I’m never going to write that this is the Year of AI. I spent years writing a variety of The Year of Mobile articles back in the day.
But something does feel very different this year. At NDA we ran a roundtable discussing the impact of AI on media planning and buying not too long ago and even then, although its impact was already clear, true disruption still seemed a long way off.
But now, although we’re still in the foothills, it’s use and adoption are now a given and we are starting to see how the technology will reshape our industry. For the better.
For the last 18 months or so we’ve been bombarded with headlines, both in our industry’s trade press and the wider entertainment industry’s, around AI’s potential, and danger. Towards the middle of last year, ‘AI slop’ summed up the biggest concerns around creativity and consumer uptake.
While AI slop may still clog many of the digital channels on which we all live, it’s now increasingly recognised that this lowest common denominator content is now and will never be, anywhere near good enough to satisfy real humans.
The panic around things like AI actor Tilly Norwood or AI books or music has receded as the realisation dawns that AI, no matter how good, will never be able to effectively replace the power of true human creativity.
In our industry too the initial worry about its impact on jobs has calmed and, as the excellent Rob Webster so nicely put it recently, what’s actually true is that AI can “amplify our skills and enhance our craft, rather than merely reducing cost.”
The facts are stark. 84 % of UK marketers report daily use of AI tools in their work, integrating them into core creative and analytical processes; 64 % of UK marketers plan to increase their AI budgets in 2026; and, crucially, 97 % of UK marketers edit AI outputs before publication.
It’s now almost impossible to find anyone who is not using AI in some form to seamlessly make their lives just a bit better.
AI will continue to dominate our industry this year but instead of fearing its disruptive power or merely staring in awe at its potential, discussions will focus on what is being delivered. What new models, innovations and creative outcomes are delivered. Artificial intelligence will merely be one of the tools used in the process.
That’s why we’ve launched our new series on NDA, AI Marketing Pioneers, talking to the people building the new phase of our industry, based on, and around, AI.
Looking at ‘what is’, rather than simply what ‘will be’.
It’s going to be fascinating this year to watch how this plays out across the industry. I truly believe we’ll come of 2026 in far better shape as an industry than when we came in, and true mainstream integration and adoption of AI will be its driving force.
I look forward to some incredible conversations this year with the our best AI Marketing Pioneers.
