Agencies deferred AI investment while clients built agentic commerce teams
Mondelez hired a permanent global lead for AI shopping bots while agencies pushed growth plans to 2027, creating a capability gap that threatens client relationships.
Agencies surveyed pushing meaningful budget growth to 2027
Mondelez created a permanent global role for AI-driven shopping bots, validating agentic commerce as an org-chart priority for top-10 global advertisers.
One pattern. Trace it.
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A pattern worth naming
(2) Upfront pricing signals: Watch early upfront deal closings, particularly in sports, for evidence of whether the DOJ NFL probe is chilling long-term commitments or whether demand is overriding regulatory uncertainty. (3) Publisher paywall and personalization moves: The Daily Mail's AI-powered dynamic paywall is a leading indicator — monitor whether other major publishers adopt similar propensity-based models, which would further erode guaranteed reach for media buyers.
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Agentic commerce crossed from conference topic to C-suite headcount at a top-10 global advertiser
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Publishers replaced pageview optimization with AI-powered propensity modeling and dynamic paywalls
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Agencies shifted planning assumptions from 2026 recovery to flat client budgets through year-end
“Which two CPG clients are most likely to hire internally for agentic commerce like Mondelez did, and what can we sell them this quarter to stay relevant?”
Ask your agency whether they can audit your product metadata for AI shopping agent discoverability this quarter or build that capability internally.
By Joseph Lancaster, Editor — with research from Pine Needle's intelligence layer.
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