EACA Study Reveals Advertisers Look for Trust but Don’t Show It to Agencies

A report from the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA), in partnership with Kantar, reveals the contradiction at the heart of what clients want from their agencies.

The CMOs’ Expectations Study reveals that nearly all (94%) clients believe agencies can be true partners they can trust but they continue to undermine the process of building trust by constantly holding pitches and changing partners.

Nearly half of those questioned ran a pitch within the last year, and 65% of those resulted in an agency change. Such constant turnover makes it harder for agencies to behave as true partners and produce more effective communications. Research into Effie Europe 2025 entries reveals that partnerships that have lasted five years or longer are far more effective and successful than those that have shorter tenures.

The report, designed to help agencies understand how they can better meet client needs, is the most comprehensive European study to date on what CMOs expect from their agencies, based on responses from 141 different companies in 22 European markets, with 95% of respondents in marketing/communication or top management roles across a broad range of brand-driven sectors such as consumer goods, banking, insurance, energy, tech and services.

EACA worked closely with Kantar to analyse responses, using both closed-question analytics and open-ended semantic analysis, delivering both a clear ranking of CMO priorities and a deeper understanding of the emotional and cultural expectations shaping today’s client–agency relationships.

The result is a clear hierarchy of what truly convinces CMOs when choosing an agency, or to continue to work with an existing partner. Trust (49% first choice) and deep business involvement (41%) emerge well ahead of creativity. However, both can only really develop over time and are constantly undermined by inefficient repitching, where six out of 10 winning ideas are never even implemented.

Creative excellence remains important (it’s a Top Three factor for 72% of respondents), but only when paired with strategic intelligence, operational reliability and strong brand stewardship.

“This report confirms the anecdotal evidence from the industry that the agency remit is continuing to expand, with client expectations at an all-time high, while output timelines are shrinking,” said Charley Stoney, CEO of EACA. “It is critical that the industry tackles these expectations and work with advertisers to help them flex remuneration models that pay for this expanded remit, including technology investment. It supports the EACAs opinion that agencies need to move away from the time-based payment structure towards an agile model that works with a blend of human and artificial intelligence services.”

Advertisers today operate in increasingly complex ecosystems, working with an average of 4.7 different agency types, and while agencies score well on creativity and reputation, they underdeliver on proactivity, business immersion and forward-looking strategic guidance.

At the heart of the successful partnerships of the future are agencies that can deliver beyond creativity. Right now, a significant number of clients are merely satisfied (45%) or content with their agencies, revealing an opportunity to shift more CMOs into the “very satisfied” camp (currently 26%).

The CMO Expectation Study identifies six areas where agencies have to simultaneously deliver to ensure that transition takes place:

· They must be AI-native: integrating automation, prediction and data intelligence into every layer of work. AI is the #1 capability clients expect from agencies in the future, with 35% rating AI enhancement as “High priority” and another 41% scoring it four out of five;

· They must be strategic architects: capable of shaping brand trajectories and contributing to business decisions. Clients regard agencies as lacking in excellence when it comes to business strategy, they expect agencies to go beyond execution and act as consultants;

· They need to deliver operational excellence: delivering consistently, reliably and with disciplined governance. Thirty-two percent of CMOs rank “delivering on time and in quality” as their top selection factor and 39% as their #2 priority when choosing an agency team;

· They must be creatively transformative: blending human imagination with technology-driven formats. 50% of respondents see agencies as creators and 21% as explorers;

· They should be embedded collaborators: functioning as extensions of the client team. The ideal account team is expected to be proactive and know the brand and market deeply. Many clients feel that agencies could be more immersed in their businesses;

· They require cultural intelligence: able to decode audiences, markets and societal signals. Breakthrough work based on genuine insights is one of the top three outputs clients want (31% rank it #1, 33% #2, 36% #3).

“This report decodes expectations, quantifies the performance gaps, and outlines how agencies must evolve – structurally, culturally and technologically – to secure long-term partnership and market leadership in the coming decade. Clients too must consider how they interact with their agencies and whether they are truly creating an environment that builds trust and allows the development of deep business understanding and insight to feed through into their communications,” added Charley.