Pricing pressure, unpredictable new business, changing talent expectations, and the economics of AI are all weighing on PR agency leaders as they plan for 2027. Throughout 2026, PR Council members have compared notes during our monthly CEO Pulse conversations, a confidential forum where agency leaders can share what’s working, what they’re experimenting with, and what they haven’t quite figured out. Several recurring questions offer a glimpse into what’s on their minds.
How do you protect profitability when clients won’t increase their budgets?
Many agency leaders are taking a closer look at the economics of individual client relationships. An account may generate significant revenue while demanding more senior attention, unplanned work, or staffing than its fee can support.
Some CEOs are building annual rate increases into contracts. Others prefer the flexibility to negotiate with clients individually. And when a client’s budget truly cannot increase, leaders are asking if the scope of work should stay the same.
The discussion also extends to technology and administrative fees, with agencies weighing how to recover rising operating costs without creating additional friction in longstanding relationships.
Which new business opportunities are actually worth pursuing?
Agency leaders continue to encounter lengthy sales cycles, RFPs without budgets, multiple rounds of repricing, and prospects who disappear after receiving substantial work. These experiences are prompting some CEOs to rethink their criteria for pursuing new business. How much should an agency invest before a prospect has demonstrated genuine interest? What information should be required before responding to an RFP? And when is walking away the better business decision?
Approaches vary considerably. Some firms have become highly selective about formal pitches, while others operate in markets where competitive RFP processes remain an unavoidable part of business development.
Is AI creating more value for agencies or simply changing what clients expect to pay?
Firms are investing in tools, training, governance, and new capabilities, even as some clients expect faster turnaround or more work for the same fee.
CEOs are exploring whether traditional billing models adequately capture the value of AI-enabled work. The conversation is increasingly about how agencies deliver “speed to insight,” strategic judgment, and business outcomes rather than hours spent producing deliverables.
At the same time, leaders are grappling with the costs of AI itself. As agencies move beyond subscriptions toward more sophisticated workflows and agents, predicting usage costs and returns on investment is becoming another management challenge. And new opportunities, including AI discoverability or generative engine optimization (GEO), are raising familiar questions about where existing client service ends and a distinct, billable offering begins.
The value of comparing notes
These discussions rarely produce a single prescription. A strategy that works for a large, integrated firm may be impractical for a boutique firm. A pricing approach that succeeds with one client may create friction with another. And some of the most interesting exchanges reveal not what CEOs agree on, but where their experiences diverge.
The PR Council has captured 15 of these discussions in CEO Asked & Answered, a new members-only collection exploring the questions agency leaders are asking and the practices and tradeoffs emerging from their conversations.
PR Council members can explore CEO Asked & Answered in the member portal.
Interested in joining these conversations? Learn more about PR Council membership.
