Agency Strategy Makes Comeback as CMOs Seek Business Answers

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 9 October 2026

WARC’s The Future of Strategy 2026 finds agency strategy regaining ground as CMOs increasingly ask strategists to tackle business problems beyond communications. The global survey of 489 strategists, carried out in August 2026, reports strategy’s influence with clients rose to 50% in 2026 from 41% in 2025 and that 66% of strategists are optimistic about the discipline’s prospects. At the same time, the research flags tensions: nearly 80% of strategists say they need stronger evidence of commercial impact and 57% want a new value proposition. The report links the shift to earlier involvement on briefs and to AI changing how strategists spend their time.

A compact survey that points to real change

WARC’s study is based on a global sample of 489 strategists surveyed in August 2026, most of whom work agency-side. The headline numbers are straightforward: 66% expressed optimism about strategy’s future, and the share of strategists reporting influence with clients rose to 50% in 2026 from 41% a year earlier. Those figures are notable because they arrive after several years of consolidation, budget pressure and shrinking teams in agencies.

WARC's study also documents a behavioural shift: respondents report they are being invited into client conversations earlier, before a conventional communications brief is drafted. WARC says that this earlier access enables strategists to surface core commercial problems rather than simply converting them into creative briefs.

Taken together, the numbers suggest the discipline’s floor is not simply survival. For many agencies, the question is whether the early access they report can be turned into sustained C-suite influence and measurable commercial outcomes.

From creative brief to business problem: what clients want

WARC’s findings show CMOs are increasingly inviting strategists into conversations about growth and efficiency, not just messaging. The report records that 83% of respondents expect their remit to extend into shaping business strategy rather than remaining focused mainly on communications. That shift matters because it forces a change in how strategy is sold inside agencies: from a process that produces briefs to an asset that should demonstrate commercial value.

The study makes the accountability trade-off plain. Nearly 80% of respondents say the profession needs stronger arguments and evidence to prove its impact, and 57% want a new value proposition. Those are practical challenges: commercial clients typically measure results in growth, efficiency and demand creation, so strategists who can translate insight into those terms stand a better chance of winning longer-term, higher-value work.

Agency leaders cited in the research argue that upfront clarity about brand foundations and business problems makes downstream marketing more effective and cost-efficient. The implication for agencies is organisational: hiring, training and remuneration models will need to evolve if strategy is to sustain a seat at the table where C-suite decisions are made.

AI’s double effect: more time, more anxiety

AI is central to the reset that WARC describes. A majority of respondents say the technology has freed time they can redirect to higher-value tasks: 65% report reallocating time after adopting AI tools, and 80% say they are using AI more frequently. That reallocation creates an opening for strategists to focus on cross-disciplinary problems and the kinds of human-centred insight automation struggles to deliver.

Yet the same data shows growing unease. In 2026, 56% of respondents who identify as strategists said they regarded being replaced by AI as a threat, compared with 41% in 2025. The paradox is that AI speeds up routine tasks while increasing demand for scarce human skills — cultural judgement, emotional resonance and the ability to reveal human tensions absent from structured datasets.

WARC also notes a decline in some traditional human-centred methods: only 23% of respondents now run in-person qualitative research at least monthly, down from 35% in 2025. That drop poses a practical question for agencies: will cutting back on direct observation erode the capabilities that keep strategists indispensable in an AI-heavy environment?

What could move this either way

The bottom line

WARC’s data suggests agency-side strategy is not fading; it is being asked to do different work. The discipline’s rising influence — illustrated by the move to 50% client influence and 83% expecting a broader remit — creates an opportunity to address CEO-level problems. That opportunity is conditional: strategists must develop clearer ways to show commercial impact and protect the human research skills that AI does not replace. How agencies adapt their hiring, remuneration and measurement models over the next year will determine whether strategy becomes a durable business asset or a short-lived convenience.

What to watch

• Watch agency staffing announcements and job descriptions for roles framed as business strategy or C-suite-facing; no date has been set.
• Watch WARC or agency releases for published case studies showing measurable commercial outcomes linked to strategy work; no date has been set.