Small business? You'll never get the agency's top talent.

There is an unwritten rule in every agency: talent follows the money. A senior media director is staffed on the three accounts that make the numbers. The €5,000-a-month account goes to whoever is available — often someone competent, rarely someone experienced. That's not cynicism, it's arithmetic: on commission or billable hours, a small budget doesn't fund an expensive profile.

The numbers of a group I know well, and hold dear, say it better than I can. In its 2025 annual report, Omnicom states that its 100 largest clients represent about 54% of its revenue — out of more than 5,000 clients served — and that each of those 100 is served on average by 55 of the group's agencies. Two percent of clients, more than half the revenue. The pyramid is built for them: the chiefs at the top, on the accounts that weigh; the other 4,900 get the foot soldiers. That's not a criticism, it's the model. It works very well for those it was designed for.

And the arithmetic is getting harder. WPP went from 108,044 to 97,388 employees between the end of 2024 and June 2026 — 10,656 fewer roles, close to 10% — with a £500m savings plan by 2028. Omnicom and IPG, now merged, cut around 8,200 roles then announced 4,000 more, targeting 105,000 employees against 128,000 before the deal. Dentsu cut 3,400 roles internationally. The official reasons vary — integration, simplification, lost accounts — but the effect is the same: fewer seniors on the org charts, and those who remain are concentrated on strategic accounts.

SMBs live it from the other side: 60% of those who left or cut back their agency cite inadequate ROI, twice the 2023 rate (inTandem by vcita, 500 SMB owners, 2025).

Where do the seniors go? Some go independent. Some leave the industry. Some — and that's mediagentic's bet — understand that agents change the equation: if set-up, optimisation and reporting are run by systems, one expert can perfectly well manage ten accounts of €15,000 monthly spend with the same attention as a single €150,000 one. Talent no longer has to follow the money. It can go where the need is.

That's what makes a level of expertise accessible to SMEs and start-ups that they could never afford before. And in terms of scalability, payroll stays flat even as the workload grows. Hard to do in 100,000-person groups... but when you're one human with a few robots, what does that look like?