No more Fake it till you Make it!
Elias Kouloures
Holistic Business Consultant who's a Systems Thinker and Expert in 8 Domains, incl. AI, Creative Direction, Strategy, Data Science & more. With Decades of IT, WWW & Brand Expertise, up to € 120 M Budgets for 150+ Brands.
For over two decades, I've witnessed advertising agencies operate with a cavalier "fake it till you make it" attitude. Slick presentations and lofty promises have too often masked an alarming lack of basic capabilities. However, the rapid evolution of AI will soon expose this house of cards. Agencies unwilling to urgently upgrade their skills risk being automated into obsolescence.
Consider the fundamentals: Over half of marketers admit they've never received training on how to write an effective brief. Nearly 90% of agencies believe the briefs they receive lack clear strategic direction. This creates a shaky foundation that cripples the entire creative process from the outset.
Crafting a good Brief is neither brief nor simple
Crafting a lucid brief requires deep expertise in areas like consumer insights, brand positioning, channel strategy and clear communication. However, I've seen agencies promote under-qualified candidates at alarming rates, valuing empty buzzwords over substance. How can you develop compelling creative when the team can't articulate — or even comprehend — the underlying objectives?
On one project, the German agency spoke gratuitous English in an attempt to appear cosmopolitan. When I asked for clarification on their befuddling brief, the exasperated account manager retorted, "Isn't it obvious?!" Clearly, their language skills didn't align with their delusions of grandeur.
This pathology extends far beyond briefing. Over two-thirds of marketers believe their agencies don't truly grasp the target audience. Major brands have confided in me about persistently missed deadlines, free-flowing budgets, and esoteric work disconnected from business goals.
Thousands to Millions down the drain – per Brief
"Our global agency overcomplicates everything," one Fortune 100 CMO lamented. "If I asked them to buy me milk, they'd develop 20 convoluted concepts, miss the due date, and go millions over budget — without ever making it to the grocery store."
Amidst this worrying climate, AI technologies like GPT-3 are rapidly evolving to accomplish tasks once exclusive to human knowledge workers. I don't need to elaborate on the blistering pace of language models like GPT-4 or their successors — you've undoubtedly experienced their capabilities firsthand.
领英推荐
AI will separate the Fakers from the Makers
So ponder this scenario: If I can provide an AI with clear objectives, relevant data, and concise instructions, it can rapidly produce professional-grade copy, strategic briefs, audience insights, channel plans and more. All for a fraction of the cost, with flawless consistency, and without the ego, office politics and bloated timelines.
Of course, humans will remain essential for providing the strategic north star, creative spark and cultural nuance that machines cannot replicate. However, AI's ability to streamline and enhance the entire process from briefing to execution is undeniable. The age of AI separation is dawning.
Smart agencies have already begun leveraging AI tools to augment their capabilities, not automate their roles. Those still smugly operating with antiquated methods will soon face a rude awakening. Brands will gravitate towards efficient AI-enabled offerings, or simply circumvent agencies and use AI directly.
The exponential growth of generative AI signals a mandatory upskilling across advertising and marketing:
In our data-rich era, brands will gravitate towards offerings that deliver speed, consistency, transparency and measurable value — everything AI promises. Agencies resisting this future are the next Blockbusters and Kodaks.
Rather than burying their heads, agencies should embrace this opportunity. Use AI to overcome talent gaps, maximize billable output, and focus your top minds on higher-order strategy and creativity. Upskill your people to be prompt engineers and AI orchestrators who can elevate the entire process.
Or remain complacent at your peril. Because while lazy agencies cling to fading methods, determined leaders will use AI to leave them in thedustbin of technological disruption. The time to adapt is now.
Future-proof your Marketing and Business
Contact me at EliasKouloures.com to bulletproof your organization through AI augmentation and bespoke consulting solutions.