Observed Signal · Jul 6, 2026 · Industry Commentary · Source: Digiday · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Agencies Say AI Adoption Outpaces Advertisers
Agency leaders at Cannes Lions told Digiday that agencies are further advanced in AI adoption than their brand clients. Executives described agencies building sophisticated internal AI tooling and platforms while many CMOs remain constrained by governance, procurement, legal sign-off and static marketing budgets. One agency executive said an agency AI platform has grown revenue triple digits for five consecutive quarters, but clients fall into four camps—from active builders to outright dismissers—leaving a widening gap. Analysts say advertisers are demanding transparency about where AI is used. The reporting highlights tension between agency capability and advertiser readiness, with debate over whether agencies are genuinely ahead or using the narrative to justify fees.
Highlights an industry-wide adoption gap between agencies and advertisers around AI, affecting procurement, governance, budgeting and measurement; relevant to client-agency dynamics but not a platform policy or product launch.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Agencies at Cannes Lions reported they are further along on AI than most advertiser clients.
- Joe Maglio, CEO of Cheil Agency Network, said agencies are the early adopters compared with brands.
- An unnamed CEO of a large independent holding company said their agency AI platform grew revenue by triple digits for five straight quarters.
- One executive characterized CMOs as split into four camps: 25% actively building with AI, 25% wanting to but unsure how, 25% frozen, and 25% dismissing it as a fad.
- Advertisers cite data governance, procurement, legal sign-off and flat or shrinking marketing budgets as key constraints on AI adoption; Gartner analyst Jess Dervyn said advertisers want transparency about where AI is being used.
Connected Companies & Entities
2 Entities mapped“That’s the view of agency bosses who spoke to Digiday at Cannes Lions....”
“'Advertisers are expecting a lot of transparency,' said Jess Dervyn, an analyst in Gartner’s marketing practice....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Agency AI Platform Claims Face Increasing Scrutiny
A new analysis by 3C Ventures, timed ahead of the Cannes Lions Festival, finds that AI-related language in agency pitches has become standardized while underlying platform capabilities, architectures and maturity vary widely. The report highlights an "accountability gap": agencies frequently present AI-enabled platforms for planning and optimization without clear evidence separating automated output from human operator contributions. It warns about data ownership and platform lock-in as first‑party audiences, attribution models and campaign learnings become embedded in proprietary systems. The study also flags tensions between AI-driven efficiency gains and agency commercial models, noting platform fees can preserve or grow revenue even as labor declines. 3C Ventures recommends marketers demand contractual clarity, proofs of concept, portability commitments, disclosure of technology partners, and audits to verify where AI acts autonomously versus providing recommendations.
Marketers Embrace AI, Avoid AI for Media Buying
A Digiday survey of more than 100 marketers shows widespread adoption of AI for low-stakes tasks—data analysis and content creation—while few marketers trust AI to make media-buying decisions. Among marketers using AI for social campaigns, about two-thirds use it for data analysis, 57% for content creation, and only 32% to buy ad placements. The roundup also highlights agency M&A activity aimed at creator and youth marketing: Havas acquired Archrival (folding it into Havas Play) and Accenture Song bought creator-focused agency Whalar. LinkedIn is planning creator monetization tools in its 2027 fiscal year roadmap. Separately, OpenAI announced a data partnership with LiveRamp around LiveRamp’s conversion API hub and is reported to be in talks with NVIDIA about a very large Ohio data center. Disney promoted Brette Lipari to VP of advertising sales.
Marketers Increase AI Use; Technical Skills Lag
Digiday+ Research, based on a survey of 142 brand and agency professionals and interviews with marketing and tech executives, finds marketers’ adoption of AI has climbed sharply (from 44% in 2022 to 86% in 2025) but organizational tech skills, upskilling and strategic use lag behind tool adoption. The report notes many companies favor out-of-the-box AI tools (85% of respondents), while fewer build on existing LLMs (40%) or train proprietary LLMs (19%). Firms have appointed chief AI officers (brands such as General Motors, Mastercard and ZocDoc; agencies including Golin, Luckie & Co. and Horizon Media). Interviewees flagged economic concerns about GPU/TPU infrastructure costs, gaps between baseline user familiarity and advanced internal usage, and growing platform interoperability (e.g., Adobe integrating Google models and Google Vertex AI).
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