Agencies are spending millions on AI.
Some of them are about to learn they just bought a very expensive treadmill to hang clothes on.
Publicis acquiring AdgeAi is the latest signal that the agency arms race around AI is fully underway. Every holding company and independent shop now feels pressure to say they’re “AI-powered.”
That’s fine.
But buying AI is the easy part.
Knowing how to integrate it with human talent is the hard part.
Right now, a lot of agencies are treating AI like a shiny new capability layer:
New tools.
New demos.
New pitch slides.
But the operating model underneath hasn’t changed.
Same teams.
Same workflows.
Same thinking.
If AI is just bolted onto the old system, it doesn’t create transformation.
It creates faster mediocrity.
AI absolutely delivers real value:
- Pattern recognition at scale
- Faster data analysis
- Massive efficiency gains
- Content and creative velocity
But strategy, judgment, and context are still human problems.
The agencies that win won’t be the ones that buy the most AI tools.
They’ll be the ones that redesign their organizations around how humans and machines actually work together.
New workflows.
New roles.
New expectations of strategists and analysts.
Otherwise, we’re going to see a lot of agencies with cutting-edge AI platforms…
…being used like a Peloton that became a coat rack.
And that would be a very expensive mistake.