How Did We Get Here?

As execution becomes increasingly abundant, the value of the work shifts from what agencies produce to how they think. At the same time, the concept of creativity itself has expanded.

Today's growth-driving ideas may be expressed as advertising, experiences, creator content, product or service innovation, or platforms. The value lies in the thinking, not the format or the specific deliverable.

A significant challenge facing agencies today is that creativity is increasingly being viewed as a cost center rather than as a growth driver. AI only amplifies that risk because it has made the production of acceptable work dramatically easier.

It has fundamentally altered the economics of production. Work that once required significant time and specialized resources can increasingly be created in minutes. Efficiency has become easier to achieve than ever before.

The real question isn't whether AI can make advertising. It's whether it can consistently make advertising that creates disproportionate business value. Clients have always sought something more difficult to replicate: insight, originality, judgment, cultural understanding, and the ability to frame problems differently.

Efficiency alone has never been the reason clients hired agencies. The danger is not that AI produces more work. The danger is that agencies become so focused on producing work efficiently that they underinvest in the thinking that makes the work valuable in the first place.