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Agency · Value Creation · AI

Rethinking Value in the Agency World

Most agencies don't have a creativity problem. They have a value creation problem.

With Paul Krauss, AI Partner · TeamOne Developers

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Artwork for The Evergreen Playbook episode "Rethinking Value in the Agency World" featuring Paul Krauss.

Show notes

David Göz and Paul Krauss dissect the structural issues holding agencies back: shrinking margins, wrong incentives, procurement logic, and the belief that more assets equal more value.

They explore why outcome-based models matter, how AI accelerates both the good and the bad, and why strategy is quietly returning as the most important differentiator in the industry.

Value is everything that makes people happy, brings them forward, and gives them a reason to pay more.

— Paul Krauss

Everybody tries to hammer faster with AI, but the question is: why do you have a hammer in your hand anyways? You probably need a different tool.

— Paul Krauss

Most of the value of a creative agency actually comes from creating the concept. Most of the time in agencies is actually spent on creating derivatives of that initial concept.

— Paul Krauss

If you can produce infinite assets, the only thing that works is to understand which kind of strategy works with the creatives, because you probably don't have so much money that you can pull limitless ads.

— Paul Krauss

Hours don't create value, right? Yeah. It's the outcome that creates a value and the way to get to that outcome changes. And that's what's currently messing up a lot of the systems we're currently playing in.

— David Göz

The Playbook

The core principles from this conversation.

  1. 1 Separate concept from execution — price them differently
  2. 2 Use AI to test more concepts, not produce more executions
  3. 3 Start with the client's job to be done, not their brief
  4. 4 Agree to be measured on outcomes, not deliverable counts
Read the full playbook

The Guest

Paul Krauss

AI Partner · TeamOne Developers

Paul works at the intersection of AI and creative strategy, tackling structural issues in today's agency landscape: fragmented models, wrong incentives, and the belief that more output equals more value.