4 Key AI Takeaways from Advertising Week New York 2025

This year, over 20,000 attendees packed The Penn District for Advertising Week New York 2025, and one theme dominated the 550+ sessions: artificial intelligence. 

But this year felt different. The conversation shifted from "what AI can do" to "what we're actually doing with it " — and the gaps between hype and reality became impossible to ignore.

Here are the five AI takeaways that will shape how media companies operate in 2026 and beyond.

1. Stop Shopping for AI Point Solutions — Activate the Intelligence You Already Have

The standing-room-only crowd at Akkio’s "Less A, More I" session delivered a verdict: the industry is exhausted by AI vendor promises and hungry for tangible results.

The insight that resonated? Your competitive advantage isn't waiting in the next AI platform. It's trapped in your institutional knowledge — the workflows your best planners use, the approaches your senior analysts employ, the intelligence buried in Teams messages and walking out the door when people leave.

Jamie Seltzer, Global Chief Data & Technology Officer at Havas, captured the challenge: "There are so many pockets of innovation, so many pockets of somebody built an agent that automated their workflow and someone else might find that interesting but how does that work?"

The companies seeing real AI gains aren't chasing every new tool. They're systematically scaling what already works. Jon Reilly from Akkio explained the production challenge: "The way you're productionizing AI apps follows the same process. Internal data, know-hows, and ways of working... Productionizing across complex environments is passing localized context into the environment."

But none of it works without the foundation. Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnion, was direct: "You can't build AI at scale without the right data, governance, and training." Most media companies want AI to deliver value while skipping the unglamorous work of data organization and governance—but that foundation determines everything.

The key takeaway AI's value isn't in replacing what you do. It's in scaling the intelligence that makes your organization unique. But only after you've mapped it, organized it, and built the systems to operationalize it.

2. Agencies Face an Existential Reckoning: Redefine Value or Lose Clients

"If you're a creative agency, AI is definitely a big threat," warned analyst Daniel Konstantinovic during a session on the agency model of the future. Major clients like Coca-Cola are publicly experimenting with AI tools that historically required deep agency relationships.

At WPP and Assembly Global's session "How Agencies Can Thrive in the Age of Generative AI," the message was clear: agencies aren't just experimenting anymore—they're restructuring around AI. Elav Horwitz, WPP's executive vice president and global head of AI solutions, acknowledged the disruption: "Let's be honest. I think we needed a little bit of this fire, this energy back. We all got super comfortable with traditional ways of working."

The shift is forcing agencies to answer uncomfortable questions about their value proposition. Kate Nible from Assembly Global pointed to their Stage platform, which powers real-time cross-channel analysis: "The biggest difference is that our larger clients are able to more naturally identify cross-channel connections and do something about them because of the wealth and breadth of information at our fingertips."

But speed alone isn't the answer. Horwitz emphasized that technology isn't the bottleneck: "I don't think technology is the problem. It's the change management around it—bringing people along for the ride, making them trust the process and get excited about it."

Meanwhile, client expectations have evolved rapidly. Conversations that once centered on "no AI" contract clauses now include pointed RFP questions: "How are you using AI to drive efficiency, innovation, and value?"

The key takeaway: Agencies must move beyond operational efficiency and demonstrate strategic value that AI alone can't deliver — taste, judgment, cultural nuance, and the ability to navigate ambiguity. Those who can't will find themselves competing on price in an increasingly commoditized market.

3. AI as Collaborator, Not Replacement — But Human Creativity Must Evolve

Multiple sessions emphasized that AI should enhance rather than replace human creativity. As one industry voice put it: "AI should be seen as a collaborator that enhances ideas, not a replacement for creativity."

WPP's Horwitz reframed the creative challenge: "Now, the hardest part is to come up with the right idea and stand out in culture, in terms of craft and taste, because there's so much content out there." When anyone can generate competent creative work at scale, differentiation comes from judgment, taste, and cultural intelligence.

The risk isn't just faster creative work — it's indistinct work. Industry observers noted: "We've all seen what happens when AI is used without intention: generic visuals, derivative language, content that feels more algorithmic than alive."

The industry is shifting focus from speed to strategic application: "The creative industry has been stuck in the status quo for a while, which is why we are seeing less budgets come our way. But AI is the disruption we need to rethink and redefine what we do. It's an opportunity to regain our edge, challenge our clients more, and inspire them to do something exciting that sets their brand apart."

The emerging consensus? AI tools can handle labor-intensive work, "freeing up time and our creative minds to focus on what clients need — fresh, innovative ideas that reposition their brands and open up new revenue streams. And these are ideas only the human mind can create."

The key takeaway: AI democratizes execution, which means human value must shift upstream—to strategy, cultural insight, and ideas that machines can't generate. Agencies and teams that cling to execution as their core value proposition will struggle.

5. The Privacy-Innovation Balance Is No Longer Optional

A recurring theme across sessions was the tension between AI capabilities and consumer privacy expectations. As one panel described it: striking a balance between privacy and personalization is what 49% of consumers prefer, according to a May Kantar survey.

Sessions like "The AI Advantage: Where Innovation and Privacy Win Together" emphasized a new reality: "Brands don't have to choose between innovation and privacy — AI is making both possible."

Looking ahead, the emphasis is shifting "from purely creative applications of generative AI to more contextual and seamless ad integrations. Advertisers are starting to recognize that it's not just about creating more content — it's about making sure that content fits naturally within the broader viewing experience."

The challenge is acute: "Consumers are increasingly resistant to ads that feel intrusive or disconnected from the content they're engaging with, and AI will play a critical role in helping advertisers craft experiences that feel less like ads and more like natural content."

Consumer sentiment data underscores the stakes: According to a Gartner survey, 82% of consumers said firms using generative AI should prioritize preserving human jobs, even if it means lower profits. Gartner analyst Nicole Denman Greene warned: "Pivot from what AI can do to what it should do in advertising."

The key takeaways: As AI enables unprecedented personalization and scale, brands must build trust by using these capabilities transparently and ethically. The organizations that treat AI as purely a performance too l— without considering consumer values and privacy — risk backlash that undermines long-term relationships.

What This Means for 2026

Advertising Week 2025 made one thing clear: the AI conversation has matured. The industry is moving past hype cycles and confronting harder questions about implementation, value, ethics, and competitive differentiation.

The companies that will thrive aren't necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated AI tools. They're the ones that have:

• Activated their existing intelligence through proper data foundations and governance
• Redefined their value proposition around strategic insight rather than execution speed
• Built deliberate roadmaps instead of chasing point solutions
• Elevated human creativity to focus on judgment, taste, and cultural intelligence
• Earned consumer trust by balancing innovation with transparency

The window for strategic action is closing. As Matt Spiegel noted during our session, economic pressures in the next 12-36 months will force hard choices. Organizations that haven't built their AI foundations will face a stark decision: double down on expensive tools that underperform, or abandon AI efforts entirely.

The media companies seeing real progress aren't the ones with the flashiest AI demos. They're the ones doing the unglamorous work of organizing data, mapping intelligence, training teams, and building systems that scale what already works.

To learn more about how Akkio can help organizations succeed with AI, check out our guide AI Your Way.