By Nadeem Ibrahim
AI isn’t coming, it’s here. It’s working. And it’s quietly redrawing how value is created across sectors, especially in marketing and media. Yet most communication agencies (creative or media), globally and across the GCC, still treat it like a trend on the horizon. The announcements are endless: “We’ve launched an AI platform.” “We’ve opened an AI lab.” “We’ve acquired an AI tool”, although if we scratch beneath the surface it’s often the same pattern which needs to change – a pilot project, a shiny deck, and a quick return to the old way of working.
Our industry was built for AI, and that’s exactly what we need to recognize and optimize.
Not the Future, But the Present
Most if not every agency holding company is aiming to be AI-powered. They’re signing cloud deals, launching or acquiring tools, forming councils. Few have truly rewired how they work tobe AI centric. Globally, the major media holding companies have made courageous public statements. One leading holding company is embedding Google’s Gemini models. Another, claims to have invested €300 million to its AI programme. Followed by another investing in daily workflows. But none of this changes the fundamentals: agencies are still running legacy workflows.
Teams spend hours building slides, summarizing meetings, formatting plans and rushing to submit an RFP – manual work that AI could handle today. Agencies say they’re “AI-first,” but they are still PowerPoint-first, albeit how media is bought is very much becoming fully agentic.
And that’s the paradox: the more we talk about innovation, the clearer it becomes how cautiously we’re moving. True transformation doesn’t mean adding AI to the process, it means re-architecting the process around intelligence, speed, and experimentation.
We’re aiming to be the best
Across the Gulf, agencies are sprinting to lead the AI spotlight, but many are doing it by overcomplicating what should be simple. Every often, we see a new “AI vision deck” or “CoE.” Great optics, but little impact. Region-wide data backs this up: A recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey shows 87% of GCC employees report using AI tools several times a week, versus 72% globally. We need to be real here. It’s clear we’re past the visionary and theory based on AI. It now needs practitioners. The region’s clients aren’t waiting for permission, if not craving it. They expect it and are already using AI in CRM, logistics, pricing, and data modelling. Agencies, meanwhile, are still debating frameworks.
The GCC is by far one of the most advanced tech markets globally, we don’t have a technology gap, but an execution gap. AI here isn’t an idea to pitch; it’s a practice to master. The region doesn’t need more storytellers of innovation, it needs builders of it.
From Departments to Disciplines
To evolve, agencies have to transform from behaving as a service vendor and behave like product companies. Look at how the world’s leading tech firms operate: they’re product-centric, run by Chief Product Officers who balance creativity with commercial performance. CPOs are the new CFOs, because product defines profit. It’s a blueprint to consider. Imagine replacing the siloed creative–media strategy model with cross-disciplinary pods that function like product teams, where AI becomes native, not novel. A product-driven agency culture would finally link strategy to output, learning to iteration, and data to creative instinct in real time. However, most still operate on old templates: strategy →creative → media → review.
The New Currency
The biggest value shift AI brings isn’t efficiency, it’s elevation. Elevation in what clients value with their agencies. Shifting away from “do more.” but to think better with more time. As automation handles the busywork, the judgment perception is the new premium. The strategist who can interpret data, anticipate cultural shifts, and translate complexity into clarity becomes indispensable. The planner who only knows how to fill templates becomes obsolete.
The Real Take
The conversation needs to move from “what AI can do for agencies” to “what agencies can become because of AI.” Because in this new landscape, the bold will lead, the brave will build, and the cautious will become case studies.
Note: Nadeem Ibrahim is the Host of Brew Bytes (Podcast).
