Nine in 10 U.S. marketing agencies now use generative AI. Half use agentic AI for marketing execution. Those figures, from Forrester research published in June 2026, show how thoroughly the technology has moved into agency work, with adoption spreading across creative, strategy, media, and reporting workflows.
As the tools become common ground, the question for companies hiring marketing support is shifting. It is less about which firm has access to the technology and more about which firm, or which person, uses it best.
Marketing Crunch is launching with that question in view. The new platform reviews PR firms and individual marketers, positioning itself as the “Rotten Tomatoes of tech marketing,” and focuses attention on the human side of a rapidly automating industry.
When Everyone Has The Same Toolkit
Technology has historically been one way agencies differentiated themselves. Proprietary platforms, analytics capabilities, and specialized software could set a firm apart.
Widespread AI adoption changes that. When most agencies are working with comparable generative and agentic tools, the software itself becomes a baseline. What rises in importance are the qualities that sit around the technology: strategic judgment, creative instinct, relationships with media and industry, the discipline to execute well, and the ability to produce results.
These are also the hardest qualities to see from the outside. They show up in how a campaign was planned, how a crisis was handled, and how a client relationship developed over time. Reviews are one of the most direct ways to bring that information into view.
A Platform Built Around Reputation
Marketing Crunch is designed as a dedicated destination for those reviews. It covers PR firms as well as individual marketers, extending beyond the company-level focus of traditional agency directories.
That individual dimension carries particular weight in an AI-driven market. Two firms may run similar technology stacks, yet the people directing that technology can produce very different outcomes. Reviewing individuals alongside firms allows the platform to reflect where much of the real differentiation lives.
Budgets Follow The Value
The spending data points in a consistent direction. Forrester’s 2026 survey of B2B brand and communications marketers found that 93% use agencies in some capacity, while the share expecting their agency budgets to rise fell 13 percentage points from 2025, with nearly half expecting flat spending.
As AI allows marketing teams to handle more work internally, the budget that still goes to outside partners is increasingly concentrated on expertise. Companies want to know that the firm they hire brings something beyond what the tools alone can offer.
Measuring What Matters
PR teams are also recalibrating around results. The 2026 State of PR report from Meltwater and We. Communications, which drew on more than 1,100 PR and communications professionals worldwide, identified proving ROI as one of the leading issues for PR teams. More than one-third of respondents named alignment between measurement and business goals as a top priority.
Cision’s Inside PR 2026 research adds another data point: 91% of PR professionals surveyed use generative AI in their workflows, and executives and agencies are placing growing emphasis on revenue and ROI alongside brand awareness.
Together, these findings describe a profession that is embracing AI while sharpening its focus on business outcomes.
The Human Layer
In that environment, a review platform serves a specific purpose. It records how clients experienced working with a firm or marketer, a perspective that no amount of automation replicates.
Marketing Crunch’s launch reflects a broader realignment in tech marketing. The technology is now shared across the industry. The people using it are what companies are really choosing between, and Marketing Crunch gives those people a place where their work can be reviewed.
