Rethinking ‘AI’ in a Partnership World: Advice for Advertisers and Agencies

What if “AI” meant something more than artificial intelligence? Discover 6 surprising and effective ways this popular abbreviation can improve agency partnerships.

Members of the Association of National Advertisers selected AI as the Marketing Word of the Year for 2023. No surprise there. The AI phenomenon is indisputable: The abbreviation appears to be in every agency presentation, every article, every recent company press release and every discussion about the future of advertising and marketing. The 2024 Gartner, Inc. “CMO Leadership Vision” ebook (registration required) discusses how important it is for chief marketing officers to build AI-enabled marketing teams and augment skills with new tools for high-leverage work. The age of AI is upon us and, without a doubt, is here to stay.

But for our purposes, what if the abbreviation spelled out ways to improve or even strengthen too often struggling client-agency relationships? Let’s explore six ways “AI” can improve your agency partnerships.

Accelerated Implementation

In today’s dynamic and fast-paced business landscape, speed and agility in marketing are key competitive differentiators that cannot be overstated. Naturally, brands have established robust checks and balances for themselves and their agencies to follow in order to comply with internal guidelines and policies. Large brands are likely to rely on larger teams and agency partners with varying degrees of involvement, responsibilities and authority. Yet those thorough processes often slow down the work. So, how do you balance a need for operational excellence with rapid execution?

Deloitte’s “Global Marketing Trends 2023” report shows that brands are using digital technologies to simplify marketing execution and accelerate go-to-market implementation. Similarly, brand advertisers and their agencies also rely on agile, automated systems to improve collaboration and significantly speed up execution while ensuring compliance and quality control.

What advertisers should do: Assess your current process and identify opportunities to reduce time dependencies or unnecessary steps and improve speed to market.

To continue reading and gain deeper insights, visit the full article on the Agency Mania Solutions website: Rethinking 'AI' in a Partnership World: Advice for Advertisers and Agencies