From Pyramids to T‑Shapes: How AI and Consultancy Culture Are Reshaping Agencies
For decades, agencies were built like pyramids: a wide base of juniors and graduates, a narrowing middle of managers, and a small group of senior leaders at the top. This model made sense when work was manual, processes were linear, and clients expected armies of people on their account. It created a clear pathway of progression, but it also relied on constant intake of entry‑level talent and tolerated a lot of operational inefficiency.
In the last five years, that pyramid has morphed into more of a diamond. Many agencies quietly shrank their graduate and junior intake, relying instead on a strong mid‑level layer of account managers, strategists, and specialists who could “hit the ground running.” The middle of the organisation grew broader and more experienced, while the base narrowed as fewer people came in at the start. On the surface, this felt leaner and more commercial; in reality, it created a bottleneck for future leadership and made it harder to grow the next generation of senior talent.
Now, a new shape is emerging: the T‑shaped agency. AI and automation are taking care of many of the repeatable, operational tasks that used to require layers of juniors and coordinators. Senior practitioners can sit closer to the work, supported by a small number of highly capable generalists and specialists who collaborate horizontally rather than through rigid hierarchy. Teams become flatter and more agile, with expertise distributed across a broader leadership group rather than concentrated in a single “top tier” protected by layers of management.
This shift is colliding with a second trend: the rise of consultancy‑style thinking inside agencies. Clients no longer just want output; they want partners who can challenge their thinking, shape strategy, and plug into their leadership conversations. That pushes agencies to prioritise critical thinking, commercial acumen, and the ability to work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with CMOs and CEOs. It naturally favours smaller, more senior‑heavy teams and creates fertile ground for independent and mid‑sized consultancies to take centre stage.
The upside of T‑shaped, consultative teams is clear: faster decisions, less bureaucracy, and work that is closer to the client’s real problems. For many brands, this combination of AI‑enabled efficiency and senior‑level thinking is exactly what they have been asking for. It explains why we’re seeing more briefs go to agile independents and specialist consultancies who can offer direct access to experienced people rather than a traditional pyramid staffed heavily at the bottom.
But there is a real risk if we do not address what has happened at the base of the structure. Fewer entry‑level roles today means fewer leaders five to ten years from now. Without deliberate investment in graduate and early‑career programmes, the industry will wake up to a missing generation of talent just as many current leaders are thinking about their own succession. Agencies that have quietly reduced junior hiring over the past decade will find their succession plans under real pressure.
The agencies and consultancies that win the next five years will be those that embrace the T‑shaped model without abandoning their responsibility to develop future leaders. They will use AI to strip out low‑value work, build broader leadership teams that can plug directly into client strategy, and at the same time rebuild intentional pathways for graduates and early‑career talent. In doing so, they will create organisations that are not only more efficient and consultative today but also sustainable and succession‑ready tomorrow.
Our view is that the future of agencies is bright – just different in shape. The pyramid era is over, the diamond is already peaking, and the T‑shaped, consultancy‑led model is now firmly in view. The question for leaders is whether they will design for that future intentionally, or arrive there by accident with a missing layer of talent.