17 years of change in marketing

From Print to Pixels – the seismic shifts seen by marketing agencies

When I founded DNA Recruit in March 2008, Facebook was just four years old, the iPhone had barely celebrated its first birthday, and "digital marketing" was still considered a specialist discipline rather than the backbone of the industry.

With DNA celebrating its latest anniversary, I looked back over the past 17 years from my unique vantage point – having worked for marketing agencies at the start of my career to now working with them as a hiring partner – I've had a front-row seat to what can only be described as a marketing revolution.

The Digital Paradigm Shift

The most profound change has undoubtedly been the digital transformation. I started my agency career in the late '90s at MSQ Partners where campaigns were predominantly print, TV, and radio. Digital was often an afterthought.

Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape is unrecognisable. Digital isn't just one element of marketing – it's the ecosystem in which everything exists. The agencies that thrived were those that adapted quickly, reimagining their structures and capabilities to embrace data-driven decision making, programmatic advertising, and the explosion of social platforms.

Many traditional agencies struggled with this transition, and I've witnessed the painful restructuring processes as they fought to remain relevant. The most successful agencies realised early that this wasn't about bolting on a digital department. It required a complete rethinking of how campaigns are conceived, delivered, and measured.

From Campaigns to Customer Experience

Another seismic shift has been the move from campaign-centric thinking to holistic customer experience. When I was running the Bacardi Breezer account in the early 2000s, we would plan big, splashy campaigns with clear start and end dates. Today's agencies operate in a perpetual cycle of engagement across countless touchpoints.

The fragmentation of media has meant that agencies have had to become far more sophisticated in how they reach audiences. The days of reaching 80% of your target market with a well-placed TV spot are long gone. This has created both challenges and opportunities. Marketers now need to orchestrate increasingly complex customer journeys, but they also have unprecedented ability to personalise and target their communications. It really is a different world.

The Talent Evolution

Perhaps the most interesting change I've seen, especially given my role in recruitment, is the evolution of agency talent profiles. The account handlers and creatives of 2008 would barely recognise the skill sets required today.

When DNA Recruit first launched, we were primarily placing traditional agency roles – account managers, planners, creatives, and producers. Today, our briefs include data scientists, UX designers, content strategists, social media experts, and marketing technologists. These are roles that simply didn't exist in many agencies 17 years ago.

The most sought-after professionals now combine creative thinking with analytical capabilities – the famous "left brain/right brain" hybrid that can both conceive breakthrough ideas and understand the data that proves their effectiveness.

The Client-Agency Relationship Reset

The relationship between clients and agencies has undergone its own revolution. The traditional retainer model has been increasingly challenged by project-based work, in-housing, and the rise of specialist agencies.

Clients have become more sophisticated and demanding, requiring greater transparency, more accountability, and clearer ROI metrics. The days of three-martini lunches and wooing clients with lavish entertainment have given way to dashboards, KPIs, and procurement-led pitches.

Yet despite predictions of the agency model's demise, the fundamental value proposition remains strong: outside perspective, creative thinking, and specialist expertise remain invaluable. What's changed is the commercial model and the way value is demonstrated.

The Pandemic Accelerator

If digital transformation was already reshaping agencies at pace, the pandemic sent it into hyperdrive. Agencies that had resisted flexible working suddenly found their entire workforce remote. Client meetings, creative reviews, and even production shoots went virtual overnight.

The industry demonstrated remarkable resilience, with many agencies reporting that productivity actually increased. But the pandemic also accelerated existing trends toward more efficient, leaner agency models with fewer overheads. A direction that continues to shape the industry today.

What's Next for Agencies?

I’m lucky enough to meet with some of the best talent within the industry on a weekly basis and it’s absolutely clear to me that the pace of change shows no sign of slowing.

AI, the metaverse, privacy regulations, Web3 technologies and so much more are going to continue to reshape the industry even faster than it has over the previous 17 years.  

But what gives me confidence in the industry's future is precisely what I've observed over the past 17 years . And that’s the remarkable ability it has to adapt and reinvent itself. The agencies that thrive will continue to be those that embrace change rather than resist it, that invest in talent, and that find new ways to deliver measurable value to clients.

DNA’s role

As DNA Recruit celebrates its 17th year, I'm excited to continue playing our part in helping agencies navigate this rapidly changing, but ever so rewarding, industry by connecting them with the talent they need.

The marketing agency of 2042 will undoubtedly look as different from today's as today's does from 2008. But the fundamental purpose of helping brands connect meaningfully with their audiences will remain the constant that underpins all this transformation.

About me

Ali Wallace is the Founder and CEO of DNA Recruit, a specialist recruitment agency for marketing, digital, and technology businesses. With over 25 years of experience in the marketing industry, including roles at MSQ Partners and HeyHuman, Ali has witnessed firsthand the evolution of marketing agencies from both inside and out.

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliwallace/