Why the Real Threat to Agencies Isn’t Tech, It’s Execution

The ad world’s never lacked bold moves, but GroupM (WPP’s media-buying powerhouse) just raised the stakes. Dropping the client commission to 1% and making it the headline for every pitch? That’s not posturing. That’s putting every in-house media team on notice. No internal group can match that without bleeding cash.

Let’s be real: this is a shot fired straight at the heart of the agency status quo. The shakeout will ripple everywhere—from consulting firms to boutique desks, and even the venture-backed attention startups chasing Fortune 500 budgets. If your value is built on billable hours and headcount, your runway is shorter than you think.

The Real Story Behind the Data Arms Race

You may have seen Choreograph (WPP’s data shop) touting five billion “real-time consumer profiles.” Sure, that’s a wild number, probably more marketing spin than reality. Even at a fraction of that, it’s a data asset that dwarfs most national brokers. Until now, those profiles were more for pitch decks than the P&L.

But that’s about to change. With the InfoSum acquisition, WPP can slap a simple SaaS price tag on every profile—five cents per enriched ID, per year. Suddenly, data isn’t just a talking point. It’s a metered utility, every feature and every event stream priced out like a software subscription. This is how tech companies like Snowflake get those monster margins. WPP is moving fast in the same direction. Data is now the product, and the product prints profit.

Tech Isn’t the Hard Part. Guts Are.

Let’s cut through the noise. Technology is table stakes. The real challenge is having the stomach to make the hard calls: rewrite the playbook, shift incentives, and clear out layers of middle management who measure success by team size. WPP’s board needs to take a page out of the Bezos manual: “Your margin is my opportunity.” If a business unit can’t deliver software-level returns, it’s gone. If an executive is more attached to managing bodies than bytes, they’re replaced.

Anything short of that, and this entire gambit fails. You’ll see lower fees, unchanged costs, and profits circling the drain. Success demands automating nearly half your team, retraining the rest to actually build value, not just create PowerPoints.

What’s Coming for Consultants and Independents

Here’s where the pain hits first: consulting giants. Good luck charging $250 an hour for media ops when GroupM guarantees the same outcomes for a fraction of the price. Boutique desks will be forced to white-label GroupM’s supply chain or fade away. Indies have to specialize and own a niche, or they’ll get squeezed out. Even big names like The Trade Desk are suddenly justifying a 20% take rate while GroupM does it for 15%.

Only a few have real safety nets—those who control their own supply (Amazon, TikTok) or those with total customer lock-in (Apple). For everyone else, the landscape is shifting under your feet.

The Takeaway for Agencies and Brands

Dropping to a 1% commission isn’t just a pricing play; it’s the opening salvo in a total reinvention of the agency business. If you’re relying on layers of staff and processes from another era, you’re vulnerable. The future belongs to operators who act like tech companies, who automate what doesn’t require human creativity, and who build value through data—not payroll.

At The Gudorf Group, we see this as an urgent call to action. Don’t wait for WPP to upend your business. Lean into automation. Break the old incentive models. Get lean, get focused, and start measuring value the way the tech world does.

Want to future-proof your agency or marketing operation? Let’s talk.