Commercial resilience: Building agency revenue in the ‘Age of More’
Opinion
Patrick Ryan outlines the five forces driving the ‘Age of More’ and six connected levers that agencies need to succeed.
As a growth consultancy, we’ve spent the past year speaking with agency leaders around the world to get under the skin of our clients. And one truth keeps surfacing: we are living in the ‘Age of More’.
More competition. More creative expectation. More challengers. More computation. More commercial pressure.
The world agencies operate in has never been richer with opportunity or tougher to navigate. Growth is harder, new business is more expensive, and talent feels more transient. The old systems that once kept agencies moving forward are not built for the pace and complexity of today’s market.
The ‘Age of More’ is not a slogan. It is a lived reality that is shaping every agency decision, driven by five accelerating forces that together define the modern market.
1. More Competitive
Organic growth is harder to come by, resulting in agencies throwing everything (and everyone) they have at new business pitches. In this environment, only agencies that are exceptionally well prepared and run pitches with precision, clarity and control will succeed.
2. More Creative
In pressured times, creativity is often the first casualty of efficiency, yet it remains the single biggest multiplier of growth. When it runs through everything an agency does, from the story told in a pitch to the way teams solve problems for clients, it builds pride, purpose and progress. Agencies that protect and prioritise creativity, even when budgets tighten, build lasting momentum and resilience.
3. More Challenger
A new generation of independent and specialist agencies is rewriting the rules. They are faster, braver and often built with technology and data at their core. They are not held back by the confines of big agency layers of approval or processes; they are moving first and fast. Their energy is forcing everyone else to rethink what modern growth looks like.
4. More Compute
Technology and AI are transforming how agencies work, but too often only for clients. The real advantage lies inside the agency itself. Using AI to automate and accelerate prospecting, pricing and pitch preparation can free people to focus on what matters most: ideas, strategy and innovation.
5. More Commercial
Margin pressure is relentless. Clients want to pay less but expect more value, accountability and partnership. Pricing models built on time or headcount no longer make sense in a world defined by outcomes and performance.
Together, these forces are reshaping how agencies win, grow and retain. They are also exposing a truth: the traditional ways of growing no longer work.
The need for commercial resilience
The solution for this is commercial resilience – the ability to grow predictably in unpredictable conditions.
Commercial resilience is not about survival. It is about building systems that make growth intentional. It gives an agency control over its own story. It means winning new business without burning out teams, growing clients without eroding margin, and keeping the best people because they can see a future.
My team and I have spoken to agencies from Soho to Singapore, Camden to Cannes. Across every discipline and size, the questions are the same: how do we grow when the ground keeps shifting? How do we make revenue predictable? How do we rebuild confidence?
What separates the agencies that are thriving from those standing still is not creativity alone, but structure. They have systems that turn belief into behaviour
Six levers of growth
Commercial Resilience is built around six connected levers that together create momentum.
Proposition: a clear, confident point of view that defines what you stand for and who you are built for.
Promotion: consistent marketing that builds reputation and keeps you visible long before the brief.
Prospecting: a rhythm of outreach that creates relationships and opportunity, not just leads.
People: a culture of growth that develops confidence, capability and commercial awareness.
Pitching: discipline, story, and chemistry brought together to perform under pressure.
Pricing: models that reward partnership and outcomes, not just effort and hours.
When these six levers connect, creativity and commerciality reinforce each other, creating a financially healthy agency that grows with clarity and confidence.
The opportunity ahead
I have always believed that agencies are at their best when creativity and commercial clarity work together. The ‘Age of More’ is testing that balance. But for those willing to adapt, it could be the most exciting decade the industry has seen.
The agencies that succeed will not be the loudest or the largest. They will be the ones who know exactly who they are, how they grow and how to bring their people with them.
That is commercial resilience, and in the ‘Age of More’, it is not just a framework. It is how agencies will survive, thrive and lead.
Patrick Ryan is the founder and CEO of 300 Consultancy