Yes, outcome-based pay is en vogue. But none of it matters if agencies aren’t using AI at the scale the economics require. And that only happens if clients are willing to pay for it. Most aren’t.
S4 Capital CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said as much on his marketing group’s latest earnings call yesterday — a cold dose of realism about the hype that comes after the billable hour. For S4, the answer is subscriptions: fixed annual fees bundling senior talent with agentic workflows, brand-specific knowledge bases and quarterly software-style upgrades.
Sceptics call it the agency retainer rebranded. Believers see it as an on-ramp to a world beyond the billable hour. The truth is probably somewhere in between — at least for now. The reasons are outlined here and here, but Sorrell’s own framing cuts to it.
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