The Muddled World of Advertising Agency

In one of a recent podcast, Peter Theil shared his view that in the future artificial intelligence will have ‘worse’ impact on maths-focused professions rather than those with ‘word’ skills (writing skills). You can watch the podcast here.

While the podcast primarily focused on the subject of political theology, Thiel's observation got me thinking about how people are currently use AI, especially generative AI, in their daily work. As someone working in an advertising agency, I've seen firsthand the 'help' these technologies offer to my fellow journeymen.

A few months back, while having lunch with a team member from client servicing. Out of the blue, he mentioned he had 3-4 'insights' for a client project that might help me. I sensed he wanted me to get the strategy work done quickly and hence this helping hand. When I heard his 'insights,' they seemed vague, so I asked if these came from the client or how he arrived at them. Sheepishly, he admitted, "I asked ChatGPT."

Looking at the trends, it's clear these technologies will only become more significant and (hopefully) better. Soon, the account management team will check on brand strategy, consumer insights, and even creative options, apart from the regular use of AI tools for tasks like grammar checks and preparing the presentation decks.

In the creative department, the copywriters will discuss design sensibility, recommending fonts, art, and imagery. The typically reclusive art directors will start having opinions on headlines or scripts. In fact, over the past few months, I've noticed many previously quiet art/design folks in my network becoming active on social media with lengthy posts. I know who to thank for their newfound social mojo ;)

And lastly, planners and strategists will also get caught up in the mix, providing more than one 'POVs' on creative outputs. Their presentations to clients will include a slew of activities and tactics as part of the GTM plan.

Sometimes I wonder if a situation will arise where, even before the humans in the agency and client side interact, there will be a flurry of instantaneous 'discussions' between my AI (agency) and your AI (client) about the upcoming campaigns. It probably could.

Just in case you are working closely with GenAI tools, in your haste, don’t forget to remove regenerate response.