Agencies won’t gain pricing power by tweaking scopes or switching from hours to deliverables. Real transformation begins when firms redefine the unit of value itself. A solution-based monetization system moves agencies away from selling tasks and talent toward selling outcomes, expertise, and repeatable methods. This shift clarifies what clients truly value, strengthens differentiation, and creates a commercial engine that consistently captures more of the value the firm creates.

AI is collapsing the value of time-based pricing, exposing the gap between how agencies create value and how they charge for it. As production timelines shrink, procurement teams gain leverage, commoditizing deliverables and pushing margins down even further. Agencies can no longer rely on hours or deliverables as their pricing anchor—they need a solution-based commercial model rooted in outcomes, expertise, and differentiation. This post breaks down why pricing change must follow positioning and productization, not precede them.