A Conversation With Roy Murphy

Roy Murphy opens with a provocation that sets the tone for the entire conversation: agencies will be dead in 18 months. Not all agencies — but those that refuse to reposition around strategic value in an AI-accelerated world.

The substance behind the headline: this is structural change, not a cyclical dip. Brands can now do in-house what agencies charged for. The winning model is collaborative — agency and client co-creating with AI — not replacement. The middle agencies, those in the two to ten million pound range, are most exposed. Big networks own execution at scale. Freelancers own agility. The middle has no moat.

Roy argues that fee models must shift from time-based to outcome-based. If you're still billing hourly for work that AI can do in minutes, you're already losing. The agencies that survive will be the ones that reframe their value around strategic thinking and co-creation — not production.