This is the second in a series of weekly features ahead of PRmoment’s PR Masterclass: The Agency Growth Forum.

In the 1984 film Ghostbusters, Dr Venkman, goes to see Dana Barrett, who is possessed by a demon character, Zuul. When he asks the demon to speak to Dana, she replies in a demonic voice: “There is no Dana, only Zuul.”

What happened to Dana Barrett has happened to strategy.

It’s been full-on Zuul. So many unprecedented events have fundamentally changed things: a global pandemic, war in Europe, five prime ministers in six years, America electing Donald Trump twice, yo-yo tariffs, NATO first strengthening then weakening, a Conservative majority overthrown by a Labour landslide, and followed in under a year by a poll giving a new party an electoral majority. The hits keep coming.

Unsurprisingly, people are a bit bewildered.

Back in the day, we had a marketing lecturer, let’s call him Tom. He hated people talking about strategy.

He would say, “whenever you see the word strategy, cross it out and write the word stupid.” A grumpy lecturer, fancy that.

His point was that a strategy is a plan, and plans never survive contact with the enemy. I knew less about Suvorov, St Augustine or situational fluency then than I did about strategy, and I don’t know much now.

Tom was right though. The old aren’t always right, but they are worth listening to, just in case. I urge all marketing applicants to avoid the word strategic.

The point about all this global churn is that the pace of change is now so great that it overwhelms rigid, unresponsive, inflexible structures. You can see it in government.

You can see it in our industry. What happened to Holdcos is truly historic, and I think we’ve yet to see the worst of the job losses from the Omnicom and IPG merger. The implication for agency and industry cultures is going to be profound.

The only solution to this is massive reinvestment and a wholesale reinvention of culture. Some brands will be harder to reform than they are to retain, so they will be either euthanised or sold off. There are a lot for sale already.

Either way, we can expect more emphasis on the team. Remote working has reduced teamwork to a mere transaction. Good cultures go beyond the transactional. They are transformational. There is a lot of fear out there. The only way to defeat individual fear is with close fellowship. The sort that can’t come down a telephone line or Wi-Fi signal.

The PR industry is now going through a phase where it’s having to do a lot more with less. AI is helping with this, but there’s little doubt we will all end up working harder for less reward. Technology is always attracted to high-wage industries.

In-office cultures are back and creative cadence will be a prime beneficiary of this. It’s easier to cycle on projects. Pitches are won on constant iterations as new information comes to bear. The sooner a pitch can be drafted, the sooner it can be iterated. The more iterations, the more polish, the more practice, the more wins.

Clients don’t just buy services from agencies. They also buy enthusiasm, ideas, intelligence and the can-do culture that is so often absent from larger organisations. It’s important that the agency culture is quick, creative and collaborative. After all, it’s why most people decide on a career in marketing.

Strategy takes you from A to B, usually under one Moses-like leader. Now though, there might not be a shining city on a hill. There may not even be a B anymore, but you still have to let go of A. Only the situationally fluent can cope with this.

Chris Lewis’s new book Pomp & Circumstance: Why Britain’s Traditions Matter is now on sale