GenAI, agentic AI, and I: The changing face of content, campaigns, and creativity  

Forecasts predict that 90% of the content available on the internet will be generated by AI in some capacity by 2026. It’s a given that marketers will increasingly need to ensure they are effectively set up to keep pace with market innovation as AI continues to change how we generate, optimize, and curate content. However, the extent to which brands will evaluate their preparedness to deliver valuable experiences and outputs for their customers will be somewhat dependent on a range of factors. 

GenAI and evolving creative outputs  

Content creation and marketing activations are invariably faster, cheaper, and simpler when powered by AI tools. But this can only be fully realized when the right people and skills are on board and have access to the right technical capabilities and tools. Only then will brands even begin to understand how they can use generative AI correctly, responsibly, and in a considered and strategic manner.  

As 2025 progresses, finding ways to bring AI into the content creation process will need to be carefully calibrated. An all or nothing approach, simply won’t work. Recalibrating teams and their shared responsibilities, while setting aspirational yet achievable expectations around outputs will become increasingly more common.  

Marketers’ ability to invest in teams that can develop large language models (LLMs) that capture essential messaging narratives in a distinct tone of voice and understand a primary set of clearly defined marketing objectives will be able to clearly distinguish themselves. The market is likely to be increasingly flooded with content that may appear to tell a clear story on the surface but ultimately lack any true flair or uniqueness. Getting that right will only become more important as brands try to get as close to their desired outputs as possible, with each refinement and development raising the bar of possibilities even higher. Organizations that fail to do this, run the risk of what’s ultimately going to be seen as content homogenization.  

The changing role of your content teams 

Just as with any overarching AI adoption strategy, it's essential to set clear strategies with defined and measurable outcomes for the desired content you are looking to create. Expectations that focus on enriching the creative development process, instead of replacing it, will therefore need to take center stage.  

It’s likely that internal content teams, will become critical components in helping marketers bring visions to life at scale, faster. In the short-term, greater effort to train AI tools to suit your specific needs as a brand will ensure that as output volumes increase, the accuracy and precision of the outputs will naturally become easier and more cost-effective to produce in turn. If volumes are to be met, quality standards must be maintained, resonance ensured, and overall engagement increased. Marketers need to adapt quickly to keep pace with the demands of both their organization and the appetite of their customers.  

The rise of agentic AI 

Although GenAI will likely remain a clear focus for businesses looking to deliver faster and cheaper outputs, We expect that agentic AI will start to dominate more boardroom conversations and marketing activation plans. Especially for businesses that look beyond the need to simplify the creative process.  

As Enver Cetin, an AI expert at global Experience Engineering firm Ciklum, puts it, it’s all about “proactiveness.”19 As we’ve seen in this report, being able to anticipate customer activities, and to prepare the most effective outputs to meet those needs or demands, is becoming increasingly more critical for marketers looking to build and maintain long-lasting and trusted relationships. Not only does it help create the authenticity needed to sustain trust, it supports the development and delivery of more effective marketing campaigns — and by design the content and creativity that powers them.  

A shift in focus 

Agentic AI is not just about content creation. At heart, it’s more about identifying desired outcomes and implementing decisions. The aim is to optimize specific goals such as increasing customer satisfaction scores or specific processes and workflows, without the need for human-powered prompts.  

Marketers typically rely on a wealth of unstructured and structured data, with pressures to scale quickly, personalize more accurately, and enhance process and outputs with greater agility across their campaign activity. Agentic AI has the potential to be a true game-changer for them. And ultimately it may mean that the way they use GenAI can be harnessed to greater effect.  

 Creating compelling content is still important, but without the right processes and systems around it, its effectiveness will be diminished. Content should not just be created because it can be done cheaper, faster, etc. Nor should it exist purely as a vehicle for driving business goals and messages. It still needs to exude creativity and fulfill a specific purpose, based on audience, format, and channel.  

So, as the volume of AI-generated content increases, the focus will start to shift. Marketers will need to establish the right balance. However, the speed at which these inevitable changes are implemented will depend on how far organizations go in their use of AI tools across the creative process. And to what extent the data that sits behind their content outputs is sufficient to generate the results they are looking to achieve.  

The future of content and creativity 

As organizations seek profitability through the implementation of AI strategies at varying levels of complexity, we will eventually see the playing field level out. Every organization’s technology stack will— if not in 2025, very soon after — have some form of AI implementation in place. Expectations for profitability will not go away. Nor will the demands of customers for rich and compelling content. Therefore, the interplay between creativity and data has to remain front and center. Organizations that are prepared for the pendulum to swing back to creativity and strategy, which will stem from content homogenizations will be those that continue to reap the gains that are sown with their AI systems.