A recent study designed to shed light on artificial intelligence and its application in marketing and agency work shows that the more you know about artificial intelligence, the less convinced you are that it will replace humans.
This is one of the findings of a joint study by Omnicom Media Group agency PHD Worldwide and WARC, which surveyed 700 marketing and agency executives (in 10 different countries, including the US, UK, Australia, China, Brazil, and others between May and June this year) to better understand their plans for incorporating AI into their work between now and the end of the decade.
The study fits into a broader initiative by the media agency to become a center for learning and experimentation around generative AI, open to all Omnicom clients (not just PHD or OMG) as well as the general public.
To that end, PHD is launching a so-called “generative publishing platform” called Ascension this week that is powered by AI, according to Guy Marks, the media agency’s global CEO, and Mark Holden, global head of strategy. The cost, Holden said, would be “well into six figures,” but he declined to give further details.
Marks said he wanted to make sure the Ascension launch was not seen as another headline-grabbing spiel or piece of nonsense, and described what he hopes to convey to customers and the public.
“It’s basically two speeds,” Marks said. “How do we shape that narrative and communicate to our customers and employees – and the industry at large – our perspective on where we’re headed and how everyone needs to prepare for that? But also: What are we doing in the next 30, 60, 90 days and how do we prepare not only our own talent but our customers’ organizations to capture the value that’s in front of us now?”
Holden compared the advent of generative AI to a “kind of Cambrian explosion – everything is changing,” he said. “Our point of view is that if you’re an agency or a supplier in a market where there are such rapid changes that affect your clients and of course your employees, it’s your duty to disseminate information to inform and keep people informed. If you don’t do that, people aren’t following developments and therefore the connection between you and your clients is lost.”
The study with WARC helped develop the editorial mission and viewpoint of the “magazine,” which divides the remainder of the decade into three eras of AI development.
- The era of AI experimentation (2024-2026), which will be characterized by the individual use of large language and diffusion models (which Ascension uses) and the early integration of generative AI into enterprise platforms. It will be a time of pilots and refinements that ushers in the next phase.
- The Age of AI Acceleration (2026-2028), where AI “becomes a fundamental element of marketing – with more mature applications of generative AI on existing platforms. It will be used by a large portion of the workforce, albeit primarily for efficiency and effectiveness reasons,” according to Ascension. This age focuses on replacing and/or enhancing current capabilities and will lead to…
- The AI Elevation Era (2028-2030) will see the focus on more intelligent systems that make more reliable decisions and give employees more freedom to “imagine new marketing opportunities that go beyond what we can imagine today,” the study says.
Greg Stuart, CEO of MMA Global, an industry organization that dives deep into AI experimentation and testing for its marketing and adtech members, said he feels that agencies’ efforts around AI and new tech developments often seem profound but don’t really scratch the surface.
“The question I would ask is: What framework do they recommend their clients use to look for opportunities in AI?” Stuart asked. “What opportunities are there that marketers need to get up to speed on? And what knowledge do they have now that no one else has? If (agencies) can’t answer those questions, it can seem superficial.”
What did the study reveal?
Of particular note is the gap between the desire to adopt generative AI and its actual use. While 35% of marketers believe it should be used to a high or extremely high degree, only 27% use it to that extent. Among agency respondents, the figures were 36% and 26% respectively.
The study also surveyed participants to compare their claimed knowledge with their actual knowledge. While 42% of marketers rated their knowledge of generative AI as advanced, only 13.7% of all respondents answered two or more out of five quiz questions correctly.
Finally, the more knowledge there is about generative AI, the more respondents understood that human involvement will continue to be necessary for success. Only 21% of respondents with higher knowledge (those who answered at least two of the five quiz questions) believed that generative AI will replace action tasks currently performed by agencies in the short term, compared to 46% of those with below-average knowledge.
“The more you know about generational AI, the more you think, ‘Wait a minute,'” Holden said. “There’s no big green button… It just requires shifting roles into different functions rather than replacing functions.”
MMA’s Stuart said the PHD/WARC study results highlight the divide that will soon separate marketers who understand AI faster than others. “They need to understand this quickly because it’s going to hit us all,” Stuart said. “It’s a bit like seeing a tornado in the distance and deciding to work on safety in that moment – when you should have been working on it two or three years ago.”
