Agentic AI: existential threat for agency jobs?

ppcnerd

i've been mulling over the macro shifts in our industry, and the rise of agentic AI feels like the tide finally going out after years of holding companies already tightening their belts. The real question isn't whether agencies will vanish - they won't, not entirely - but how many people will be left to do the work of five. clients are already realising they can automate the grunt work themselves, pushing more in-house. that leaves agencies asking fewer employees to deliver the same output, just faster. Someone in a similar thread said they'd choose a different career if starting over - something with tangible value, like nursing. It made me wonder: are the only safe roles relationship-based or partnership ones? Everything else feels like a countdown

buggedout

Holding cos have been tightening their belt long before the AI boogeyman came to town.

Will agentic AI eliminate the need for ad agencies? probably not.

But, more work will likely be moved in house as clients figure out they can "do it themselves", agencies will continue to ask fewer employees to do the work of multiples more, and so on.

Some people will have good careers in 5-10 years, others will get tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop and find new ways to make a living.

If I were starting over, I'd pick a different career to pursue... something in the sciences that provides tangible value, job security, and generally is a net benefit to society. Maybe nursing?

backlinker

From personal experience, the C-suite at many holding companies still operates on a surface-level understanding of what AI and automation actually do. The people who will stay relevant aren't necessarily the ones who can code, but the ones who can apply these tools to real-world business problems.

That "M-shaped" skill profile is spot on - it's what I've been calling T-shaped plus one extra vertical. Two or more deep specialisms (say, local SEO + AI workflow automation), combined with a broad willingness to learn. Advertising is a genuinely interdisciplinary field: art, psychology, sociology, technology, operations. You can't just be a technical wizard or a creative alone anymore.

So yes, I'm cautiously positive as well. The mass layoffs will happen, but they'll prune the people who are coasting on outdated workflows. Those willing to embed themselves in the messy reality of how businesses actually work and master the new tools will remain indispensable.

dailygrind

Probably. I've seen the same pattern at my shop - lost two SMB accounts this year to automated "marketing stacks" that basically wrap an LLM in a pretty dashboard.

Here's how I see it playing out:

The long tail - micro-businesses that never cared about brand voice, just cheap output. Gone first.
Mid-market - portfolio companies in PE hands where CAC/LTV ratios are everything. They'll trade quality for a 30% cost save without blinking.
Enterprise - the last holdout. They pay for real strategy, not just content. But even there, budgets are shrinking.

We're all fighting over a shrinking pool of clients that actually value human insight. Meanwhile, agencies pitching "AI-enhanced" services are just delaying the inevitable race to the bottom.

pixelpusher

Honestly, I think everyone's looking at this the wrong way. The panic over agentic AI replacing agency jobs is a distraction. What's actually killing us is the race to the bottom on cost. Every client I work with is slashing headcount and shifting budget to offshore teams that'll do it for 60% less-not because some AI agent outperforms them. The offshoring trend has been eating margins for years, and AI is just the convenient scapegoat.

The real brittle part isn't the technology, it's the business model. Agencies that survive will be the ones charging for strategy and execution that offshore can't replicate, not the ones worrying about whether a chatbot can write a meta ad copy. If you're an agency employee, the threat isn't a language model-it's the client who's already figured out they can get two juniors in Manila for the price of one of yours.

marketingmule

No lie, I’m just whistling past the graveyard at this point. After 30+ years as an editor I really have no idea where this all goes. I’ve never seen anything as disruptive and I started out working on film. So I’ve seen some changes.

justauser

The farther we get into this, the less concerned I become, personally. We're seeing AI is crazy expensive and inconsistently effective, and nothing about that appears to be changing.

budgetburner

Absolutely. People love to blame the shiny new thing instead of admitting the economy's been circling the drain. AI is the perfect scapegoat-makes management look forward-thinking when they're really just trimming headcount because revenue's flat. Seen it happen at three different agencies now. Funny how the "AI efficiencies" always seem to cut the same roles that were already on shaky ground.

dusting

I've been watching this space closely, and the pattern is clear. Execution-heavy roles-basic copywriting, asset production-are getting squeezed. Holding companies are already trimming those operational layers. That's not a prediction, it's happening.

But here's the thing: clients almost never know what they actually need or why. They have a vague sense of 'do something with AI' but no blueprint. The agency career that survives this decade won't be about being an operator. It'll be about being an architect. If you can own the strategy layer, orchestrate agentic systems, and translate a messy business problem into a clear creative direction, you remain indispensable. everyone else is competing for the scraps that a model can churn out in seconds.

socialbutterfly

Honestly, I think the real risk isn't from AI replacing us - it's from the AI bubble bursting.

