Marijana Simunovic.
Marijana Simunovic, Co-Founder & MD, Weave
The world is going ‘live’, and brands are investing accordingly. Consumers are backing that shift too, with 80% now ranking in-person experiences as the most trusted marketing channel, ahead of paid media, content and every other form of brand communication.
The strategic decision to invest in live is the right one, but many marketers are overlooking the operational reality that comes with it.
In live, something inevitably will go wrong.
A keynote speaker withdraws hours before they are due on stage; flights are cancelled; or technology fails. Unlike almost every other marketing channel, there is no opportunity to pause, optimise or relaunch at a live event. Once the doors open, your brand is being experienced in real time by real people, with no safety net and no second chance.
When this happens, it fundamentally changes the type of agency relationship brands need and brings the importance of strong client/agency partnerships to the fore.
As an example, we recently had to compress a three-day conference, which was nine months in the making, into a single day because of the imminent threat of a Category 4 cyclone. What followed was a frantic, all-hands-on-deck operation to rework the program, reprioritise logistics, communicate constant updates and, most importantly, get every delegate home safely while still delivering the event.
That's the nature of live… it’s adrenaline-pumping work.
What made that outcome possible wasn't simply quick rethinking, or contingency planning, it was trust. Nobody stopped to ask whose fault it was, nobody wasted time protecting territory or debating responsibility, the only thing that mattered was, "What needs to happen next?"
That kind of client/agency relationship isn't built during a procurement process or demonstrated in a credentials presentation. It is earned over time via shared challenges, difficult conversations, projects that need rethinking, ideas that didn't land and problems solved together. Those moments don't weaken client/agency partnerships, they strengthen them.
And therein lies an emerging problem… most brands never let a relationship get to this point. A 2024 survey found that 40% of brands planned to replace their primary agency within six months, while more than half still appointed agencies primarily on cost. The logic that fresh thinking, competitive pressure and commercial accountability should theoretically produce better work, is understandable.
But increasingly, it’s not the case, this approach doesn’t count for chemistry, instead it prioritises ‘good on paper’ over ‘good in practice’.
That might have been manageable when campaigns were planned months in advance and success depended largely on execution, but today’s modern marketing environment is fundamentally different.
Brands are expected to respond in real time, create experiences people actively choose to attend, adapt instantly to changing conditions and deliver consistently across every touchpoint, often under conditions nobody can fully control. Live events have become a proving ground for brand capability because they expose every weakness in planning, collaboration and decision-making.
When something changes five minutes before doors open, chemistry matters more than capability statements.
Every agency change resets established knowledge and often strategic context walks out the door. New teams spend months learning stakeholder preferences, approval processes, risk tolerances and organisational politics before they can begin creating meaningful value. And often, just as momentum starts to build, another review begins.
The brands that are building enduring agency partnerships, with teams who already understand their business, know where decisions can be made, recognise the non-negotiables, and can solve problems without waiting for another briefing session, are the ones likely to succeed.
That learned understanding and cumulative knowledge becomes a valuable asset and genuine competitive advantage.
It allows agencies to challenge thinking without damaging trust, it enables faster decision-making because context already exists, and it reduces risk because everyone understands what success looks like before pressure arrives. Most importantly, it gives marketing leaders confidence that when conditions become unpredictable, their agency of record will respond as an extension of the business rather than as an external supplier.
The importance of trust isn't simply anecdotal; industry research consistently shows that the quality of the client relationship is one of the strongest predictors of long-term agency success. Yet despite this, only a small number of marketers describe their agency relationships as truly excellent.
That should concern every CMO, because in an increasingly live, fast-moving and unpredictable marketing landscape, the quality of the agency relationship isn't separate from the quality of the work, it is the foundation that determines how quickly teams make decisions, solve problems and respond when plans suddenly change.
The brands that stand out from their competitors won't necessarily be those with the biggest budgets or the newest agency roster; they'll be the ones willing to invest in agency partnerships that become stronger through adversity rather than being discarded because of it. They'll recognise that trust is not a soft metric, and that institutional memory can be just as valuable as creative firepower.
Live has always rewarded preparation. Increasingly, it rewards partnership too.
And when the unexpected inevitably arrives, your audience won't care how recently you reviewed your agency, but they will remember how your brand showed up, even when a cyclone hits.