Why the Billable Hour Could Be Dead Sooner Than You Think—And What That Means for Your Bottom Line
Isn’t it funny how we’ve been stuck in this old-school PR pricing loop for decades—pay for hours, get people, rinse and repeat? But here’s a wild thought: what if chopping down hours with AI doesn’t mean cheaper fees — but smarter, sharper value instead? Sounds counterintuitive, right? Yet, that’s exactly where the industry is heading. As AI swoops in to handle the grunt work, it’s forcing us all to rethink the game. Because the truth is, when your agency gets more efficient, clients might actually see less worth unless we shift gears. The future of PR isn’t about fewer hours for less dough—it’s about bringing better expertise, stronger capabilities, and clearer outcomes to the table. And let me tell you, that’s a pivot worth making if you want to stay ahead, profitable, and relevant in this brave new world. LEARN MORE
The future is not fewer hours at a lower price. It is better expertise, stronger capabilities and clearer outcomes, writes Everhaze CEO James McCann
For decades, the commercial model of the PR industry has been built around a simple equation: a monthly retainer buys access to a defined number of people and hours.
It is familiar, easy to budget for and, until now, broadly aligned with how agencies created value.
Artificial intelligence is about to break that equation.
As AI systems take on more of the research, monitoring, analysis, drafting and reporting that once absorbed large blocks of agency time, clients will inevitably ask a reasonable question: if the work takes less time, why should the fee stay the same?
Agencies that continue to defend pricing primarily through hours will find themselves under growing pressure.
Efficiency, once a route to improved margins, could instead become a reason for clients to demand lower fees.
The more productive an agency becomes, the less it appears to be worth.
That is the wrong outcome for both agencies and clients.
The industry needs to move towards capability pricing: a hybrid model that charges for three distinct forms of value.
The first is expertise.
Clients should continue to pay for senior judgement, strategic advice, relationships, creativity and experience.
AI can support those skills, but it does not replace accountability or the ability to make the right call in a complex situation.
The second is capability.
An agency may provide a client with always-on media intelligence, real-time competitor tracking, reporting on-demand, rapid-response content production, executive briefings or crisis monitoring.
These should be priced as dependable capabilities, not as a bundle of invisible hours. The third is outcomes.
Where the agency can materially influence a defined commercial, reputational or policy objective, part of the fee can be linked to agreed results.
This requires careful measurement and sensible boundaries, but it aligns agency reward more closely with client value.
The transition will not happen overnight. Retainers will remain important because clients need continuity and agencies need predictable revenue.
But the retainer itself must evolve.
It should become the foundation for access, expertise and governance, with additional capabilities and outcome-based components layered on top.
This is also the best defence against the commoditisation of agency work.
If AI reduces every task to a cheaper unit of production, the industry risks competing on cost.
If agencies instead package what they can enable, improve or achieve, they can compete on value.
That creates a more sustainable commercial model for everyone.
The winners in the next era will not be the agencies that use AI to do the same work with fewer people.
They will be the agencies that redesign what they sell. The future is not fewer hours at a lower price.
It is better expertise, stronger capabilities and clearer outcomes.
Photo: James McCann and Cormac Glynn, Everhaze
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