AI & The Agency of the Future: Key Insights from Our 2025 Research

In January 2025, we surveyed 547 U.S.-based marketing agency decision-makers to see exactly how they’re using AI—and what obstacles and opportunities lie ahead. The findings were eye-opening. During our recent AI & The Agency of the Future webinar, we broke down the results and explored what all this means for the future of agency operations. 

Here’s a quick recap of what we uncovered and why you should care.

1. AI Has Shifted from “Optional” to Mission-Critical

One of the most striking stats from the research is that 91% of agencies are actively using AI in some form. It’s not a “nice-to-have” anymore; it’s on its way to becoming the default.

• Increased Productivity: A combined 92% of agencies report that AI boosts their day-to-day productivity. By offloading repetitive tasks like data wrangling or manual reporting, agency teams can focus on higher-impact work—like analysis, optimization, and creative strategy.
• Scale on Demand: 96% of respondents say AI is key to scaling their business. When your processes are streamlined, your team can serve more clients (and delight them) without exploding payroll or burning out talent.

For agency leaders managing teams and revenue goals, it’s a simple equation: more efficiency + the same staffing = better margins.

2. Making AI Actionable: Practical Applications & Real ROI

Once agencies embrace AI as essential, the next question becomes: Where is it delivering the most value? According to our survey respondents, AI isn’t just for experimentation; it’s making a measurable difference in core agency operations, especially in two main areas:

• Data & Insights – 74% of agencies use AI to make sense of their ever-growing sea of metrics, unify them from multiple platforms, and uncover hidden trends in hours instead of days. Rather than drowning in spreadsheets, teams can now move straight to strategic execution and optimization—accelerating their ability to deliver meaningful insights to clients.
  
  
• Campaign Strategy & Optimization – 72% of agencies rely on AI to allocate spend more effectively, tweak creative assets, and automate performance tracking. These capabilities ensure budgets are continuously optimized, messages are resonating, and campaigns run leaner and smarter.

The results speak for themselves: agencies report that data and insights is where AI has been most effective in terms of driving tangible improvements. It’s no wonder that 89% of respondents plan to increase their AI spend in the next year—with 41% specifically targeting AI that can transform raw data into actionable intelligence. For the agencies already employing data-driven AI solutions, the ROI is substantial: more efficient use of resources, better decision-making, and faster turnaround on client deliverables.

Beyond Efficiency—It’s About Revenue

When we asked agencies what they consider the biggest benefits of AI, three themes emerged:

1. Cost Savings & ROI (67%):
   Agencies judge AI’s success by whether it improves profitability—trimming overhead, speeding up workflows, and enabling a leaner, more productive operation.
   
   
2. Time Savings (60%):
   Automation frees staff from repetitive tasks. The result? Teams can spend more time on high-impact activities like creative strategy, client collaboration, and innovation.
   
   
3. Client Satisfaction (57%):
   Faster insights and faster results lead to happier clients. It’s that simple.
   
   

But the story doesn’t end with efficiency. 42% of agency leaders tell us improved profit margins are their top potential outcome from AI—meaning they’re not just cutting costs, they’re generating new revenue. How? By creating AI-centric service tiers (45% of agencies now sell AI-based solutions and automations as a service) and exploring value- or outcome-based pricing (28% have shifted away from standard billable hours to capture more revenue from AI-driven performance gains).

AI as a Catalyst for Growth

In short, AI isn’t just a back-office tool that shaves time off everyday tasks. It’s quickly becoming a core differentiator—one that forward-thinking agencies can package, promote, and sell. That helps explain why agencies using AI to unlock new services at scale aren’t just outpacing the competition in efficiency; they’re also scooping up new business opportunities.

3. Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Despite all the enthusiasm, implementing AI isn’t exactly plug-and-play for many agencies. Our research revealed the top challenges:

1. Technical Integration: 57% of respondents say this is slowing them down.
2. Resistance to Change: 55% wrestle with internal pushback, or fear that AI will replace (rather than assist) humans.
3. Lack of Expertise: 48% cite the need for specialized talent who can operate and optimize AI at scale.

If you’re in Operations Leadership, you know that solving these hurdles involves both solid strategy (getting buy-in from leadership and teams) and tech that plays nicely with your current stack. AI done wrong can lead to even more data silos and more frustration.

Cost, Complexity, & Culture

• Custom Solutions May Slow You Down: 32% of agencies attempted to build proprietary AI tools but ended up running into integration snags.
• Human Touch Still Matters: 55% worry about accuracy or losing a “human” dimension to their work. The bottom line? AI is a powerful collaborator, not a magic wand.

4. The Future is Agentic

So, what’s next after simply generating insights? AI Agents—intelligent, autonomous systems that don’t just analyze data but actually execute tasks. And agencies are taking note:

• Familiarity is High: 97% of agency folks say they’re at least somewhat aware of AI agents, with 59% already actively using them.
• Execution at Scale: Think budget optimizations running in the background, anomaly detection preventing wasted ad spend, and automated reporting delivered straight to clients’ inboxes.

Whether you’re a:

• Customer Success Leader: You’re responsible for delivering tangible improvements in performance and productivity to keep clients happy (and on board).
• Agency Product Builder: You’re innovating data platforms and AI-driven workflows, while balancing cost and speed to market.
• Data Analyst: You want fewer spreadsheets, more strategic insights, and bulletproof analytics.
• Agency Operations Head: You’re overseeing large-scale deployments and ensuring process efficiency, data integrity, and cross-channel alignment.

AI—and especially AI Agents—will be a game-changer in each scenario.

Ready for the Full Story?

This is just the tip of the informational iceberg. Download the complete AI & The Agency of the Future: 2025 Research Report for all the stats and insights on how today’s top agencies are using AI to outpace the competition—and how you can do the same.

If you missed the live webinar or want to revisit the key discussion points, the on-demand recording is also available.

‍