Agency strategists feeling expendable despite demand

Strategy is at a crossroads, with the vast majority of strategists worldwide insisting the discipline is all too often treated as expendable even though client demand for clear strategic guidance is high.

So says WARC’s The Future of Strategy 2025 report which highlights key challenges facing agency-side strategists and outlines ways to reignite the discipline, pivotal to the marketing ecosystem.

The research is based on a global survey with 1,127 strategists fielded in August 2025, the majority of which are agency-side, and discussions with leading strategists from around the world.

It found that more strategists across the board – junior, mid and senior – say they see their next role as client-side rather than in an agency, while 24% of the most experienced strategists think their next role will be in a consultancy.

The biggest change strategists saw in their role over the past year was the increased use of AI tools (76%). This was especially pronounced in North America (85%) vs. Asia (74%) and Europe (69%).

Strategists are unclear on AI’s long-term impact on their roles. Nearly half (46%) disagree that AI will erode their value in the future, however, more strategists agree (37%) than disagree (34%) that AI will learn one of the most valuable skills – the ability to take strategic leaps.

Strategists who know how to use AI effectively, who can adapt it to enhance their thinking and strategic output are more likely to thrive. Most are using AI to streamline time-consuming tasks like conducting competitor analysis (66%), speeding up brief development (51%) and gaining deeper/faster cultural insights (42%).

Use of synthetic data in research has increased (38% this year, up from 32% in 2024) opening up more potential routes to insight. However, human-led research is the antidote to ‘average’.

Strategists say the biggest limitations of AI are lack of originality (61%) and lack of cultural nuance and emotional resonance (60%). In the age of AI, strategists have a key role to play in being guardians of reality, and rooting ideas in the “real”.

Agencies need to encourage more imaginative and disruptive thinking. This might mean fewer frameworks, and more lateral leaps; breaking category norms and finding a brand’s asymmetric advantage.

According to the survey, agency-side strategy needs to rebrand to focus on helping clients identify where and how to grow. In a complex world, strategists add value by simplifying the chaos, and in the AI age, human skills like empathy are elevated.

BBH global chief strategy officer Tomas Gonsorcik said: “We have to rebrand strategy – not as a back-office function, not as a luxury, but as a service: clear, accountable, and indispensable.

“Strategy should operate as a standalone service inside the agency. Its primary customers are creatives and CMOs, and its purpose is to deliver growth clarity, not just decks.”