Stop firing people: The perils of operating like a modern ad agency
2025 has seen a quiet wave of redundancies across adland. TrinityP3’s John Minty argues these are a symptom of bad leadership and agencies not adapting their business model for the modern environment.
If you haven’t retrenched anyone in the last three years, and you’re absolutely certain you won’t in the next three, close this tab. This piece isn’t for you.
OK, now that we’ve cleared out the deluded, let’s get real. It’s a sad, predictable cycle: multinational advertising networks squeeze for more margin, or restructure to impress shareholders. A client cuts fees or walks altogether. An agency invests in all the wrong things.
Whatever the trigger is, the result is the same; the chopping block rolls out. You only have to look at the media and marketing trades at the moment to see there have been widespread but quiet redundancies across the sector.
Leadership will then put on a show of caring with the usual all-agency meeting clichés. But how could they actually care? They do little if anything to prevent it; they’re too busy playing the same old games.
We treat retrenchment like a force of nature, an unavoidable part of business. The truth is, it’s not the market that’s broken. It’s our model.
Agencies are still operating like it’s 1984, or even 2024. Big titles. Bigger egos and often at the top levels bloated salaries. Dozens of people are assigned to “manage” accounts, while the actual work itself is spread too thin.
The agency business model remains built around headcount, not capability. We hire in bulk when the work’s on, then slash just as hard when it’s gone. That’s not a strategy. It’s survival mode disguised as leadership.
I would argue agencies have failed to evolve with the times. While the world has restructured, embracing agility, valuebased models, and remote capability, most agencies still act like retainers are king, time is infinite and full-time staffing is the only option.
We give away our thinking. We give away our time. We sign contracts with embossing termination clauses. We try to make clients happy instead of making them successful. And when that doesn’t work, we retrench.
The consequences are obvious. Talent burns out. Culture collapses. IP walks out the door. And clients, ironically, lose trust in an industry that seems unable to run its own business while advising others on theirs.
So how do we fix this? By actually doing the things we’ve been pretending to do. Let’s face it: if you’re not already embracing progressive pricing, pitch reform, or smarter scopes, you’re part of the problem, and those things don’t need more air time.
But if you’re making moves like those below, you’re driving the solution:
Build flexible, not disposable, staffing models
We need to stop tying our entire workforce to the whims of one or two accounts and obsessing over full-time staffing. Post-COVID, flexible resourcing isn’t just a luxury, it’s a necessity.
Instead of banking on a rigid, all-in model, create a core team of permanent generalist staff who understand what’s what, supported by top-tier flex staffing and partners who can scale up or down as needed.
This isn’t about replacing people; it’s about protecting them. And let’s be real: are we getting true value for every full-time salary we’re paying? Hardly. In a world where employees are valuing flexibility, the ability to work remotely etc. it feels like we are shifting to more of a gig economy model and how we staff might need to better reflect this
Of course, AI will reduce the need for some roles, and likely create new ones. But even with AI in the mix, agencies will keep hiring when they win and firing when they lose, just off an adjusted base. The game hasn’t changed, just the headcount and how you engage people.
Agencies will still bloat, then cut, because they haven’t fixed the system. And ironically, getting the best out of AI still depends on the best people; the strategists who frame the brief, the creatives who prompt it well, and the editors who know what’s good and what’s garbage.
Invest in assets, not overheads
If we want to stop living hand-to-mouth, we need to start sacrificing short-term margin to build long-term value. That means moving beyond inflated titles and performative org charts and actually funding the work that will outlast a client contract.
Instead of funnelling every dollar into salaries tied to servicing briefs, or in fake retention, invest in building IP, tools, content platforms, small businesses, things that earn money without a scope of work attached.
Salaries matter, but if all we’re doing is propping up payroll for the sake of looking “full service,” we’re staying dependent. Build things that clients and the world at large want to use. Own the outcome. Own the revenue.
Fire bad clients
You know the client I’m talking about: it’s the ones propped up by the profits of another account. Or the ones who exploit your agency for free work. The CMO that dangles carrots but never lets you eat or whose ego treats your staff like commodities, while constantly telling you someone else will do it cheaper..
Let’s stop pretending these relationships are valuable, they’re not. It’s time to let them go. They’ll soon run out of agencies to push around.
John Minty
Kill the executive layer
Come on now, does anyone actually believe every exec on the org chart is essential? Or that they’re all adding real value, day in, day out? We’ve built a top-heavy industry where titles multiply faster than revenue.
Presidents of things no one needs. Chiefs of things no one asked for. Meetings about meetings, reviews of reviews. Meanwhile, the people actually making the work?
Overworked, underpaid, and first on the chopping block when budgets tighten. Let’s be honest: the exec class, with a few exceptions, operates on a “me now” mentality, not a “us later” one. They’ll protect their salary, their bonus, their status
We need to flatten the structure. Prioritise people who deliver over those who “oversee.” Promote based on impact, not time served. And cut the nonsense about leadership being about visibility, leadership is about responsibility. I
If you wouldn’t fight to keep them when the budget’s tight, you shouldn’t be paying them when it’s not. Because here’s the kicker: the industry doesn’t need more managers. It needs more makers. It needs leaders who’d rather do the work than delegate it. It needs people who serve the team, not the spreadsheet.
Kill the executive layer, or at the very least, give it a purpose beyond self-preservation.
Do a one-time reset on your business
Convince New York, Paris or London of the need to reset your agency, just once, or ignore them if they don’t listen; the outcome will be the same eventually anyway.
Hire executives who have run businesses, not simply those who’ve been salaried their whole lives. It’s the same thing most of us complain about with career politicians. It’s time for a fresh perspective.
We need leaders who understand the real cost of running a business, not those who’ve been conditioned to run someone else’s. At the end of the day, why not be brave?
Dear agency leader, you’re going to get fired anyway, or laid off, or pushed out, or passed over for someone cheaper if you don’t. That’s the game now.
So what exactly are you protecting? If you had as much time to live as you know you’ll stay at an agency, say 18 months, maybe two years, would you really spend it as meek and as scared as you are today? Playing politics? Nodding along in meetings? Writing decks no one reads? You’re not building a legacy by keeping quiet.
You’re at risk of just marking time until the next restructure. So grow a spine. Push the idea. Say the hard thing. Fight for the work. Burn the deck and do it differently.
At least then, when the axe comes, you’ll know it wasn’t because you were forgettable.
Retrenchments aren’t a symptom of bad luck. They’re a symptom of bad leadership, bad systems, and bad incentives. We’ve created a model where people are the first expense to be cut, rather than the most valuable asset to be protected. It’s time to flip the model.
Agencies can be sustainable, profitable, and powerful, but only if we stop pretending that what worked 10 years ago still works now. Let’s stop retrenching people and start retrenching the way we do business. Because if we don’t, there won’t be anyone left to do the work, or any work worth doing.
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