What can I help with?
“What can I help with?” That default prompt of AI assistants is familiar, isn’t it? Reassuring – perhaps not in the context of advertising. For decades, the archetypal ad man embodied creativity through instinct, cultural insight, and human persuasion. Today, that image is evolving – or rather, dissolving. With The Economist recently lamenting the farewell of one of the most well-known ad men, Don Draper, the goodbye is symbolic of a broader industry shift, as creative processes become increasingly dictated by AI driven, data-led, decision making algorithms.
Draper’s belief that “change is neither good nor bad” doesn’t sit well with many when it comes to AI. A great revolutioniser and a greater divider – with its growth being the causation of a predicted 92 million jobs due to displacement and automation. Suddenly, the “what can I help you with” question seems deceptively simple. Perhaps the question we should focus on is what exactly are we letting AI takeover? What started as a helper, its encroaching presence in advertising symbolises an unsettling shift. It’s already making choices, shaping creative and strategic decisions, making it less of a tool and more of a decision maker.
But is it really that bad? The World Economic Forum (WEF) has noted that there will be a net increase of 78 million new jobs because of the opportunities it creates. So, maybe it’s an opportunity for our industry to lean in, liberate our creative talent from those mundane, repetitive tasks and allow humans to refocus on strategic depth and storytelling?
The death of ‘Mad Men’ and the birth of the Machine-Led Creative!
Marshall McLuhan, often called the “father of media” famously coined the phrase, “the medium is the message”. His insight, once applied to radio, TV and the internet is more relevant than ever for advertisers, as we grapple with AI’s rise a transformative force. McLuhan’s argument suggests that the way we communicate fundamentally shapes our human experience more than the content itself. The shift from print to TV, from analog to digital – not only changed what we consumed but it rewired how we think, act and show up in the world. AI is now the next great medium in this lineage.
If we apply McLuhan’s logic to AI specifically, his comment that “we shape tools and thereafter, our tools shape us” is unsettling, if we are to take the view that AI is not another creative instrument – but is restructuring the entire architecture of advertising itself. It’s not just automating processes – it’s dictating them. It’s not just generating ads – it’s deciding what’s worth advertising. It’s not assisting human creativity – it’s redirecting it.
This shift is not just a technological upgrade. It marks a radical departure from the Mad Men era, where human intuition, gut instinct, and storytelling drove brand identity. Now algorithms are determining what’s relevant, prioritising efficiency and data whilst completely absent of any emotional resonance. Its prevalence now raises fundamental questions about the future of creativity. If AI dictates it – does creativity and originality simply become reduced to an equation?
Is it really goodbye Don?
The farewell to Don Draper was disheartening. Reading about his demise felt like we really are starting to feed into this narrative where it’s ok to sideline creativity, storytelling and human insight in favour of data driven logic. Creative seems a non-essential, an afterthought or an optional ‘add on’ in the world of data.
Sounds dramatic right? Perhaps a little, and history tells us otherwise. This fear that AI will take over advertising is strikingly similar to every past technological revolution. Remember when we waved goodbye to print because digital was born? Yeah – advertising didn’t die. It did however, evolve. And AI is no different, if used correctly. What it will afford us is time; time that allows creatives to do what we are actually good at – creating.
Even the assumption that advertising in itself is simply an assembly line of automation and optimisation is flawed. The industry thrives at the intersection of psychology, culture and storytelling. Can AI do the same? Can it build a brand people love? Think about some of the most iconic campaigns:
- Volkswagen’s 1959 ‘Think Small’ Campaign – Created by humans, it broke every advertising rule at the time!
- Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ Campaign – Created by humans in 1980. It wasn’t data led and is still recognised today as a cultural movement!
- Always #LikeAGirl Campaign – Created by humans and helping to reshape gender norms!
So, sure AI is capable of optimising these campaigns after the fact. But it could never have created them. To think that AI could replace human ingenuity, strategic depth and cultural intuition, everything that defines great branding is wrong. Yes, AI can process how humans react, feel, behave. But we fundamentally experience it.
The persistence of the human creative
The real power of advertising cannot be automated. The real power is that spark of human creativity, the soul that will always belong to use, and something AI cannot replicate. AI isn’t the enemy. However, it is an accelerant and whilst Don Draper will arguably keep his job, AI is going to force us to evolve. If our role involves optimisation – AI can and will do it better. If our role involves repetition – AI can and will do it faster. However, AI is still a medium, a tool, an assistant – it cannot improvise, it cannot take an instinctive leap and so if our focus is directed towards critical thinking, shaping culture, and implementing strategic decisions to lead brands into the future – that is where human’s shine and that is where the future of advertising is and what our industry needs to deliver on.
AI as our creative ally
AI isn’t here to replace creativity, or us mere mortals. However, the challenge will be how we choose to use it. The risk here is using it blindly. As a BCorp, we believe that the technology we use should serve others. We reject the idea that AI should be adopted as a knee-jerk reaction to what is happening at pace, in our wider industry. In fact, the best agencies won’t be those who integrate AI passively, but instead, view AI as a collaborator and apply it deliberately with intent, not indulgence, inertia or impulse.
AI should be used with strategic intent. For us, this means:
- Intentional application: Employing AI deliberately to support our human insight, rather than using it as a shortcut or lazy option for creative processes.
- Balanced collaboration: Combining the analytical powers of AI with our own strategic and cultural insights.
- Preserving the core: Keeping our focus on storytelling and emotional connection to ensure that data and automation serve to elevate our work, not erode.
Mad Men, Green Minds
Much of the AI conversation – including this article – centres on AI’s potential to revolutionise jobs and creativity as we know it. Yet, its environmental footprint remains an overlooked consequence. AI is not an abstract force. Large-scale AI deployments rely on data centres filled with electronics that require a vast amount of rare earth materials – meaning a hell of a lot of mining. Add to that the electronic waste, water consumption, and ongoing energy usage (still largely powered by fossil fuels) and the impact becomes impossible to ignore. In Ireland alone, AI-driven data centre demand could account for nearly 35% of the island’s total energy usage by 2026.
However, emerging research suggests AI could also be a force for environmental good. When used responsibly, it has potential to optimise media spend in advertising, reduce digital ad waste, and create more energy-efficient workflows and campaigns.
As a BCorp, we hold ourselves to a higher standard. For us, that means using AI with environmental consciousness – not just for efficiency, but for sustainability-driven decision making. Ultimately, whether AI helps or harms, our own industry’s responsibility for the planet is a choice we must all actively make.
The future of Don…is AI enhanced
It’s safe to say Don Draper has weathered many a challenge. However, AI won’t be one of them. In the end, AI is not the end of the creative soul. It is an opportunity for the ad industry to free up its creative to create.
At the start of this article, I questioned whether AI was coming for us. Now my question is whether we are prepared to shape how AI fits into our creative world? I believe the key lies in ensuring that technology serves us, not the other way around. As we navigate our AI-enhanced world, we must recognise that while the medium may evolve, the message – and the human ingenuity behind it – will endure.