The 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey Results: The Relationship Gap Is a Delivery Gap

Every year, Setup’s Marketing Relationship Survey gives us a clearer picture of what’s really happening between brands and agencies, breaking down what’s working, what’s breaking, and what both sides think is happening.

Over the last six years, we’ve published this survey with more than 400 responses. For the seventh year in 2025, we saw fewer total responses (right around 100 true responses from agencies and brands). While the data we collected is more than telling and paints a story about what brands and agencies are thinking going into 2026…there’s another story to unpack here…Are emails still resonating? Do audiences still want to be surveyed? Are marketers tired of being marketed to? 

We’ll unpack that later. But, for now, let’s dive into what marketers can take away from the 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey in partnership with the CMO Institute to inform their 2026 marketing strategies. 

Even with a smaller dataset, the story is loud and consistent: The gap between agency and client realities is still prevalent. 

What is the overall disconnect between marketing agencies and brands?

Clients want better delivery, better value, and to feel understood.
Agencies think relationships end because of budget cuts and leadership changes.

Basically, each party points a finger at the other for their relationship failures. We pulled data from 2025 as well as past years to tell the story that ultimately boils down to: agencies and brands need to listen to one another. 

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Who Participated in the 2025 Survey?

This year, 57% of the respondents were clients and 43% were agencies. Of the clients who participated, 91% of respondents are actively involved in the agency selection process. These are people who know what’s up, actively engage with agencies, and influence (or directly make) agency partner decisions. The client respondents ranged from brands like Intel, Visa, The Coca-Cola Company, Caterpillar, Mercedes-Benz, and more.

Key Theme #1: Clients Aren’t Racing to Leave — But They’re Not Thrilled Either

One of the most notable results in 2025 is that clients are not planning to leave en masse…but they also aren’t giving agencies glowing endorsements.

While 72% of clients said they are not likely to switch agencies in the next six months and 83% said they would hire their agency again if they switched roles or companies, they also gave an average NPS score of 7 out of 10 for their current agencies. That’s not terrible, but it’s also not “exceptional partnership” territory. 

The nuance is that even when clients are frustrated, many are still staying. Which begs the question: Are clients happy?

This is a major opportunity for agencies:
Retention is still achievable, but agencies better pay attention because the bar for “value” is rising fast.

Key Theme #2: Why Clients End Relationships and Why Agencies Think They Do

This is the “he said / she said” moment of the survey, and it might be the most important section every year.

Why clients end agency relationships

Top reasons clients ended agency relationships in 2025 include:

1. Dissatisfaction with delivery (61%)

2. Dissatisfaction with value (61%)

3. Agency did not understand our business (44%)

4. Dissatisfaction with relationship (41%)

5. Dissatisfaction with strategic approach (41%)

6. Budget cuts (39%)

7. Change in client leadership (35%)

8. Change in agency personnel (28%)

Clients care about the day-to-day experience of results, delivery, and value. Dissatisfaction with value rose from 36% in 2024 to 61% in 2025. Clients leave because the work isn’t landing and they don’t feel understood. 

Agencies are meant to be a partner, and if clients are feeling pressure with budgets and expectations from the C-Suite, they need to have a partner who shows up and brings it. 

Why agencies think clients end relationships 

1. Client budget cuts (75%)

2. Change in client leadership (55%)

3. Change in agency personnel (30%)

4. Client dissatisfaction with delivery (18%)

5. Client dissatisfaction with relationship (15%)

6. Agency did not challenge client enough (13%)

7. Client dissatisfaction with strategic approach (8%)

8. Agency did not understand client’s business (3%) 

There is a clear gap in each group’s narrative. 

Clients are saying: “You didn’t deliver. You weren’t worth the cost. You didn’t understand us.”

Agencies are saying: “They lost budget. Their leadership changed.”

Both can be true, but it appears as if agencies are turning the blame on external factors rather than reflecting on what they could do better. If agencies want to retain accounts, they need to treat delivery and value as non-negotiables. Account people need to regularly communicate and nurture their relationship with the client so that there aren’t surprises. 

Key Theme #3: Clients Want Specialists More Than They Did Last Year

Going into 2026, clients are clearly leaning toward specialist partners rather than one generalist agency.

