By Katie Herzog – Chief Client Officer
What smart agencies must do to rebuild trust, deliver value and lead business growth.
We’ve been in a lot of new business meetings lately. And more than once, we’ve heard some version of a similar story:
- “Our last agency charged us a percentage of spend and a management fee.”
- “We barely talked to a media strategist. Everything came through as reports.”
- “We never really understood what we were paying for.”
It’s frustrating. And honestly, it’s embarrassing. Because while we don’t run our media business that way, it’s clear too many agencies still do. And that means we all share some responsibility for the state of things.
This is my attempt to name what’s broken, own where we’ve contributed and outline a better path forward — one that’s already underway inside our walls, and one I hope more agencies will choose to follow.
The origin of the issue.
For decades, media buying was a hustle hidden in plain sight. Agencies were rewarded not for effectiveness, but for spend. The more a client invested in TV or radio placements, the more the agency made, thanks to the standard 15% commission model baked into every buy. Clients didn’t see a line-item fee, so it was marketed as “free media buying.” But make no mistake: they paid for it — in misaligned incentives, unchecked markups and stagnant strategy.
Fast forward to the digital age. Different platforms, same playbook. Agencies that once skimmed 15% off radio now charge a similar cut of digital spend. Google’s 360 suite? Same structure. Industry standard. But just because something is standard doesn’t mean it’s right.
This outdated model has left media buying with a (well-deserved) reputation problem. And if we want to fix it, we need to stop pretending our tools have evolved while our mindset has not.
The incentive problem no one talks about.
Traditional media incentivizes the wrong behavior. Why would an agency fight to lower rates when their income depended on ad spend and not performance?
Even more troubling, this model aligned agencies with media vendors (TV stations, radio reps, publishers, etc.) not with clients. Agencies handed over a budget and said, “Give us your best schedule.” Some shops negotiated. Many didn’t. It was efficient. It was profitable. And it made our industry lazy.
Once digital platforms took over, we told ourselves we’d matured. “We have dashboards. We have attribution models. We have ROAS calculators.” But if you take a closer look, most agencies are still working off that same foundational flaw: pricing models that reward volume over impact.
The modern mess: we’ve traded one problem for another.
Today, most agencies offer media services under one of three models, each with critical flaws:
- Percent of spend: This approach puts the agency at a disadvantage for doing the right thing. If performance data says to pause spend or shift budgets due to sales capacity, economic headwinds or supply chain issues, the agency loses revenue. That’s a conflict of interest, not a partnership.
- Flat fees: Better, but brittle, because fees rarely scale with business success. We’ve seen clients multiply their ad spend and revenue by ten, yet expect the same retainer they paid when they were a tenth of the size. Meanwhile, complexity, risk and responsibility all skyrocketed.
- Performance-based: Tempting…but flawed. Agencies don’t control sales teams, pricing models, operational readiness or competitive pressure. Tying compensation to a business outcome we can influence, but never own, is a fast track to frustration on both sides.
Honestly, there is no perfect pricing model. But clinging to ones that erode trust and distort value is a recipe for irrelevance.
Volume is not a virtue.
Today, a new disturbing trend has emerged: agencies selling media management at scale for rock-bottom rates. $500 a month. $1,000 a month. Hundreds of clients. Fifteen staffers.
Do the math. That’s 20 clients per media buyer! Which means, at best, two hours per week per client. Just enough time to pull a report and fire off an email. This isn’t management. It’s a mirage.
And yet, the marketplace tolerates it. Clients with multimillion-dollar media budgets are entrusting them to glorified dashboards and AI-assisted autopilot. Agencies that operate this way hurt all of us. They create a race to the bottom. They condition clients to think that smart strategy can be bought for pennies. And they drag down the reputation of every team doing it right.
We’re not off the hook.
Even if we’re not engaging in those worst practices, we’ve all benefited from a system that didn’t incentivize deep thinking. At Ervin & Smith, we’ve had moments where we were too quiet. Too cautious. Too willing to “go with the model” instead of challenging it. But not anymore.
We’ve rethought how we price media, how we structure teams and how we show up in business conversations. We’ve shifted our focus from managing spend to influencing outcomes. From pulling reports to identifying opportunities. From being a vendor to acting like an extension of our client’s C-suite.
We’re not perfect. But we’re moving quickly in the right direction.
It’s time to rebuild the role of media.
Here’s the truth: media buying should be a strategic function. It should sit at the intersection of brand, business and growth objectives. That means:
- We start with business goals, not budgets. Media leaders must understand revenue targets, sales efficiency, cost of customer acquisition and product mix.
- We take responsibility for outcomes. Not just clicks or conversions, but lead quality, order volume and the why behind the data. Yes, there’s a limit to what we control. But the best agencies shape the front-end to influence the back-end.
- We don’t “manage” media. We lead it. That means proactive optimization, continuous learning and a voice at the executive table.
- We use AI as a tool — not a replacement for critical analysis. Algorithms help, but they’re built by publishers whose goals are not always aligned with ours. Blind trust in automation is not a strategy.
- We charge for value, not volume. That might mean tiered pricing, dynamic models based on complexity or hybrid structures that evolve with the relationship. But most importantly, we must own the conversation about our value — and stop apologizing for it.
The call to agencies and clients alike.
Agencies: Stop hiding behind automation and legacy models. This industry needs more strategists, not managers. If you want better clients, be a better partner. Speak the language of business, not platforms. Think like a CMO, not a technician. And price your work like it matters, because it does.
Clients: Stop treating media as a line item. You don’t need a vendor who “optimizes your buys.” You need a partner who challenges your thinking, protects your dollars and drives growth. That means letting them in. Sharing your data. Aligning incentives. And recognizing that good media doesn’t just perform — it has the power to transform your business.
This is our chance to do it better.
The truth is, media buying isn’t broken because it doesn’t work. It’s broken because we’ve let it coast. But the agencies that are willing to evolve — to lead with clarity, to put in the critical thinking, to take the tough conversations head on — will be the ones that rise above this race to the bottom.
We’ve made that shift. And we’re going to keep pushing. Because the clients we work with expect more and deserve more. And we’re not going back.