- The ad industry is playing up its "human" credentials in the AI era.
- Tech brands like OpenAI are using traditional ads on TV to showcase their everyday appeal.
- As AI automates many aspects of advertising, agencies are reconfiguring to become more consultative.
When OpenAI launched its first global brand campaign last month, it didn't lean on Sora or an AI influencer. Instead, it hired an ad agency — despite CEO Sam Altman recently saying AI would replace 95% of ad agency work.
The spots, shot on 35mm film with a custom lens, aired across TV, streaming, billboards, and social media. They show everyday reasons people use ChatGPT, from cooking to planning a fitness regimen.
"We wanted this work to feel tactile, grounded, and to play differently in the space, so using more traditional methods, including shooting on 35mm, made sense," Toby Treyer-Evans, founder and chief creative officer of Isle of Any, the agency that helped create the campaign, told Business Insider.
An OpenAI spokesperson said ChatGPT was "a behind-the-scenes co-creator" in the creative process, helping to brainstorm ideas and provide the answers featured in the ads, but the campaign was very much human-created.
"That balance — human imagination supported by technology — is at the heart of what this campaign celebrates," they said.
The human-AI balance was a core theme of Advertising Week New York this month, where more than 20,000 attendees gathered at the annual industry conference. Session titles included: "Making marketing more human in the age of AI," "Human over hype: The power of niche creators, collaboration and real connections," and "AI needs a human layer."
Anxiety hangs over the ad industry right now. Some marketers are growing cautious about spending on new projects. Giants like Meta and Salesforce are building AI-powered tools that threaten to automate big swaths of agency work. The large agency landscape is contracting: Research firm Forrester predicts 15% of agency jobs will be eliminated in 2026 due to "automation, redundancies, and efficiency."
There are glimmers of hope. Gartner data shows that while global marketing budgets are relatively flat year-over-year, paid media budgets as a percentage of marketing spend have been increasing since 2023. That's good news for anyone in the business of creating and placing brand campaigns.
"We know we need to reach people, and our first-party data and direct marketing are not as effective at acquiring new customers," Andrew Frank, a Gartner vice president and analyst who focuses on the marketing industry, told Business Insider in an interview. "There's still a sense that awareness is important and building brand trust is important in a low-trust world."
Focusing on real people to stand out
AI slop may be filling our social feeds, but marketers want to stay clear of dystopian vibes. Just ask the startup Friend AI, whose $1 million billboard campaign about its AI companion wearable device was defaced with anti-AI graffiti.
Desire for authenticity is driving more brand partnerships with creators. US brands are predicted to spend more than $10 billion on influencer marketing in 2025, up 23.7% from last year, according to EMARKETER.
Creator marketing, Forrester analysts predict, will shift "from a media agency tactic to a creative agency strategy."
"As creators take on more ideation and production responsibilities, creative agencies will act more like orchestrators of tech and creator access," Forrester's analysts wrote in a September report.
At Advertising Week, TikTok creator Tiffany Baira described working for brands like DeBeers and Ulta Beauty to interview people about their experiences with products.
"Now, more than ever, when you're thinking about an ad campaign, think less about that product, and more about the people and how they're going to be using it and how they're going to feel unique and special while they're using it," Baira said.
Agencies are shifting to adapt to the AI era
The shape of ad firms is changing. Talent, which has traditionally been siloed, is collaborating more — the data whiz, for example, is working more closely with the creative strategists.
The industry is also consolidating: Omnicom's acquisition of IPG, WPP's merging of several ad agencies, Havas and Horizon Media's recent joint venture. The ultimate aim — besides the inevitable cost reductions — is to provide a one-stop shop to service a marketer's every need. The sector's star performer, Publicis Groupe, this week credited its strong financial performance this quarter to its ability to connect paid advertising with commerce, influencer marketing, and AI for its clients.
"AI is redefining the role of agencies," said Laura Desmond, CEO of the adtech platform Smartly and advertising agency veteran. "The ones that will endure are those evolving into ideas-driven consultancies, blending human creativity with AI-powered technology to unlock new possibilities for brands. It's about creativity moving at the speed of technology."
At Advertising Week, Mark Kirkham, chief marketing officer of PepsiCo US Beverages, and Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of the marketing agency VaynerMedia, publicly discussed how their partnership has evolved over 15 years — from social media management to a deeper collaboration in brand strategy and production.
VaynerMedia's team now embeds with Kirkham's in-house marketing team and operates like a joint venture with shared goals, they said. (PepsiCo still works with other agencies in more traditional setups across its portfolio of beverage brands.)
"It's OK if you blow shit up, Kirkham said. "It's OK if you look at things differently. It's OK if you realize that this model might actually work better if you actually partner."