When asked if clients think generalists are better than specialist agencies, only 26% of clients agree, which is a 29% decrease from 2024. 70% of clients also disagree that it makes more sense to work with one generalist agency than several specialist agencies. Meaning, clients are looking for clear lanes, clear expertise, and clear value delivery with their partnerships. This means agencies who claim they can do everything are risky and that specialization signals trust. 

Key Theme #4: The Most In-Demand Agency Services 

Brands in 2026 are leaning into the infrastructure and bones of modern marketing rather than creative support. Performance and platform disciplines in arenas like website, performance channels, content engines, and lifecycle + CRM have increased. 

In 2025, the top services clients hired agencies for included:

• Web/Mobile Design + Development

• Branding/Identity

• Media Planning + Buying

• Content Creation/Video

• Social Media

• Direct Marketing/Email/CRM

• Public Relations

• Market Research

• Experiential

• Traditional Marketing (TV, Radio, Outdoor, Print)

• Shopper Marketing

• Multicultural

Web/Mobile Design + Development increased by 20% and Media planning increased by 24% compared to the 2024 Marketing Relationship Survey results. If agencies can’t deliver reliably in these areas, value concerns rise fast and relationships break faster.

Key Theme #5: Agencies Are Struggling With Scoping and Scaling 

The survey’s agency-side results show that delivery issues are not random. They’re operational.

Top challenges for agencies in 2025 included:

• Project scoping (46%)

• Scaling for projects (44%)

• Client retention (34%)

• Adapting to new technology (29%)

This is one of the clearest “cause and effect” connections in the entire report. When agencies struggle with scoping and scaling…clients experience missed expectations, inconsistent delivery, and value concerns.

That’s not a relationship problem. That’s an execution system problem that becomes a relationship problem. 

Setup provides consultative offerings to help agencies struggling. We perform an Agency Assessment to uncover pain points and provide solutions to address them.

Key Theme #6: How Agencies Find Clients vs. How Clients Find Agencies 

How agencies say they find clients (effective methods):

• Referrals — 95% effective

• Partnerships — 53% effective

Methods agencies report as not effective include:

• Online directories — 81% not effective

• Lead generation services — 62% not effective

• Agency search consultants — 61% not effective

How clients find agencies (and what they’re satisfied with):

• Word-of-mouth — 82% satisfied

• Referral from someone outside the organization — 80% satisfied

• Internet search — 70% satisfied

Year after year, the tactics that work are clear: Warm intros win. Trust wins. Reputation wins.

And that’s exactly why relationship-building isn’t a “nice-to-have,” it’s a growth strategy. Setup is not a search consultant, we are not a directory - we are partners. And our partners have seen success stating that our efforts and referrals “get them in the room” because Setup has our finger on the pulse and our foot in the door. 

Key Theme #7: AI Adoption Is Now the Norm for Both Sides

In 2025 going into 2026, 95% of agencies are using AI and 88% of clients are using AI.

Agencies most commonly use AI for:

• Research and insights 

• Operational efficiency 

• AI integration and development 

• Creative idea generation

Clients most commonly use AI for:

• Content/copy generation 

• Marketing and business strategy

• Automation/productivity 

• Research/analysis 

AI is no longer a differentiator by itself. The differentiator is how agencies use AI to improve delivery, speed, insight quality, and measurable value.

Theme #8: Agencies and Clients Are Misaligned on What Actually Matters in Agency Selection

Agencies and clients are not always optimizing for the same “selection criteria.”
Despite good intentions, this misalignment of priorities is why some partnerships start off shaky.

What agencies think clients care about when selecting a new agency partner (2025)

Agencies believe the most important factors to clients are:

• How the agency markets itself (98%)

• Client experience (95%)

• Cost (95%)

• Specialized capabilities (88%)

• Agency challenges client team (80%)

• Professionalism (75%)

• Seniority of team (70%)

• Proximity (65%)

• Understanding of the client’s industry/business (55%)

But one result is especially shocking. 50% of agencies think chemistry is not important to clients (and only 5% think it is important). That’s a major disconnect.

What clients say they actually want (2025)

When clients rated what matters most in agency selection, here’s what they reported:

• Agency challenges me (93%)

• Size of agency (91%)

• Global vs. National vs. Local (91%)

• Chemistry (87%)

• Specialized capabilities (87%)

• Professionalism (87%)

• How the agency markets itself (80%)

• Seniority of team (67%)

• Agency’s understanding of industry/business (49%)

• Proximity (29%)

• Creativity (33%)

• Cost (20%)

• Client experience (20%)

• Independent vs. Network agency (0%)

• Agency awards/recognition (0%)

Agencies are underestimating chemistry massively. Clients are telling us chemistry is a top-tier factor (86.67%), while agencies are largely treating it as optional. And here’s the truth: chemistry isn’t a “soft” metric, it’s necessary for prolonged partnership and effective execution.

