The constant interplay between marketing, markets and digital technologies: agencing, de-agencing, and the shaping of practice

This commentary examines the dynamic interplay between marketing, markets, and digital technologies through the lens of agencing. Drawing on Market Studies, it argues that technologies such as platforms, dashboards, and AI tools do not simply support marketing they actively shape its practice by structuring agency, enabling some actors while displacing others. Tracing the historical evolution of market research and its digital transformation, the commentary introduces the triad of agencing, de-agencing, and re-agencing to conceptualise how marketing expertise is configured, contested, and redefined. It highlights how markets for marketing tools embed power asymmetries and produce new dependencies. The framework invites critical reflection on how marketing is performed in increasingly platform-mediated, data-driven environments.