Marketing
MARKETING AFRICA
Marketing
Linus Kemboi
Managing Agencies in 2026: Partnership or Frustration?
Creative agencies still hold some of the best creative minds and talent in the industry. If you walk around major cities today, you will see their fingerprints everywhere. From billboards and signages to that annoying but memorable digital ad that follows you around all day. Agencies have shaped some of the biggest brands and produced some of the best marketing professionals in the game.
But are we slowly losing the magic? Is the pressure becoming too much? Is it creative fatigue? Or is AI slowly changing the role agencies play in modern marketing?
At some point many marketers stopped managing agencies and quietly started doing agency work themselves. Why? Because deadlines are tighter than ever. Internal stakeholders are waiting for quick answers. Campaigns need to move fast and the pressure on in-house teams keeps growing every day.
It usually starts small. One delayed artwork. One missed revision. One urgent social media post. Suddenly, the in-house marketer is designing on Canva, writing captions, boosting posts and trying to keep everyone calm while still following up with the agency account manager.
But agencies are also under pressure, aren’ t they? That account manager on your speed dial is probably handling four or five other demanding brands, all while being expected to deliver quality work quickly, balance different brand voices, and manage endless revisions and unrealistic timelines. Add unclear briefs into the mix and it becomes even harder for them.
In this era of lean teams, brands expect agencies to move faster, think strategically and deeply understand the business. They are no longer seen as just service providers.
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Brands now want agencies to act like creative partners and extensions of the internal team because at the end of the day, it is one big marketing team coming together.
At the same time, internal marketing teams are becoming more hands-on than ever before. Many brands now want more control over copywriting, social media, paid advertising, reporting and even event coverage. This shift is driven by the need for real-time and faster reactions to trends and conversations happening online.
According to global marketing reports, more brands are now investing in in-house creative capabilities to improve speed, reduce costs and maintain closer control of brand communication and this is becoming more clearer with lean teams and the rise of marketing technologies, including AI which is forcing brands to rethink how work gets done. Tasks that required a full marketing department can now be handled by a few skilled professionals with the right tools at their disposal.
You know, in this age and era audiences are craving more personalised content, genuine engagement and interaction from brands. This is one area agencies sometimes struggle with because they are not fully immersed in the day-to-day operations of the business, as a result, real opportunities are missed or content feels disconnected from the actual audience experience.
This shift is disrupting the old agency model and now agencies are required to do more outside the day-to-day operational duties to strategic thinking, real-time content and measurable business impact across the various brand touchpoints.
So where does the frustration come in? You submit what feels like a clear brief. You even explain the vision during the meeting. Then the work comes back looking generic and overly dependent on AI. The captions sound robotic. The artwork feels templated.
You request revisions and hear“ we’ ll revert tomorrow.” At that point many marketers start wondering whether they should have just handled it internally.
On the other hand, agencies also deal with brands that provide vague direction and expect miracles. Statements like“ you know what to do” leave too much room for assumptions and weak outputs. Good creative work still needs clarity and collaboration.
The best agency relationships should feel like a true partnership. Clear briefs, fair turnaround times, regular alignment meetings and shared accountability make a huge difference. Creativity performs best in environments where expectations are clear and teams trust each other.
Brand and agency relationships must continue evolving. The future is not about brands versus agencies. It is about working smarter together to deliver meaningful work that truly connects with audiences.
As Simon Sinek once said:“ Working hard for something we don’ t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
Linus Kemboi is an Assistant Manager- Brand, at Minet Kenya. You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at: Kemboilinus5 @ gmail. com.