How should agencies prove the value of AI, and who gets to decide what that value is?
That was the question at the centre of our Agency and Procurement in Honest Conversation, a breakfast event held at our Soho Office on 24 September 2026, where procurement and agency leaders met to discuss how AI’s value should be measured and paid for. John Campbell, our Head of Innovation and AI, opened with a look at how we use AI day to day. Our CEO and Founder, Oliver Bishop, then chaired a panel of procurement and marketing leaders.
Five key themes stood out:
AI choices are entering procurement.
Model and tool selection is starting to shape how agencies are assessed. If an agency can’t explain which AI systems it uses, that should raise questions.
Procurement is the connector.
Magic & Logic, now 20 years old, sits between agencies and clients: agencies bring the magic, procurement brings the logic and the real value comes from combining the two. With AI, procurement’s role is to show where it’s driving the best value and to make sure it delivers results.
Proof over promise.
Agencies pitching AI tools should be able to show they use those tools themselves, backed by client references that prove the impact.
Ownership and interoperability are becoming differentiators.
Clients are building their own AI capability and want to get hands-on with the tools their agencies use.
Own the narrative.
Finance teams will form their own view of what AI should deliver. Agencies that lean in now can help shape those expectations before they’re set.
One point came up repeatedly across the morning: the value of AI has to be demonstrated rather than asserted and agreed early between agencies, marketers and procurement.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and Panelists for a genuinely honest conversation:
Tina Fegent (FCIPS)
- Founder of Tina Fegent Consulting, Global Marketing Procurement Consultant Chair, CIPS Marketing Group.
Ryan Kangisser
- Chief Strategy Officer at MediaSense.
Ollie Bishop
- Founder & CEO of ROAST.
Rachael Lynch
- Procurement Marketing Manager at The AA.