Chemistry impacts:

• speed of decision-making

• communication quality

• trust under pressure

• how feedback is given and received

• how scope changes get handled

• whether the client feels understood (which shows up repeatedly in termination reasons)

In 2024, clients ranked nearly everything as important at very high levels at 89% or higher:

• Understanding of industry/business

• Client experience 

• Creativity 

• Cost 

• Chemistry 

• Professionalism

• Specialized capabilities

• Seniority of team

• Agency challenges me

So what changed?

The 2025 results are a signal that clients are becoming more selective and more specific.

Instead of “everything matters,” clients are narrowing in on:

• the working relationship (chemistry + professionalism)

• the real operating fit (size + structure)

• the value driver (specialized capability + challenge)

• and practical constraints (global/national/local needs)

This makes the agency selection process higher-stakes and harder to get right. 78% of clients think that the agency selection process is time consuming…so they’re going to want to get it right the first time. 96% of clients are considering more than one agency, so how can agencies stand out from the crowd? 

Not to mention, 54% of clients think the process is difficult, 53% struggle to get C-Suite buy-in on decisions, and 45% of clients think that it is hard to find the right pool of partners…all to say that this explains why so many agency relationships start with friction: the selection process itself is draining and not built for clarity.

Agencies need to do their part by putting their best foot forward not only at the beginning of the selection process, but throughout the relationship - truly listening to the feedback and desires of the client. And clients need to find the right agency partner the first time so that they are not expending extra time, money, and energy. 

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This is where Setup is uniquely positioned to help both agencies and brands

Setup can help brands:

1. Find the right agencies faster - When clients say it’s hard to find the right pool and uncover capabilities, that’s a matchmaking + clarity problem, not a marketing problem. Setup can help brands expand beyond “who they know,” find better-fit specialists, and reduce the time and stress of the selection process.

2. Compare agencies beyond surface-level differentiation - Chemistry and fit are hard to evaluate in a spreadsheet. Setup can bring structure to that evaluation.

3. Get internal buy-in faster - When 53% say buy-in is difficult, it signals a need for better alignment tools, stakeholder education, and selection frameworks.

Setup can help agencies:

Stop losing deals because they over-index on the wrong signals - If agencies believe “how we market ourselves” is nearly everything (98%) but clients are prioritizing chemistry, fit, and challenge, agencies may be optimizing their pitch for the wrong criteria.

1. Improve close rate by leaning into relationship proof
   Agencies should be showing how they work, communicate, handle friction, and challenge clients.

2. Strengthen expectation-setting and communication rhythms
   Selection misalignment becomes relationship churn later, and Setup’s assessment and relationship frameworks/chemistry checks help prevent that.

3. Identify where delivery breaks down (scoping, resourcing, timelines)

4. Build healthier, more scalable client servicing models

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Action Items for 2026

This year’s results point to one truth: The strongest agency-client relationships are built through operational excellence + mutual clarity.

Clients want agencies to:

• Deliver what you promised

• Prove the value

• Understand our business

• Improve the relationship experience by communicating and listening 

• Provide strategic recommendations and proactive problem solving

Agencies want clients to:

• Share data and information

• Align and collaborate on strategic goals

• Provide feedback and accountability

Relationships Don’t Break in One Moment 

Just like in a romantic partnership, relationships don’t end because of one mistake…they end because of repeated mistakes that were not acknowledged. The 2025 Marketing Relationship Survey makes something very clear:

Clients don’t leave agencies because of one bad meeting. They leave because:

• delivery slips pile up

• value becomes unclear

• communication becomes reactive

• and the agency stops feeling like a true extension of the team

But the opportunity is just as clear:

Clients aren’t eager to switch — they’re eager to find a partnership that works.

That’s why Setup exists. We want to help agencies and brands build the kinds of relationships that create growth, trust, and long-term momentum without breaking the bank or adding stress to your workload. 

Are you a client-side marketer who wants to connect with a well-vetted agency who meets all of your needs? 

Are you an agency looking for the perfect client? We can help you too. 

Contact Setup today and break free from the cycle.