South Africa, Sept. 10 -- If agencies want a seat at the table, they need to earn it - by speaking the language of business, being accountable for commercial outcomes, and proving that creativity is not just art, but a driver of enterprise value. Because the choice is clear: stop taking orders, or risk being written out of the story altogether.

Despite today's sophisticated tech stacks and dashboards, marketing is still too often seen as a cost centre rather than a growth lever. CEOs and CFOs think in terms of revenue, profit margins, shareholder value, and risk. Marketing, meanwhile, too often speaks of impressions, engagement, and 'brand love', metrics that sound like jargon outside our own circles.

This mismatch creates a credibility...