Why CMOs Are Capping Agency Scope Creep
The CMO Podcast with Fexingo · 2026-06-11 · 6 min
Episode notes
Episode 44 of The CMO Podcast with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna dig into a specific pain point that marketing leaders are grappling with in mid-2026: agency scope creep. They examine how P&G's procurement team recently capped retainer growth at 3% annually and forced quarterly scope resets - a move that has rippled across CPG and beyond. Lucas breaks down the economics: the average Fortune 500 CMO now spends 18% of their total marketing budget on agency fees, yet 40% of that goes to out-of-scope work according to a 2025 ANA study. They discuss the shift to fixed-scope, milestone-based contracts, and what it means for the agency-client relationship. Luna brings in an example from her own consulting work with a mid-market DTC brand that saved $2.3 million in year one just by enforcing a scope-change protocol. The conversation covers the tools CMOs are using - from AI-powered statement-of-work trackers to procurement playbooks - and why the old 'trust us, we'll take care of it' model is fading. Lucas closes with a question: if agencies are losing the margin from scope creep, where will they make it up?
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