The antagonist does not need to be a villain and frequently should not be. What it needs is to be as strong as the protagonist, because the strength of a story is set by the strength of its opposition. A weak antagonist produces a protagonist who looks capable and a story nobody worries about.
The most useful reframe for commercial work is antagonistic force. Time, money, a market, a body, an institution and a habit are all sufficient. The bad-competitor advert is a rare case where naming a person as the antagonist is available, and it almost never survives legal.
A good diagnostic: state the antagonist’s goal as though they were the protagonist. If it sounds reasonable, the story will be interesting. If it sounds like being obstructive for its own sake, the opposition is decorative.
Does a story need a villain?
No. It needs opposition strong enough to make the outcome uncertain. Time, money, a market, an institution or a habit all work, and are more honest in most commercial contexts than inventing a person to blame.
How do you test whether your antagonist is strong enough?
State their goal as if they were the protagonist. If it reads as reasonable, the conflict is real. If it reads as obstruction for its own sake, the opposition is decoration and the tension will not hold.