Modern Retail+ Research: Expectations around AI are straining brand-agency relationships
Culture Index
Score Breakdown
Relevance
9/25
Freshness
25/25
Authority
18/20
Brand Signal
6/15
Depth
4/15
5-Axis Cultural Radar
Overall, agencies’ top concerns this year are client spending and the effects of AI. Thirty-eight percent of agency professionals anticipated that the biggest challenge the agency industry will face in 2026 is reduced client budgets, while 38% said the same about the effects of AI. That’s according to a Modern Retail+ Research survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025 among 62 agency professi
