Agency Model 2.0 in Real Money Gaming
I predict 2025 will be the year of major shift in agency marketing model particularly in RMG
The agency model is broken where Real Money Gaming is probably suffering more than any other industries and I predict 2025 will be the year where we will see a major shift. Here is why;
If your agency is charging you per the % of your spend, it’s almost certain that their interest does not always align with yours. Spending more does not mean incremental growth!
When agencies grow, naturally their focus is on big spenders while the ones that need more help are the ones that can't afford to spend a lot. It's a conundrum.
Founder team or key staff in any agency model naturally focus on the top-spending clients if at all. When user acquisition is left in the hands of mid-to junior media buyers there is often a huge quality difference.
The success of the agency business model hinges on key staff. When key talents leave, they take critical knowledge with them.And they often leave.
Why RMG? A hyper-growing market where the talent pool in marketing (particularly in user acquisition) is very limited. There will be more and more newcomers who will embrace the opportunities.
Why 2025? With the practical capabilities of AI, which has made significant progress in automating some of the tedious tasks of marketing, I expect to see an increasing number of “Agency 2.0s”. These are going to be lean, founder operated agencies where founders will be positioned as fractional-CMOs to their clients while utilizing AI effectively in automating manual tasks. Those founders who come from a UA & Performance marketing background will have the competitive advantage of feeding their AI agents with the right set of data and domain knowledge.
Why is it good for the RMG? Agency 2.0 will create a new model where agencies get leaner and hyper-focused on a selected number of operators where founders will be hands-on. AI agents will be owned by operators and managed by agencies. AI agents will have a compounding effect in performance marketing & user acquisition. The new skill set yet to be embraced by agencies is the effective usage of AI agents not necessarily to automate but to improve the performance. If you think this is already far ahead, (and since you have read thus far) let me know and I will be happy to show you a few examples of an AI agent and how it competes with media buyers in real time UA optimizations and UA performance.