something worth pondering: as transparency increases and more data flows into client-owned systems, will the conflict-of-interest conversation lose its sting? We’ve already seen clients become comfortable with major tech platforms (Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok) grading their own homework. While there’s some level of MRC oversight involved, the underlying acceptance is there: self-measurement is now part of the game. Could this signify a broader philosophical shift where concerns over conflicts of interest fade into the background, or at least become less of a deal breaker?
The Methodology Gap—and How It’s Closing
Then there’s the question of rigor. While agencies excel at short-term analytics and real-time reactions, they still struggle with methodological depth. Agencies often prioritize quick wins and flashy insights over the rigorous, methodical approach needed for deep, strategic consumer understanding.
However, this is changing. As agencies chase the generative AI future, they are leaning in on talent acquisition that centers on AI, data, and statistics. A side effect of this shift is an increase in raw talent around data, statistics, and methods. Browse through the open job opportunities at leading hold co’s and you’ll find more roles than ever that carry a requirement for statistical backgrounds, and a deep understanding of data and data systems.
Market Research Firms: Strengths and Shortcomings
So if agencies have better relationships with clients, deeper technical knowledge of advertising and consumer data technologies, growing insights talent pools and a market open to self measurement, what do traditional marketing research firms bring to the table?
It all boils down to neutrality, history, continuity, and relationships. Clients trust market research firms because they are neutral arbiters and have been functioning in that role for decades. Entropy, or changing the way things are done, is the hardest obstacle to overcome. Not only that, the most successful marketing research firms have invested in and developed decades of expertise in methodologies, frameworks and research operations that agencies lack. Beyond that, unlike agencies that are working toward a short-term success (the campaign), marketing research firms have positioned themselves as longer term arbiters of brand success (despite my POV that they’ve failed). This positioning has clients returning to the Marketing Research company well for new insights and POVs on how to get meaningful results.
Yet research firms move at glacial speeds compared to agile agencies. Legacy infrastructure, siloed data, and outdated business models often hobble their ability to deliver timely insights. This sluggishness is problematic in a world demanding real-time decision-making. While the agency world tries to reinvent themselves for an AI first world, marketing research companies are trying to navigate private equity exits and restructures rather than solve for the next big thing.
What’s Different This Time?
The Evolution from Bespoke to Scalable
When we compare the prior wave of agency-led research efforts (NFO/Kantar) to how agencies chase insights today, there’s a marked difference. Prior models leaned on bespoke solutions, deep client service, and traditional methodologies, valuable but misaligned with the pace and structure of modern marketing. In today’s AI-first landscape, speed, scale, and data integration trump long slide decks and focus groups. Brands want immediate answers, scale across touchpoints, integrated workflows, and systems that can plug into their broader marketing and media infrastructure.
Relationships vs. Capability
While consulting-led research firms still hold significant sway through long-standing client relationships and trust, many now rely more on those personal connections than on the technical or strategic edge they once offered. That leaves them vulnerable because brands don’t just look for a sounding board, but for partners who can power the next wave of innovation.
Agencies may have a better position. They’ve developed from executional partners to data-enabled strategists, capable of offering brands unified solutions across media, measurement, and modeling. And with data at the center of everything from campaign performance to personalization, agencies have more levers to pull and more systems at their fingertips than most research firms ever did.
The Potential Winners: Data as a Service (DaaS)
Leaner, Faster, Plug-and-Play
Competing for attention with the CMO will not be easy and even then, when marketing leadership finds what a measurement company offers valuable, more often than not it’ll be data and they’ll delegate marketing measurement integration to their ad agency.
Maybe the best path forward is an if you can’t beat them, join them approach. Everyone is mining data and unique analytical solutions, regardless of their client-facing approach. Market research firms adopting a Data as a Service model may end up thriving amid this brewing competition. DaaS providers don’t carry the same operational weight, no bloated teams, no cumbersome service models, just clean, fast data integration, an approach bound to see success in this new market. DaaS platforms offer flexibility, integration capabilities, and real-time insights, attributes crucial for competing against and with nimble agencies.
Neutral Ground for Execution and Measurement
Even more so, DaaS sidesteps the legacy turf wars that used to pit agency advice against third-party measurement firms. With neutral, API-ready data that plugs into the client’s tech stack, these platforms reduce the friction between marketing execution and measurement. They don’t just provide insights; they become the backbone of ongoing analytics.
As marketing becomes more automated, tech-integrated, and performance-driven, it’s the nimble, interoperable DaaS firms, those who speak fluent Snowflake, BigQuery, and clean room, that will win favor with CMOs and their agency partners. The good news is that there’s a growing ecosystem of these players: SimilarWeb, Qrious, Affinity Solutions, SambaTV to name a few. In contrast, traditional firms that can’t shed their dependency on person-hours and PowerPoint may struggle to remain relevant to marketing conversations.
Why Agencies Will Continue to Struggle
Still, agencies face a high bar. Their proximity to the CMO may grant access, but it also makes them the scapegoat when campaigns go sideways. Methodological rigor isn’t easily grafted onto creative DNA, and for all their tech, agencies still struggle with longitudinal thinking. This is because of their incentives, which are structurally designed around short-term impact, creating a fundamental misalignment with becoming a true long-term insights partner.
Another challenge is resistance to change. Many brands, especially larger ones, operate under a risk-averse mindset where entrenched partnerships persist not because of performance but because of inertia. As the old saying goes, “You don’t get fired for hiring IBM.” That same logic often protects traditional research vendors, even when agencies may offer faster, more integrated solutions. This creates a psychological and operational drag on the industry’s ability to evolve.
So while agencies are ascendant now and may look like the obvious future of insights, the real winners will be those who blend the strategic access and agility of agencies with the trusted depth and rigor of research-led thinking.
Is the Agency Threat Real This Time?
The Publicis/Epsilon acquisition should have been the distant thunder signaling a brewing storm. Publicis didn’t just gain data, it gained Epsilon’s deep expertise in consumer behavior, analytics, and real-time activation. This integrated capability is the competitive edge agencies need to challenge market research firms.
The trend toward programmatic everything could amplify agencies’ advantages further, notably when coupled with AI-driven analytics and the rise of connected TV. As connected TV and social becomes a dominant channel for video consumption, fragmentation will make traditional measurement techniques fall apart. In the fallout, agencies can harness consumer data alongside campaign performance metrics, offering near real-time optimization and targeting. If agencies can bridge their methodological gaps and bolster credibility, they might position themselves as genuine contenders in a measurement ecosystem that’s digital, fragmented, and addressable.
Thinking back to what’s happening this week, the evidence is plain to see. The Cannes Lions agenda tells a pretty simple story: agencies are leading the innovation charge with high-profile tech talks, AI planning tools, cloud-based measurement infrastructures, retail media data activations and agentic AI applications. Agencies are not just part of the conversation, they’re dominating it. Marketing research firms, by contrast, are tucked into smaller, more focused sessions, with a focus on brand tracking, media effectiveness, or new product introductions.
This shift is meaningful. Cannes has always reflected where the industry sees value heading, and this year it’s data-driven, AI-enabled, and activation-focused. If insights firms don’t move fast, they may find themselves sidelined at the very festival that once celebrated their analytical rigor.
What to Watch?
How can we spot the next moves? Here are some key trends to track:
Continued acquisitions by agencies of analytics or AI-driven startups.
Agency announcements led by Chief Technology Officers, Chief Data or AI Officers.
Significant agency investments in building dedicated insights team staffed with senior legacy research talent.
Continued expansion and bundling of real-time analytics and insights into media planning and buying through specialized agency teams.
Growing client acceptance of agency-produced research insights showed through increased budgets and strategic involvement.
CAGR/valuation of DaaS insights companies vs. advisory led insights firms.
Monitor these developments as they’ll signal how serious agencies are committing to this space.
Avoiding the Slow Boil
The agency community has always coveted the value that marketing research and insights firms create for brands. While the failures of past efforts might embolden research firms to harbor a sense of immunity, the threat from agencies is not hypothetical; it’s happening right now. Research firms are seeing their business moat dissolve into a puddle of value based on the client’s lack of desire for change, a dangerous operating model. Unlike efforts of the past, the signs this time are less obvious and more akin to the proverbial frog boiling in a pot of water. It will be the firms that adapt, embracing agility, real-time data access, unique collection methods and integration capabilities that will thrive. Those clinging to traditional methods risk becoming less relevant in the marketing organization.
Time is the one resource everyone is gifted, but it comes with a catch: it’s non-renewable and moves in one direction. Research firms still have time, but they’re operating in a landscape where velocity matters more than tenure. The data is moving, decisions are accelerating, and AI is making tomorrow feel closer than ever. If insights firms don’t find a way to keep pace, they’ll be remembered less for their depth and more for missing their moment.