Big Agencies are dead!

We've been hearing this for a long time....Especially now with AI-everywhere, and the argumentation is always something like: 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗜-𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁

But this assumes that "first-mover advantage" is the only metric that matters.

History tells a different story. Here are two reasons why i don't see big players going away:

1) 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁: Big agencies don't always need to be first, they just need to be good at scaling. With extensive budgets and resources they can observe the pioneers, learn from their mistakes and build or buy refined AI solutions across their global portfolios rapidly.

2) 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆: In high-stakes business, brand name matters. Similar to management consultancies, big agencies are often hired as professional insurance. Yes, of course the research needs to be solid, but there’s a reason the saying "No one ever got fired for hiring IBM" exists.... Big brand names provides a safety net for corporate decision-makers (and their careers!). Rational? Maybe not. Reality? Often yes

AI will transform the work, but it won’t eliminate the need for institutional trust and global scale. Big agencies will survive as long as they keep evolving.