AI Pressure Mounts, but Creative Execution Still Rests on Human Shoulders

NEW YORK, July 16, 2025 — The increased use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for digital marketing and video production has intensified pressure on agencies and marketing departments.

Advertising agencies now face a dual challenge: creating content that cuts through the noise and ensuring marketing talent remains relevant.

A report by McKinsey & Co. highlights the considerable potential of AI in advertising. Based on an analysis of AI usage across 19 industries, the study found that the highest potential value lies in sectors related to advertising and sales.

According to the report, advertising agencies form part of a creative ecosystem focused on developing and leveraging knowledge and information. The growing commercial significance of creative work adds complexity to the integration of AI into the creative process.

AI in Digital Marketing

Statista projects that the global AI market will reach $2 trillion by 2030, driven by substantial investments in technologies impacting industries such as entertainment and gaming.

AI’s impact on digital marketing is extensive. Marketers are using AI to analyze consumer behavior, identify patterns, and determine intent, enabling highly targeted engagement at scale.

The technology processes large volumes of data from social media platforms, emails, and the web. This facilitates more accurate consumer insights, behavioral predictions, and automated marketing decisions.

AI tools such as generative models are increasingly supporting content development. However, the capacity of such tools to replicate the multi-layered, emotional depth of human creativity remains uncertain.

The direction this evolution takes will determine whether AI enhances human creativity or entirely replaces creative teams within digital marketing operations.

Project Management at the Forefront

According to a recent survey by the Project Management Institute (PMI), 97 percent of agencies encountered major creative campaign challenges in the past year.

Creative leads are under growing pressure to produce work that is not only innovative but also consistently effective. Brand visibility is no longer sufficient; campaigns must sustain attention and drive long-term engagement in a saturated market.

The role of project management professionals has expanded significantly. Once limited to scheduling and coordination, they now function as team motivators and strategic contributors. While 60 percent of agencies depend on them to keep projects on track, 52 percent view their primary value as energizing and aligning creative teams.

As creative execution becomes more complex, expectations for project managers continue to shift. Internal teams and agencies now prioritize strategic capabilities such as innovative thinking (67 percent), growth planning (60 percent), and adaptability (57 percent) over traditional metrics like budget and resource management (49 percent).

Project managers are now integral to how teams respond to pressure, deliver under constraints, and scale ideas into campaigns that connect.

Talent Over Tools

Even with the acceleration of AI and automation, agencies are investing more in people than in platforms. Nearly all (98 percent) report strengthening their project management functions through talent development rather than technology deployment.

Thirty-two percent are training existing staff, while 28 percent are hiring, demonstrating confidence that successful campaigns begin with capable professionals, not just algorithms.

Despite their critical role, project managers often remain behind the scenes. Nearly half (48 percent) of creative leaders describe them as the foot soldiers of campaigns, responsible for execution, coordination, and momentum across departments.

The PMI survey indicates that teams led by certified project managers consistently outperform others, producing campaigns that resonate more effectively with audiences.

Among the most pressing challenges agencies faced in the past year were cost overruns (55 percent), missed deadlines (54 percent), and constraints on creativity (47 percent). The survey, conducted among 130 U.S. marketing and advertising professionals, also revealed that one-third of campaigns (34 percent) failed to engage target audiences and 35 percent failed to generate new leads.

With mounting demands, reduced timelines, and tighter budgets, execution has become the most critical component of the creative process.

Creative excellence originates with an idea, but it is skilled project management that ensures the idea is realized with clarity, consistency, and impact.

Creative success in today’s marketing economy is no longer defined by ideas alone, but by the precision, structure, and consistency that bring them to market.

Inputs from Saqib Malik

Editing by David Ryder