AI isn’t going to kill the creative agency. But it could fundamentally change what clients pay us to do.

Take a large corporate report as an example. Traditionally, a client might engage an agency to develop the creative direction, design the document, lay out 100 pages of content, create graphics, source imagery, manage revisions and prepare the final artwork.

That might be a $30,000 project.

But what happens when AI can handle much of the production?

We believe there is a future where clients provide AI with their content, data, imagery and brand guidelines and receive a reasonably well-designed first draft in minutes. Instead of handing an agency a Word document and asking them to start from scratch, they might hand over a report that is already 70 or 80 per cent there.

Suddenly, the agency’s role changes.

From production to creative direction

Perhaps that $30,000 project becomes a $5,000 project.

The agency is no longer being paid to manually lay out every page. Instead, we’re brought in to make it right.

Is it genuinely on brand? Is the typography working? Is there enough hierarchy? Are the charts clear? Does the imagery feel considered? Is the document consistent? Are the important messages getting the attention they deserve?

And perhaps most importantly, where should we break away from what AI has produced and create something completely bespoke?

These are decisions that require judgement, experience and an understanding of the brand beyond simply feeding a logo, colour palette and font into a system.