Why Indian Agencies Are Racing To Become Consultants Before AI Takes Over

Indian advertising agencies are rapidly expanding into consultancy, seeing it as the last premium frontier in an era where AI is reshaping creative and media services. Leaders believe consultancy arms could define survival, relevance, and long-term value in the industry.

Agencies Reinventing Themselves

The Indian advertising landscape is undergoing a major shift. Once known primarily for their creative flair and media buying muscle, agencies across Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore are repositioning themselves as strategic consultancies. In 2025 alone, several players including Havas India with Gate One, RK Swamy’s Brand and Marketing Consulting Group, AdGlobal360’s dXfactor, and Rohit Ohri’s Ohriginal have either launched or significantly scaled their consultancy arms.

This change represents a reversal of the trend seen a decade ago when global consultancies like Deloitte and Accenture were acquiring creative shops to get closer to consumers. Today, it is agencies stepping into the consultancy space to retain strategic influence and create premium value.

Why Consultancy And Why Now

The rise of consultancy arms is not just an expansion of services—it is about survival. With AI capable of generating tens of thousands of images, videos, and even complete ad films, agencies are under intense pressure to find value that technology cannot easily replicate. The consultancy space provides that answer. It is rooted in human judgment, brand understanding, and strategic insight, areas where AI has limitations.

Harsha Razdan of dentsu describes the consultancy pivot as a return to the agency’s core. He explains that clients want more than campaigns; they want guidance, measurable results, and strategy that can be executed seamlessly. By integrating advisory, creativity, and execution, agencies are positioning themselves as holistic partners rather than just service providers.

The Client Perspective

For decades, brands received strategic advice bundled with creative services. Today, agencies are finally charging for that advice as standalone value. Early-stage consultancies like Early, co-founded by Meghana Bhat, focus on startups that need both direction and execution. She emphasizes the need for hybrid models where strategy does not sit in a presentation file but translates into actionable roadmaps.

This reflects a larger industry truth—clients now demand integrated solutions that link creativity to performance. Whether it is large corporations or nimble startups, they want agencies to think like consultants and act like executors.

The AI And Economics Pressure

Margins in traditional media and creative work are shrinking rapidly. Programmatic buying has reduced profits in media, while cheaper production models and AI are compressing costs in content creation. S4 Capital’s recent earnings call revealed that as much as 65 percent of agency tasks could be done by AI agents today. From scriptwriting to post-production, AI is already compressing what once took months into weeks.

This reality is forcing agencies to shift their value proposition. As Ashish Bhasin points out, consultancy has always commanded respect and higher remuneration, something agencies have aspired to for years. With AI increasingly handling execution-heavy tasks, strategy and consultancy are emerging as the true differentiators.

The Risks And The Future

While consultancy offers hope, it also comes with challenges. Traditional management consultancies like Accenture Song and Deloitte Digital already dominate boardrooms with established credibility, global reach, and deep pockets. Agencies entering this space must clearly define what makes them unique. Experts suggest that the answer lies in integration—offering strategy that can be seamlessly executed across media, creative, and digital platforms.

The commercial model is also evolving. Agencies like dentsu are moving to outcome-based contracts, linking fees to results and long-term transformation. Though still rare in India due to conservative client mindsets, this shift could redefine how value is measured and rewarded.

Leaders agree that consultancy cannot replace execution. Both must coexist. Consultancy without execution is powerless, while execution without strategy risks being wasted effort. The future of agencies will depend on striking this balance, while AI accelerates change across the industry.

The Bigger Picture

The consultancy rush is less about chasing a trend and more about securing survival in a disrupted ecosystem. Agencies know that AI will continue to eat into low-margin tasks, leaving strategic insight as the final bastion of human-led value. Whether this shift helps agencies rival global consultancies or creates new hybrid models, the Indian industry is at a pivotal crossroads.

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