Credit: Zach Betten via Unsplash
The rise of artificial intelligence, tighter budgets and the pitch frenzy were the biggest challenges for agencies in 2024, according to Australian creatives.
However, they are optimistic that innovation, collaboration, and adaptability will drive exciting opportunities and growth in 2025.
Hayley Olsson, executive producer at Jack Nimble, said the biggest challenge was grappling with the rise of AI and automation.
“While these innovations have enhanced efficiencies, they’ve also heightened client expectations, pushing agencies to balance creativity with speed and precision,” she said.
“The challenge now is integrating AI into the creative process without sacrificing the quality or originality that sets brands apart.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Olsson is excited about the growing opportunities in the creator space.
“As social platforms evolve, more people than ever can tap into their creativity and become content creators, whether they're influencers, hobbyists, or industry experts,” she said.
“This shift opens up new possibilities for brands to collaborate with a diverse range of creators, helping to drive authentic connections with audiences.
“We are eager to harness this democratisation of creativity, creating campaigns that tap into the power of community-driven content and personal storytelling.”
Hayley-Ritz Pelling, head of production at Emotive, agreed that artificial intelligence was a game-changer in 2024.
“The rapid rise of generative AI has been a major shift over the past year, which has given us a lot of exciting possibilities but also prompted us to carefully consider its role in the creative and production process,” she told AdNews.
“While a lot of these tools can offer great efficiencies, and we’re integrating them across the agency - from experimentation through to post-production, they also raise important questions about creativity, human expertise, and preserving the essence of our work.
“The real challenge has been balancing AI integration and maintaining the personal touch and quality that define Emotive’s brand, as well as navigating ethical concerns and IP.
“It's an evolving landscape which can be daunting, the potential for growth is massive. So, I’d say, looking ahead to 2025, I’m excited to see how we continue to weave AI into our processes.”
For Scott Purcell, co-Founder at Man of Many, the biggest challenge last year was adapting to the shift from the “Traffic Era” to the “Audience Era”, where social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X increasingly prioritise keeping users within their ecosystems.
“While this has reshaped how referrals and engagement work, it’s also pushed us at Man of Many to innovate - focusing on deeper connections, direct audience engagement, and creating experiences that thrive beyond the limits of these walled gardens,” he said.
“At Man of Many, we’ve leaned into this evolution, staying true to our values of authenticity and quality while rethinking how we engage. The result? A bold move to deepen relationships with our readers.”
Man of Many is gearing up for a massive 2025 with plans to lead the way in a digital landscape where connection is king.
“We're thrilled to launch our on-site membership platform, a game-changer that puts personalisation and community at the forefront,” he said.
“With exclusive content, tailored experiences, and deeper brand integrations, we’re not just building an audience; we’re cultivating a loyal, engaged community that delivers lasting value for readers and advertisers alike.”
Suzie Shaw, CEO at We Are Social Australia, said the biggest challenge has been managing the agency’s growth, which has been both exhilarating and demanding.
“While we've celebrated some incredible wins, the pace and intensity of new business opportunities can put significant pressure on the team,” she said.
“The pitch process, in particular, has evolved in the last few years: more agencies are being invited to pitch, briefs are broader, and client engagement during the process is often limited.
“This dynamic demands an extraordinary level of effort from the agency, effectively requiring us to deliver substantial work upfront without guarantees.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Shaw is excited to focus on deepening client relationships and delivering work that not only drives measurable results but also shapes culture in meaningful ways.
“My goal is to ensure our team feels supported, inspired and ready to create the kind of ideas that make a lasting impact - for our clients, our industry and themselves,” she said.
“It's a balancing act, but I'm confident that with the right focus and continued investment in our people, we can continue to set the standard of what socially-led creativity can achieve.”
John Schonegevel, head of strategy at The Do Collective, highlighted the challenges of managing existing and new client budgets.
“Our biggest challenge this past year has been proving our management of existing client budgets on the one hand, and new business wins on the other,” he said.
“Existing client budgets, not in and of themselves of course, but their tendency towards sudden and unpredictable change.And new business wins, which while very welcome indeed, come with unavoidably short term and often urgent expectations.
“As a fast-growing agency this has obvious implications for all of workflow, resourcing and ultimately staffing.”
Schonegevel said he is looking to the new year with equal measures of anticipation and excitement.
“We are eager to test the plans and processes we are putting in place to better manage these ongoing realities,” he said.
“Deploying our teams in different time zones more strategically, ensuring we are more proactive in our resource planning rather than reactive, providing the right opportunities to the right people at the right time, and ensuring the quality of the work continues without compromise.”
Ness Quincey, senior strategy director at Clemenger BBDO, joked that the biggest challenge in 2024 has been resisting the urge to include a “cozzie livs” reference in every strat deck.
On a more serious note, she said reacclimating to the Australian advertising landscape after a decade living and working in New York has been difficult.
“Beyond the obvious differences in clients, project scopes and process; I’ve also come to realise that my view of the world doesn’t always naturally reflect other Aussies’ view of the world – particularly after having spent so long living on the other side of it,” she said.
“There’s a certain seriousness and self-importance to a lot of American advertising. Whereas here in Australia, we seem to have greater license to have fun with the work and take the piss out of things.”
Quincey is glad to be back in Melbourne, saying she's extremely inspired by the creative opportunity here.
“While we may be a much smaller market, I think we Aussies punch well above our weight in terms of creativity and out-of-the-box thinking,” she said.
