A WARC report reveals that marketing strategists fear job displacement but spot real advantages, and the shift is already changing how agencies win clients.
Agency strategists are caught between two feelings right now. According to a WARC report, they worry that artificial intelligence will make their jobs redundant, yet the majority of those surveyed also believe real opportunity exists in how AI reshapes strategy work.
For a business owner hiring or evaluating an agency partner, this tension matters. It signals whether your strategist is adapting or bracing, and it often determines the quality of advice you get.
Strategists occupy a unique position in the agency ecosystem. They don't write code, design pixels, or execute campaigns. They sit at the beginning, synthesizing market research, brand positioning, competitive insight, and customer behavior into the direction that everything else follows. When AI began generating strategy documents, analyzing trend data, and even sketching campaign concepts, many strategists saw their foundational role threatened.
But the WARC survey captures a shift. While concern exists, the majority of responding strategists report seeing reasons for optimism. That gap between fear and actual sentiment is where business owners find leverage.
The WARC report doesn't spell out every opportunity strategists named, but the consensus trend is clear: they see AI as enabling faster research, reducing grunt work, and freeing human strategists to focus on the harder judgment calls, the bets that separate a good campaign from one that wins.
An agency that leans into this view tends to hire strategists willing to learn new tools and trust human intuition where data runs out. An agency stuck in fear mode often tries to hide AI from clients or avoids the conversation entirely.
An agency staffed by strategists who embrace the WARC survey's optimistic view, that AI creates opportunity alongside disruption, tends to deliver better work. They're not defensive. They're not overpromising. They're learning how the technology actually helps, then building that into how they serve clients.
When you're evaluating an agency pitch, listen for that tone. If your strategist frames AI as threat, they're probably behind. If they frame it as tool, they're probably in the middle of figuring it out. If they frame it as opportunity and can walk you through a specific way it changes your work, that's the team that's adapted.
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We monitor strategist sentiment and agency positioning around AI to help business owners spot partners who've moved past anxiety into practical advantage-building. That's the agency culture you want to hire.
A WARC report shows strategists themselves see both risk and opportunity; most are optimistic about where AI adds value. The agencies that survive are those whose teams learned to work alongside the tech, not those who ignored it or panicked.
The WARC report indicates strategists see real reasons to be optimistic, though it doesn't detail specific tasks. The consensus suggests strategists view AI as expanding what they can deliver, not eliminating their role.
Look for agencies whose teams express both realism about AI's limits and excitement about specific applications to your business. The WARC survey shows the majority of strategists moved past fear into opportunity-spotting; that mindset usually surfaces in how they pitch.
The WARC report doesn't address pricing models, but agencies are clearly in a moment of repositioning around AI capability. That's a direct conversation to have when you're evaluating partners or reviewing contracts.
Sources
The Lab is original analysis by WebKing. We summarize and interpret developments from the sources above for industrial, commercial, and small business owners. Figures are reported as published by their sources.
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