Digiday Daily
February 27, 2026
img
Logo

For decades, the agency business has run on a simple, if imperfect logic: clients pay for time and the people who fill it. Hours logged, heads counted, invoices sent. Nobody particularly loved it but it was predictable enough that nobody moved to change it.

That may finally be shifting. At the presentation for its new strategy in London on Thursday (Feb. 26), WPP made the most explicitly public case that the future of agency compensation look less like a staffing invoice and more like a performance contract — one where fees are tied directly to business results, not inputs.

TOP STORY

Evolving Agencies
img
WPP is betting its future on getting paid for outcomes

At the presentation for its new strategy, WPP made the most explicitly public cases that the future of agency compensation look less like a staffing invoice and more like a performance contract.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

Advertisement

MARKETING

img Member exclusive
Future of Marketing Briefing: The case for and against an agency subscription remuneration model

The real problem subscriptions solve isn’t pricing its cost absorption. As AI moves from pilot to scale, agencies are racking up real expenses.

Navigating Economic Instability
Footwear brands navigate uncertainty after latest tariffs flip-flop

Some 99% of footwear sold in the U.S. today is imported, according to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM APPSFLYER

Why mobile — not AI — is the center of gravity for measurement

MEDIA & PLATFORMS

The case for and against publisher content marketplaces 

The debate isn’t whether publishers want marketplaces. It’s whether the economics support them. 

Generative AI
Why Edward Jones' agentic AI trial comes with limits

Edward Jones tests agentic AI to drive marketing productivity, taking a measured approach as it stops short of full automation.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM EXPERIAN

How marketers are interpreting context in real time

Advertisement

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM KEEN DECISION SYSTEMS