The Now, Next and Future of Agencies with Spencer Gallagher and Jenny Plant
Spencer Gallagher, Founding Partner of bluhalo io, joined Jenny Plant, Founder of Account Management Skills to dig into what transforming with AI means in practice for you as an agency leader or account manager.
Spencer has a rare mix of real life experience building and selling an agency, deep technical curiosity, and a very honest take on how things are looking for the future. You’ll come away with both a clearer sense of direction and some very practical ideas to take back to your team.
Link to the full episode here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Y2CXZOq6Q and here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7dATtPkWiRIvXCbbganrrk
What’s covered in this episode:
Why so many agency services have matured and what that means for your positioning and growth.
How Spencer thinks about the "now, next and future" of agencies in an AI-driven world.
Why founders and leaders need to reconnect with their creative side and carve out proper thinking space if they want to reinvent their business.
The cultural shift required to build high-agency, growth-mindset teams that actually embrace AI rather than resist it.
How AI is likely to reshape agency structures - from headcount and roles to pricing, automation and the types of services clients will value most.
Practical examples of how tools and no-code platforms have gone from clunky to powerful in a very short space of time, and what that means for your IP.
Advice for agency leaders who know they need to speed up their adoption of AI, but feel their team is low-energy or stuck in old ways of working.
Guidance for account managers whose leaders are dragging their heels on AI, including how to use real client feedback to influence from the middle.
What Spencer is seeing in the M&A market for agencies, including what buyers now look for and why AI capability is increasingly on the checklist.
Key challenges in 2025 have included:
Confusion and uncertainty.
Many agencies struggle to build a clear roadmap for AI integration.
Competitive disruption AI adoption is uneven, creating growing gaps between agencies.
Market oversaturation Post-COVID, the agency space is more crowded with over 30,000 agencies in the UK alone, leading to closures and mergers.
Balancing innovation and automation.
Early adopters are already leapfrogging competitors.
Resistance to change, regulatory concerns, and shifting client expectations are compounding these challenges.
But for those who take a proactive approach, the opportunities are unprecedented.
Full episode link:
The Now, Next and Future of Agencies with Spencer Gallagher - YouTube
The Now, Next and Future of Agencies with Spencer Gallagher - Spotify
The question isn’t if your agency will adopt AI, it’s how you continue to evolve moving forward at pace.
If you need help adopting AI into your agency, and want to stay ahead of the curve. Get in touch: hello@bluhalo.com
Account managers can also take an AI readiness quiz here: https://accountmanagementskills.com/ai-account-manager-quiz/