You’ll often hear it said, in discussions about AI’s impact on marketers’ day-to-day work lives, that by handling repetitive and menial tasks, AI frees up more time for strategic thinking. Indeed, a new report from advertiser trade group the WFA and marketing advisory Mediasense found that strategic thinking skills — such as setting direction, prioritising investments, and making commercial trade-offs — are becoming even more crucial as AI’s role in advertising workflows grows. Marketers surveyed by the WFA and Mediasense ranked strategic judgement as the second most important future capability, behind AI fluency.
The issue is, strategic thinkers are currently in short supply. When respondents were asked to pick their three biggest talent shortages today, strategic thinking topped the list, chosen by 72 percent. In fact all of the top three most popular answers, which also included data strategy/execution and insight development, share one common characteristic: the ability to turn complexity into decisions.
The report finds that developing talent, rather than hiring, will be key to bridging this gap. But marketers say that brands’ and agencies’ internal incentive structures frequently discourage marketers from sharpening their strategic toolsets, rather than rewarding them for doing so.
Stick to the brief
Quality of talent doesn’t appear to be the problem. Forty-six percent of those surveyed rated the quality of marketing talent available today as either strong or very strong, compared to just 13 percent who labelled it poor or very poor. But finding the right skills is tough. Thirty-six percent said accessing the skills they need is either difficult or very difficult, and 52 percent agreed that sourcing the right capabilities has gotten harder over the past two years.
Hence, upskilling existing talent internally is key. Businesses that are able to foster strategic capabilities across their workforce will have a competitive advantage in the future.
The problem, however, is that incentive structures can block this from actually happening. The report gives a few examples of how this might look in practice: a company might prioritise efficiency rather than impact when it comes to AI investments, it might reward teams for producing data and running campaigns rather than changing decisions or improving outcomes, and it might talk about integration but then measure performance in silos.
These misaligned incentives stretch to client-agency performance evaluations too. The WFA and Mediasense say agencies are still largely selected and retained based on executional delivery, even as AI commodifies the execution layer. Agencies are incentivised to execute the brief they’re given, not to challenge it.
Closing the capability gap will therefore require more than just investment in skills. Agencies and advertisers may have to redefine what good looks like, and adapt their incentive structures accordingly.
That, however, will require taking a long-term view in a market that faces plenty of short-term pressures. There are already questions around talent development in the AI age, as early -career job roles are automated out of existence. Getting talent in the door is the first challenge. Giving workers the time, space, and freedom to grow strategic skills requires further investment — though as the report suggests, the companies that do will be well-placed for the future.
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