“In 2025, I’m looking forward to continuing Clems’ legacy of making work Australians talk about.”
Psembi Kinstan, chief creative officer at DDB Group Melbourne, said the industry downturn, which often leads to brands prolonging existing safer strategies, was the biggest challenge in 2024.
“Finding ways to keep improving the creative product whilst belts are tight is always a challenge, but some clever production solutions and investment into our own production studio, Maker, made the production dollar go further than ever before,” he said.
“By having tighter relationships between some of the best directors in the business and our creatives, we’ve made some work we never would have been able to make externally.
As a business, we also invested further into social as the returns for clients continue to explode in TikTok and Meta’s reels.”
Kinstan said 2025 is going to be “one hell of a great year” at DDB.
“There are some of the best creative opportunities in the country up for pitch, and as a bit of positivity sweeps back in across the industry, the bar should get higher for what it takes to win them,” he said.
“I think 2025 will be the year Australia’s industry hits its stride again. For us at DDB Group Melbourne, continuing to raise the calibre of the work is always the focus.
“I’m looking forward to running our collaboration much deeper with media agencies, particularly our partners at OMD, to get our clients bigger bolder effective ideas. And I’m looking forward to continuing to scale AI to take significant grunt work away from our talent, and allow them to chase more valuable creative pursuits.”
Alexa Burchell, senior art director at Connecting Plots, said 2024 felt like both a sprint and a marathon.
“While I’ve had the privilege of working with fantastic clients on great projects, the increasing demand for top-tier work delivered faster and on tighter budgets has become the new norm,” she said.
“By the time a job wraps up, I find myself looking back on the things I didn't get to explore which may have elevated the work even more.”
Burchell said the biggest challenge has been the timelines.
“Time is important, it gives creatives enough space to experiment or take risks - the very things that lead to breakthrough ideas,” she said.
“Those moments of magic, the unexpected ‘golden nugget’ or ‘OH SH*T THAT’S IT!’, are often the first casualties in the war against ever-shrinking timelines.
“Of course, the pressure on brands is real, and this fast-paced approach might be temporary. But it’s starting to feel permanent.
“Looking ahead to 2025, I hope to see more trust between clients and agencies, with a shift toward prioritising the most effective work possible, over the fastest delivery possible.”
Matt Chandler, chief creative officer at DDB Sydney, said it would be fair to say the past 12 months have been a bit rocky.
“Rocky ground… in a thunderstorm… on a steep incline,” he said.
“Still, amidst the challenges adversity presents it also quickly reveals what everyone is capable of individually and collectively when the ground is unsettled, the wind is in your face and the summit is behind the fog.”
Chandler said he is hopeful about what the new year has in store for him and his team.
“Witnessing the way the people I’m lucky to work with at DDB have responded to the challenging conditions of 2024 with resilience, creativity, passion and an endless supply of humour, I can only look to 2025 with optimism,” he said.
Cath King, chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett, described 2024 as a “peculiar creature” that slunk in quietly enough, only to bare its teeth and reveal itself as something untamable.
She said her biggest challenge in 2024 has been “the pitch”.
“It’s not just a meeting or a presentation - it’s a kind of reckoning. A test of endurance, of nerve,” she told AdNews.
“You sit there, notes in hand, gut churning, trying to muster something that feels raw and real, all the while knowing it’s as much about performance as it is about substance… And you do it knowing they might take it or leave it.
“Pitching wasn’t just something we did in 2024. It was the air you breathed. One wave after another, challenging you to catch your breath. And in between, that eerie stillness - the waiting, the wondering, the doubting.
“You spend your nights trying to weave something beautiful and useful out of time and pressure, while the world around you roars with deadlines and competition. And still, you show up. You give it everything. Because sometimes, somewhere, the work breaks through, and then, it’s all worth it.”
King said the beginning of 2025 feels “indulgent” because for the first time in what feels like forever there’s no pitch looming on it.
“For six months, six whole months, we're not pitching to focus on our clients,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to rediscovering what happens when the air clears and the noise fades. To seeing ideas born in the stillness of curiosity, exploration, and craft. Because the truth is, pitching warps everything. You’re creating in a pressure cooker, constantly performing, contorting, adapting and doing it in a silo - not always for the better.
“I’m looking forward to the team breathing, to allowing ideas to wander, to re-centering ourselves in the work itself, hand in glove with our clients. No battle cries. Just the ambitious hum of creativity and the question: Where can we reinvent? That’s where the magic is.”
Kate Enright, senior copywriter at Think HQ, said the underrepresentation in senior creative positions was the biggest challenge for female creatives in 2024.
“Every female creative knows what happened last year, with a certain list, was symptom of a bigger problem,” she said.
“The kind that repeats your idea louder, speaks first in meetings, sexualises you, calls you difficult not assertive, is paid more and promoted faster.”
Enright said it’s been “damn nice” to work for a female-led agency since July.
“This year, I’m looking forward to doing my part in the good fight. Supporting the amazingly talented female creatives I work with,” she said.
“Optimism that all these people will get more of that which they deserve - which is to make the best creative work of their lives alongside talented and nice people.”
Sharyn Smith, founder and CEO at Social Soup, says authenticity will become even more critical in 2025.
“The creators and brands that succeed will be those willing to have honest conversations, deliver meaningful content, and build genuine connections with their audiences.
“At a time marked by AI advancements and evolving consumer dynamics, trust will remain the ultimate currency – and an essential element for forging deeper relationships with consumers and driving meaningful impact.”
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