EACA names Patou Nuytemans as Ambassador for Agency Value

Brussels, 16 September 2026 —The European Association of Communications Agencies has appointed Patou Nuytemans, who left Ogilvy in August after 30 years, latterly as Chief Executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to make the case for a new agency model and the value that agencies deliver for clients.

The appointment follows the recent EACA and VoxComm report Redesigning the Agency Value Model, which set out the challenges that AI is creating for the current time-and-people business model and urged agencies to package and price their expertise as defined solutions rather than as time.

EACA’s new Ambassador for Agency Value can speak from experience. She has run the transition she is now arguing for. Over 30 years at Ogilvy she worked in six countries across three continents, most recently as CEO EMEA, with P&L accountability for 35 markets and every agency discipline – Brand and Advertising, PR and Influence, Social and Creator, Digital and Content, CRM and CX, Health and Consulting – delivering four consecutive years of profitable growth, while growing new marketing services including AI from a third to half of regional revenue.

She will argue that the industry is under real strain – growth and profitability declining, agency brands disappearing – while advertising spend continues to grow. The popular diagnosis, she says, is wrong. AI is the accelerant, not the origin of the issue. Agencies have never made the case for the value they create, so they were paid for the only thing anyone could see: their time.

That is why the question is not only how agencies charge, but what they sell. As AI absorbs execution and can augment strategy and ideation, knowing what you are genuinely different at is the critical skill that agencies have to learn.

Her brief builds on the VoxComm/EACA paper and goes beyond it - into where agency growth comes from next, the shapes a creative business can take, and whether the industry can still fund the talent it depends on.

“Our work has value. What we have never fixed is how we go to market and how we get paid for it. There is a lot of talk about paying for outcomes, and the instinct behind it is right – but we influence outcomes, we do not control them, and that is hard to make work in practice. What matters is that we move beyond input, beyond being paid for our time. Knowing what you are genuinely better at, packaging it, pricing it – that is a business muscle this industry has barely used, and it is the one that decides whether agencies thrive,” says Patou Nuytemans.

The IPA's recent Bridging the Gap study of UK brand-side decision-makers found that two thirds of clients agree the way agencies currently charge undervalues the work they deliver - while nine out of ten are satisfied with their current remuneration model.

“Patou's vast experience allows her to credibly make the case that agencies need to change what they sell from time-based services to value-adding solutions. Why would this industry be one of the only ones paid for time dedicated to tasks, at a time when our clients have never been more accountable for the performance they generate, and their agency partners for the value they create? Agencies need to find new models to ensure their value is recognised,” said EACA President Christian de La Villehuchet. 

Patou will be making the case for change on key marketing and agency podcasts around Europe. To make her unique voice part of your content, please contact Myriam D. Seda, Communications Manager at EACA.