WHAT'S YOUR VIEW?
IS OUR MODEL BROKEN?
Underpaid, overworked, and still pretending it’s fine - agencies have watched structural, cultural and market forces strip away the tasks they once charged for and now AI is putting a nail in the coffin. The craft and edge that makes agencies distinctive has been dulled by pace, volume and the cult of instant results. What was sharp now feels generic. What was human is starting to sound mechanical. And instead of rethinking the model, too many bolt on more tools, masking deeper decay.
Clients always want better. And agencies will always try to deliver - but at what cost?
Faster, cheaper and with fewer people - erodes margin, wellbeing and capability. Relationships fray and creativity withers while leadership hesitates, caught between changing too much and standing still. Freelancers go unpaid, juniors drown, the best people leave, and those who remain are too scared to say it out loud.
It has become a race to the bottom and somehow the industry is still picking up speed. If nothing changes, AI won’t kill the industry. The industry will kill itself.
Because people aren’t just part of the system - people are the system. Relationships, judgement, creativity and passion are what make agencies worth choosing and staying for.
That’s why Agencies Rewired will exist: a sector-wide survey asking the question every agency avoids - what are we pretending is fine? In order to uncover who will help us evolve and shape what comes next.
HAVE YOUR SAY AND FIND OUT WHERE YOU FIT
Agencies Rewired is built by and for agency people. Three short, anonymous surveys explore the same themes from different perspectives - leadership, team and freelance. Together, they’ll reveal where belief and reality align, and where they don’t.
Why your voice matters
This isn’t another internal culture survey. It’s a reality check for the whole sector — mapping what’s working, what’s breaking and what we’re all pretending is fine. Your answers will help build The Human Revolution Report — insight that challenges the norms holding the industry back and highlights the practices that make it thrive.
TAKE PART HERE
AGENCY LEADERS
Benchmark your culture and ways of working, spot risks before they grow, and help shape a stronger, more sustainable model for growth.
AGENCY TEAM
Speak honestly in a safe, anonymous space. Share what it’s really like inside agency life and help build a healthier, more human industry.
FREELANCERS
Share your view from the outside in. Highlight what good collaboration looks like, where it breaks, and help redefine how agencies work.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Every response to Agencies Rewired will feed into The Human Revolution Report — a landmark study built from the real experiences of people across agency life.
The findings will reveal a complete picture of where we stand — leaders seeing their world through the eyes of their teams, teams understanding the pressures that shape leadership, and freelancers holding up a mirror to both.
The report, launching in 2026, will show what’s driving the best work, what’s quietly breaking, and how the next generation of agencies can work better for each other.
These insights won’t be filtered or polished. They’ll tell the story exactly as it is — so we can finally see ourselves clearly, and start to change the view.
What we learn together will become the baseline for how agencies rebuild — not theory, but the lived experience of the people inside them.
WHO'S ASKING?
EQUIPT CONSULTING
Equipt helps agencies grow sustainably by building strategy, structure and capability that actually work. We work inside organisations to strengthen leadership, sharpen focus and make growth achievable without burning people out.
We’re part of Agencies Rewired because we see the same challenges repeated everywhere — talented teams stretched thin, leaders carrying too much, and the space for great work shrinking. This project is about facing those truths and helping the industry find a better balance in a changing world.
NEXT LEVEL RECRUITMENT
Next Level connects agencies with the right people and future talent. Our work sits at the intersection of ambition and culture — helping agencies build teams that not only deliver, but stay and thrive.
We’re part of Agencies Rewired because recruitment is often where the cracks show first. We hear the stories from every side — leaders, teams and freelancers — and we know the industry needs an honest conversation about how it really feels to work in agencies today. This project is about gearing people for the future, when the press will have us believe it's in the hands of the robots.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
AGENCY LEADERS
AGENCY TEAM
FREELANCERS