AI is transforming advertising production, but businesses still need strategy, media expertise, creative judgement and accountability.
Artificial intelligence can generate advertising copy, design visuals, produce videos and suggest campaign ideas in a fraction of the time traditional production once required. Tasks that previously took a team several hours—or even days—can now begin with a simple prompt.
Yet, despite these advances, companies continue to work with advertising agencies. The reason is that creating an advertisement and making advertising work are two very different things.
AI can create an ad. Can it build a campaign?
Generative AI has made creative production faster and more accessible. Businesses can experiment with headlines, explore visual concepts, create multiple versions of an advertisement and adapt content for different platforms without starting from scratch each time.
For smaller businesses, this can reduce the cost of producing marketing material. For larger organisations, it can accelerate campaign development and help teams manage high volumes of content.
But an advertisement is only one component of a marketing campaign. Businesses must first establish what they want to achieve, understand whom they need to reach, decide what message will resonate with that audience and determine where the message should appear. They must also evaluate results and make adjustments when a campaign fails to deliver.
AI can assist at several stages. The challenge is connecting those capabilities to a coherent business objective.
Why companies still rely on advertising agencies
1. Strategy before creativity
A visually impressive advertisement may attract attention without generating enquiries, sales or meaningful brand recall. Agencies help translate business objectives into communication strategies, campaign concepts and messages designed for specific audiences.
2. Choosing the right media
A campaign may involve newspapers, television, radio, outdoor advertising, digital platforms, social media or a combination of channels. Selecting the right mix depends on the audience, geography, budget, timing and campaign objective. Producing an advertisement is not the same as deciding where, when and how it should reach its intended audience.
3. Consistency across platforms
A brand may need a newspaper advertisement, a social media campaign, a video, outdoor signage and supporting digital content. These formats differ, but the brand’s identity and central message must remain consistent. An agency can coordinate the campaign as a whole rather than treating each creative asset as an isolated task.
4. Professional judgement and accountability
AI-generated content still needs human review. Facts, claims, cultural context, brand suitability, copyright considerations and the potential for reputational damage all require attention. Businesses need professionals who can assess the work, question assumptions, correct mistakes and take responsibility for the campaign’s execution.
5. Coordination and execution
Campaigns often involve multiple stakeholders, deadlines, media owners, production teams and approval processes. Agencies bring these moving parts together, helping businesses move from an idea to a campaign that is actually delivered.
The Media Plus perspective: technology should strengthen the agency
Syed Khaled Shahbaaz, CEO of Media Plus Advertising & Public Relations, a technologist as well as a creative agency head, believes the value of an advertising agency extends well beyond the production of creative material.
“AI can help create an advertisement faster, but creating the advertisement is only one part of the job. The real challenge is understanding the client’s objective, identifying the right audience, choosing the right media and ensuring that the message works in the real world. Technology should strengthen that process—not replace strategic thinking, professional judgement and accountability.”
— Syed Khaled Shahbaaz, CEO, Media Plus Advertising & Public Relations
The distinction is important for agencies navigating a rapidly changing industry. Technology can accelerate production, but the quality of the outcome still depends on the brief, the decisions behind the work and how effectively the campaign is executed.
Global creative leaders make the case for human ingenuity
Bianca Guimaraes, partner and executive creative director at advertising agency Mischief, discussed the role of AI in creative work in an interview published by Ipsos in June 2024. Speaking about using AI to develop advertising ideas, she said:
“You can take some shortcuts, but I don’t believe in using AI to create the idea.”
Guimaraes explained that AI can help bring ideas to life and explore scenarios, but the process still requires people to understand the brief, identify the real problem and ask the right questions. She also noted that AI’s limitations in originality and cultural nuance could increase the value of human creativity.
Source: Ipsos — Why advertising will still need human creative directors, June 13, 2024.
Global advertisers continue to emphasise agency partnerships
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and VoxComm launched updated agency-selection principles in July 2025, with a focus on stronger partnerships between brands and agencies. WFA CEO Stephan Loerke said:
“In a TUNA (turbulent, uncertain, novel, ambiguous) world, our relationship with agencies matters more than ever. A great agency can be a huge engine for growth and brands need that partnership to help them spot opportunities and challenge ideas”
The statement reflects the importance of agencies as strategic partners, not simply suppliers of creative material. It is an industry leader’s perspective on agency relationships, not a guarantee that every agency engagement will deliver growth.
Source: World Federation of Advertisers — WFA and VoxComm launch new pitch principles, July 15, 2025.
WPP: Adapting the agency model for AI
WPP’s report The AI-Empowered Agency: Six Principles for a Transformed Future, published in June 2025, describes how AI can accelerate production and support personalisation while allowing agencies to focus more on bold ideas, integrated solutions and measurable outcomes. The report argues for combining AI capabilities with human ingenuity rather than treating technology as a substitute for expertise.
Source: WPP — The AI-Empowered Agency, June 16, 2025.
For an agency working across traditional and digital media, AI can become another tool in the production and planning process—helping teams explore ideas faster, adapt content efficiently and devote more attention to the decisions that matter.
Are companies bringing advertising in-house?
Some companies are using AI to bring more creative work in-house, reduce production costs and shorten turnaround times. This is a real shift, particularly for repetitive content and campaigns that require frequent variations.
However, bringing production in-house does not automatically eliminate the need for external expertise. Businesses may still require specialist support for media planning, campaign strategy, complex productions, regional market knowledge or coordinated multi-platform execution.
The relationship between clients and agencies is therefore evolving. Agencies that offer little beyond routine production may face greater pressure. Those that combine creative expertise with strategic thinking, media knowledge, technology and measurable outcomes have a broader role to play.
What the research says
AI adoption does not mean human oversight has disappeared. In research published on 30 September 2026, the World Federation of Advertisers reported that 96% of surveyed major brands were using AI in marketing. Its findings also indicated that 75% required human oversight of AI-generated outputs and 69% required agencies to disclose their use of AI.
The figures point to a more nuanced reality: companies are adopting AI while continuing to place importance on oversight and transparency.
Source: World Federation of Advertisers — AI in marketing research
Reuters has also reported on global companies using AI at Indian hubs to bring more advertising work in-house and reduce production time and costs. These developments underline the pressure on traditional agency models—and the need for agencies to demonstrate where their expertise adds value.
Source: Reuters — Global firms use AI at Indian hubs to bring more ad work in-house
The agency of the future
The question is no longer whether advertising agencies should use AI. It is how intelligently they can integrate it into their work.
Agencies can use AI to accelerate research, develop initial concepts, generate creative variations, adapt content for different platforms and streamline repetitive tasks. Human expertise remains essential for defining the brief, making strategic choices, evaluating outputs and ensuring that the campaign serves the client’s interests.
For clients, the more useful question is not simply how many advertisements an agency can produce or how quickly it can produce them. It is whether the agency understands the business, reaches the right audience, selects the right media and helps achieve the intended results.
AI may change how advertising is made. The value of an agency will increasingly depend on how well it makes advertising work.
Featured image: Creative professionals collaborating on a campaign. Photo: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash.
