Trust is not a feeling — it’s a system.

The recent CMO Expectations study by EACA and Kantar reads like a confirmation of what many in the industry have been saying for years: the relationship between advertisers and agencies is full of paradoxes.

94% of advertisers say they view their agency as a trusted partner. At the same time, nearly half launched a pitch in the past year — and in two-thirds of those cases, it resulted in an agency change. That’s not a detail. That’s structural.

The study rightly points out that trust and involvement in the business matter more than creativity. It also confirms that long-term collaborations are more effective than short-term relationships. All of that is true. But that’s exactly where the tension lies.

The elephant in the room: the relationship is not being measured

What is strikingly absent from the entire discussion is something rather basic: how do we keep the relationship healthy before it derails?

We measure everything: KPIs, ROI, reach, conversions, deadlines, budgets. But the relationship itself — expectations, frustrations, trust, collaboration, governance — is remarkably often left out of the picture. Until it’s too late. And then comes… a pitch.

Pitches are rarely the problem. They are usually the symptom.

Trust does not emerge by itself

Trust is not a vague feeling. It is the result of structural maintenance. And that maintenance requires more than an annual review of “how was the creative work?” or “were deadlines met?”

At PitchPoint, we have focused exclusively on the relationship between advertisers and communication agencies for 18 years. Precisely because we saw how often strong collaborations collapsed without anyone really seeing it coming.

That is why we developed COLLAB: a structured 180-degree evaluation of the relationship itself — qualitative and quantitative, from both sides of the table. Not a superficial satisfaction survey, but a concrete instrument that reveals where things friction, where they work well, and what is needed to improve together.

Today, COLLAB has become a standard in Belgium, with 162 evaluation projects and 1,847 professionals involved. The approach is now also gaining traction in the Netherlands, through our collaboration with 3MO.

Fewer pitches, more maturity

What surprises me in the current debate is that we keep talking about avoiding pitches, while leaving the real work untouched.

Anyone who wants fewer pitches must invest in:

• regular, structured relationship evaluations

• mutual feedback (not only from client to agency)

• clear agreements on roles, expectations, and value creation

• timely course correction, before frustration turns into distrust

That is less spectacular than a pitch. But far more effective.

Time for the next step

The EACA study rightly outlines the agency of the future: AI-native, strategic, operationally strong, culturally intelligent. But that agency can only thrive within a mature relational model.

And that model requires more than new contract forms or compensation schemes. It requires that we finally take the relationship itself as seriously as the output.

Anyone who claims trust is important must also make it measurable and discussable. Everything else is good intention — but not a strategy.