☝️ Right now the tech is way too expensive for mass adoption
😤 Users genuinely dislike it (clunky, unreliable, creepy)
📉 When the hype cycle crashes, that's when the economy takes a hit - not because AI did the work

We'll see a wave of layoffs, but from a macro collapse, not from agentic workflows. Stay lean, stay nimble, but don't panic over the robots just yet.

ranktracker

Agentic AI is just cope to reduce headcount and run skeleton crews while we have this recession. Directors would love if one guy could do 5 jobs so they buy into the lies of AI companies. When AI companies have to answer with profits to investors, that's when we'll know if companies need real people or not.

And for the people who are using AI for everything, are you being paid the wage of all the people you replaced?

pixelpusher

Here's the uncomfortable truth no one wants to admit: most agencies are going to slash headcount because AI looks cheaper on a spreadsheet this quarter. The smart ones will keep hiring juniors - not out of charity, but because if you eat every entry-level role now, you've got no one left in 7-8 years who actually understands how to steer the machine.

We're about to find out exactly how much of our industry was just grunt work disguised as "training grounds." And I suspect the answer is going to be ugly for the agencies that chased the quick savings.

24fire

my read on this is that agencies are heading toward a leaner, more project-driven model-kind of like how production shops have operated for years. the cost-saving incentive works both ways: clients will realise they can handle a lot in-house with AI tools, and agencies themselves will cut headcount because one senior person plus AI can replace a team of juniors.

that doesn't mean the human element disappears, but it gets redefined. what we're left selling is insight, context, and the ability to hold a client's hand through ambiguity. That's genuinely valuable, but it's also a smaller, higher-touch service. the big retainers built on bodies and hours? Those are going to feel increasingly hard to justify.

I've seen enough agency work to agree that most of its competent at best and completely off the mark at worst. The clients who notice the difference are rare-most just want the cheapest path to a campaign that doesn't embarrass them. So the winners will be the ones who can articulate a genuinely differentiated position, not just shout louder.

macroeconomic pressure accelerates this. When margins tighten, the first thing to go is the junior talent pipeline, and that has long-term consequences for the industry's ability to regenerate itself. but that's a separate concern. for now, the shift feels inevitable

prpro

I appreciate this post a lot OP. Most discourse talking about the reality we’re facing is tossed out saying “it’ll never replace the human element”.

It’s a serious concern. Agentic right now isn’t that great, but also how long has it been since it was released for public use? The changes we’re facing over the next 3 months and the next 3 years are so immense it’s really difficult to gauge. Any company that makes structural changes around it this early are making a mistake imo, but even just as far as a year from now- I don’t know.

AI is compounding itself every day. And, I’ll probably get downvoted for saying it, but it’s entrenched itself in our discourse completely, whether something is written purely from AI or with AI input.

I have a very close friend who works in content writing for a major tech company, and the research he combs through is concerning. Like, the fact we will reach far and above 1M people on employment very soon, kind of concerning. To the point power players are trying to ascertain how to support a population without their contribution.

I myself am a CD (sort of CCO since it’s still pre-rev), for an AI infrastructure start up. The numbers I’m looking at and the numbers I’m putting in front of major stakeholders are absolute mind fucks. The cap ex for just the infrastructure is projected +7B very soon. The cost for tokens may well rise above $1 per token very soon, possibly up to $10.

nightowl

I don't think any sector is immune. The same way Amazon's A9 algorithm gutted third-party sellers who refused to adapt, AI is going to systematically commoditise every job that can be reduced to patterns. The agency model is already fragile - once agentic AI can run PPC campaigns that outperform the median account manager, the whole pyramid wobbles.

And yeah, Sam Altman's "plan" probably involves us all becoming prompt engineers in a world where no one can afford to buy anything. Classic macro play: automate the workforce, then sell them subscriptions to survive.

buggedout

agencies aren't going anywhere as long as account directors are happy to lie straight to your face just to lock you into a contract. The whole model is over-promise, under-deliver. Honestly, I'd welcome AI tearing down that industry. Speaking as someone who's burned through around $500k across eight different agencies - not one hit 50% of their promised metrics.

ppcnerd

Does this not scare current employees? Who will be retained? Those with relationship based or partnerships roles?

buggedout

Exactly this. The agencies that survive on long retainers aren't the ones delivering outsized ROI - they're the ones servicing clients with more budget than accountability.

SMBs churn hard because the gap between pitch promises and actual results is a canyon, not a crack.
The "stickers" are usually enterprise accounts where performance reviews are rubber-stamped and the agency invoice is lost in a pile of other fixed costs.

If agentic AI can automate even 30% of the underperforming delivery work, those cash-rich but metric-poor clients will finally have a reason to question the contract value. For most agency employees, that's a bigger threat than a flashy automation demo.