"Branding agencies use proprietary type families when they're the most appropriate for the job"
Except... they sometimes don't appreciate the breadth of the 'job'. For agency A to get their 'job' done, using fonts ABC works just fine. But now when that same font needs to be use in other areas they're not licensed for, their client either can't have the same brand experience in other media, or has to pay a heftier price to do so, or is running afoul of the licensing terms.
This is a couple steps above people just going to google images and grabbing whatever images come up for their own websites. Still same licensing/terms-of-use problems, just with a higher price tag attached. And somehow, when people are using big fancy agency XYZ, they think (rightly?) that the agency always knows what they're doing (often they do, but sometimes they don't).
Except... they sometimes don't appreciate the breadth of the 'job'. For agency A to get their 'job' done, using fonts ABC works just fine. But now when that same font needs to be use in other areas they're not licensed for, their client either can't have the same brand experience in other media, or has to pay a heftier price to do so, or is running afoul of the licensing terms.
This is a couple steps above people just going to google images and grabbing whatever images come up for their own websites. Still same licensing/terms-of-use problems, just with a higher price tag attached. And somehow, when people are using big fancy agency XYZ, they think (rightly?) that the agency always knows what they're doing (often they do, but sometimes they don't).