AI adaptation in advertising isn’t coming, it started already a while ago. The biggest ad holding companies are moving fast, transforming their businesses with generative AI investments and partnerships.

But what does this mean for the rest of the industry?

Let’s take a look at how the big boys are leading the charge:

1. Publicis Groupe
→ Investing €300 million in AI capabilities under the CoreAI initiative.
Unifying data from billions of consumer profiles and layering AI across offerings to create an “intelligent system.”

2. Dentsu
→ Combining in-house innovation with partnerships like Microsoft 365 Copilot and AWS.
Using AI tools like Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker to build scalable machine learning solutions.

3. WPP
→ Spending $317 million annually on data and AI tech.
• Pioneered its AI strategy with the acquisition of enterprise AI company Satalia and introduced the WPP Open platform.

4. Omnicom
→ Launched Omni Assist, its generative AI solution in partnership with Microsoft.
→ Made headlines with an $835 million acquisition of Flywheel, pivoting towards retail media—where ad spending aligns closely with purchase behaviour.

While the big players move aggressively and are turning into tech brands, smaller agencies and independent firms face a crucial question:

How do we keep up without the same resources?
How do you see AI reshaping the advertising landscape for smaller agencies?