GroupM is in the middle of a massive restructuring that is affecting 45% of its US workforce – and includes layoffs.
Also this week, a Gartner survey of large marketers revealed how marketers are using AI to save money, including on headcount. Thirty-nine percent of the CMOs are seeking to reduce labor costs this year.
What is the point of a media planner anyway? On the Stratechery podcast, Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to simplify marketing to the point where an advertiser could say what they wanted to do (e.g., increase sales) and let its AI platform do everything else.
This is the moment we are in: AI is freeing people up for “higher-level work,” as PR people often spin this transition. But it’s also swallowing up marketing jobs.
How else to explain what’s going on at ad agencies? If your media campaign only requires clicking an “easy button,” how many entry-level media planners do you need?
On this week’s podcast, we discuss how the advertising industry is using AI and how that intersects with the great restructuring occurring in ad agency land.
