A shared standard for how agencies define and capture their value

The Agency Model Map is a five-minute online diagnostic completed by the agency's CEO or CFO. The questions cover how the firm packages and prices its work, how its revenue relates to its headcount, how it responds to pricing pressure, and a small set of firm characteristics used for benchmarking, such as size, discipline, and region. No accounts or passwords are created. Questions are multiple choice and can be answered based on leadership's existing knowledge.

Each agency receives its results immediately: its archetype (one of four commercial model types identified by the Institute's research), a read on where its current model is helping or hurting business performance, and a personalized roadmap. The roadmap sequences what to change first across the four levers of the value model: how the firm defines, designs, delivers, and captures its value. If your association enters into a paid program, the workshop video library and live workshops then provide further guidance for how to make each change.

The CEO or CFO, with one response per agency. Where more than one leader is involved, the response should reflect an aligned answer. For holding companies, each brand counts as a separate agency and completes its own diagnostic, because each runs its own commercial model.

It takes about five minutes for one person. The recommended approach is to complete it with the leadership team in the room. The questions prompt a discussion most leadership teams have not had about their own commercial model, and firms report that the conversation sharpens their priorities faster than the results alone. Done that way, it takes longer, and that is the better version.

Both. The frameworks behind the diagnostic were developed for consulting engagements with firms ranging from thirty-person independents to multinational networks. The online benchmark, when published in Q4 2026/Q1 2027, will be filterable by firm size and type, so each agency can compare itself against similar firms.

Yes. The foundational work, redefining value, redesigning how it is packaged and delivered, and repricing it, is the same for every agency type. The specialized workshops available in the paid plans then address media, creative, PR, and full-service firms separately, with examples from each.

The Institute collects diagnostic responses directly, under the terms and privacy policy presented to each agency at the point of collection. Individual results are visible only to the agency that submitted them. Findings are published only as aggregated, anonymized results, and any segment that falls below the Institute's minimum response thresholds is not reported, so no thin slice of data can expose an individual firm. The Institute never shares or sells agency data.

The association sees aggregated, anonymized results: archetype patterns across its market, trends over time, and filterable views by firm size, discipline, and region. No individual agency's answers are visible to the association or to anyone else. That is what allows agencies to answer honestly, which is what makes the data reliable. The association can see which agencies have completed the diagnostic, for follow-up purposes only, but never their responses.

Every submission asks for the respondent's name, role, and email address. Where more than one response arrives from the same agency, the Institute reports the response from the most recent and senior respondent. Every submission then passes through the Institute's data review before it enters any association's report.

The diagnostic page presents brief terms and a privacy policy on the entry form before any data is submitted.

Yes. When an association joins a paid program, the Institute sets up an account for each participating agency, and each agency accepts an end-user agreement covering its platform access and usage. The association itself signs a program agreement and order form that also carry data protections. Copies of both are available to any association on request.

A co-branded PDF report on your members. It shows where your agencies stand across the four commercial model types identified by the Institute's research, from firms still selling time to firms whose revenue no longer depends on headcount. It covers how your agencies package and price their work, with breakdowns by size, type, and type of ownership where response floors allow. It reports on revenue and productivity questions, and it includes your members' own words on what is holding them back. The data is also compared against the global picture (beginning Q1 2027).

The launch edition is free during the founding period. It requires a signed agreement and completed diagnostics from at least 20 unique member agencies; multiple responses from one agency count once. We then present the findings in a private readout with your leadership. The paid plans also include an online index for your association, updated as new members complete or update the diagnostic through the year, along with recurring editions of the report.

Both are part of the paid program plans. The workshop video library, included in every paid plan, is on-demand video with recommended tracks based on each agency's diagnostic results; the Advocate and Leader plans add specialized tracks by agency type and by role: account leadership, new business, finance, and holding company leadership. The live workshops, included in the Advocate and Leader plans, are scheduled with the association across the year, either chosen from the Institute's catalog or built around what the market's data shows agencies are struggling with.

Yes, and the anonymized and aggregated diagnostic data is the primary tool that helps you do it. Your market's results tell us which workshops your agencies need most, informing how you can program your association's content. The paid Leader-tier program also includes a seat on the Institute's steering group, which gives you a voice in what the Institute builds next.

A practitioner certification is slated for development in 2027, designed for professionals inside agencies.

The introductory program requires no payment. Contact the Institute and we set up your association's diagnostic link and launch kit: a one-pager with guidelines on how to promote the diagnostic. Agencies need no accounts or logins to complete the diagnostic; each agency accepts the terms on the diagnostic landing page and receives its results immediately online and by email. To produce your report, we need completed diagnostics from at least 20 unique member agencies. Following the report, we can schedule the readout with your leadership and/or board.

The Institute partners with industry bodies across markets. Paid programs are governed by an agreement and a one-page order form with your selected plan and annual fee.