The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2024 and forward to next year.
Clare Pickens, CEO, Leo Burnett Australia
Customer-centricity is the cornerstone of modern brand strategy. Today’s consumers seek more than just products or services—they demand experiences and meaningful connections. As agencies, our role is not just to amplify messages, but to shape narratives that resonate deeply with audiences. To do this effectively, we must focus on what truly drives brand success: creative value.
Brands now understand that long-term growth is directly linked to how well they engage with and serve their customers. This realisation requires a shift in how agencies collaborate with brands. Agencies must move from transactional relationships to strategic, long-term partnerships focused on the customer’s needs, not just the brand’s immediate goals. Agencies need to become integral, upstream partners in shaping a brand’s vision and long-term success.
When agencies primarily focus on ticking boxes or delivering predefined tasks, there is little space for the kind of creative thinking that can elevate a brand, forge deep emotional connections, and drive sustained growth. Creative agencies need the freedom to challenge decisions and propose bold ideas that may feel uncomfortable in the short term but can lead to truly exceptional customer experiences. Only then can a brand create experiences that surprise, delight, and sustain lasting impact.
AI and automation are reshaping the advertising landscape, and many brands are eager to capitalise on these innovations. Recent surveys show that 43% of APAC clients plan to allocate at least 20% of their budgets to AI and automation over the next year. The push for efficiency is critical—AI streamlines processes and drives productivity.
The rise of AI forces us to confront an important question: Are we investing enough in what makes a brand truly memorable and distinctive? While efficiency is undeniably important, creative excellence—ideas that emotionally connect and resonate with consumers—remains the most powerful driver of growth. Automation and AI can free up resources, and give back time, evolving skillsets and investment to the strategic and creative excellence that drives engagement, emotional resonance, and long-term customer value
The most successful brands of the future will balance efficiency with artistry, data with emotion, and technology with human insight. AI can optimise media spend, produce efficiently and predict customer behaviour, but it cannot replace the human qualities that creative professionals bring to the table. These qualities are essential for creating content that resonates on a deeper level and forms lasting emotional bonds with consumers.
So, how should agencies respond to these changes? First, the relationship between agencies and clients must be collaborative, not transactional. Agencies need to be embedded in the strategic decision-making process and given the freedom to propose creative solutions that prioritise customer-centric innovation, even if those ideas challenge the status quo or deviate from conventional efficiency or testing metrics. This will allow agencies to push the boundaries of what’s possible and create work that truly resonates with audiences. As part of that collaboration, agencies should also guide brands on the ethical and responsible use of AI so that together, they can innovate with integrity, build consumer trust and operate safely within the guardrails of ethical practices.
Second, agencies and their clients must invest in strategic and creative talent and foster a culture of experimentation, retraining, and bold thinking. AI can optimise operational processes and allow us to rebalance our agency models for value creation coupled with volume efficiency.
Finally, we need to challenge the industry’s focus on short-term ROI and billable hours as the primary success metrics. Great creative work often generates long-term value that exceeds the immediate returns from a narrow, efficiency-driven focus. Agencies should advocate for creativity that delivers sustained brand growth over time, even if the immediate financial return is more challenging to measure.
As we look ahead, the real opportunity for brands lies in leading with creative excellence while embracing the efficiencies that AI and automation can offer. The true power of a brand is not in how efficiently it operates but in its ability to move people, create meaningful connections, and inspire action. We must invest in the ability to deliver efficiently but with an eye on smart reinvestment of those savings — because it’s creativity that drives long-term, customer-driven growth.
Brands and agencies must capitalise on efficiency opportunities and then double down on what sets them apart: exceptional creative work that puts customers at the heart of everything they do. This is the future of brand success.
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