South Africa, Oct. 15 -- To understand the path forward, we must first map the landscape of existing models, each of which attempts to balance effort, cost, and results with varying degrees of success.

Even the most performance-oriented agency models are constrained by a single-stage view of value and a financial structure that forces either the client or the agency to carry a disproportionate burden of risk.

The fundamental failure of these models is that they create a zero-sum game of risk shifting, not risk sharing. They force a choice: either the client pays for effort (CPL) or the agency pays for the entire journey (CPA). Neither approach reflects the operational reality that value is built progressively along a complex customer jo...