Title: President MENA, Frontline BPN
Years in the role: 14 years
Years in the industry: 30 years
Power Essay: How will artificial intelligence and automation make the ad industry thrive and also undermine its growth?
AI-driven hyper-personalised ads, predictive targeting, creative and campaign optimisation, etc., allow brands to reach the right consumer, with the right message, at the right time. Automation produces efficiency gains and lets agencies focus more time on crafting the product and creativity.
By contrast, over-reliance on automation risks producing bland, forgettable work. If ads stop surprising or entertaining, our audiences will tune out completely. From a media perspective, over-targeting and privacy intrusions risk alienating audiences, creating distrust and ad-fatigue.
The increased utilisation of AI and emerging new technologies across many communications disciplines leaves industry talent and leaders with two fundamental questions to answer: a) how can AI make the ad industry thrive? And b) how could it undermine its growth?
What happens when AI is purposely used?
Agencies focus on creativity and wit to create ads people actually enjoy, by tapping into human behaviour, not just algorithms.
Communications become relevant, valuable, and useful – not just visible. Your campaigns become a source of content people choose to engage with – not something to skip – strengthening ad authenticity and brand loyalty.
“The best outcome for the future of advertising industry hinges on balancing tech utilisation with human imagination.”
It enables seamless targeting and ads personalisation without violating privacy.
Automation improves time utilisation, but the spark of originality remains human. This allows agencies to double down on creativity to sharpen cultural insight, narrative building, emotional storytelling, humour
and surprise.
Campaign performance improves and brands’ return on ad spend (ROAS) grows.
What happens when we put automation in the driving seat?
It limits creativity and originality. We flood consumers with low-quality, generic ads, creating clutter and fatigue resulting in a substantial drop in brands’ ROAS.
Affinity between brands and consumers decreases, or worse, consumers reject ads entirely and shift to subscription or ad-free ecosystems.
Hyper-targeting can feel creepy at times – we have all been subjected to this – leading to consumer backlash, widespread use of ad blockers and inviting regulators to impose severe restrictions, crippling data-driven advertising.
DPR, CCPA, etc. and the end of third-party cookies are just the beginning. Stricter regulations on data use will force advertisers to reinvent targeting methods.
It leads to platform dependency. Unchecked reliance on mega platforms puts brands and agencies at the mercy of algorithms and escalating costs.
A balancing act is required to determine how to best use AI and emerging technology tools. When responsibly used for their exceptional data processing speed and growing reasoning ability, such tools can sharpen personalisation and optimisation, while humans drive originality.
In summary, the best outcome for the future of the advertising industry hinges on balancing tech utilisation with human imagination, and purpose with commercial results. Those who treat advertising as a value exchange – giving people entertainment, utility, or meaning in return for their attention – will thrive.
Highlight of the last year
2024 was an exceptional year for us. Grateful for the amazing team and our clients’ support. The highlight: when teamwork is seamless, and everyone in their own right and in their own way, contributes with their fair share towards delivering on their stakeholders’ expectations, it always pays off.
Rapid fire
What the industry needs to talk more about:
AI.
What the industry needs to talk less about:
AI. More on this in the essay.
If you could change one thing in the blink of an eye, you would …
Kill 30s interstitial un-skippable ads.
What’s one thing about you that would surprise your team?
I asked. Not much, apparently. An open book.
What mobile application can you not live without?
Social Media, YouTube, Chat GPT, topics of interests, Google Maps and Waze.
What word / phrase do people remember you for using the most?
“Let’s not postpone what we can do at 12:00 to 12:05.”
What’s one local / regional tradition that you love the most?
Generosity.
If you could choose any two people, currently alive, in the world to share a meal with you, who would it be?
Jimmy Fallon for the pleasure of his company and Jensen Huang for his foresight.
What’s your top word of advice for Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Swipe less. Sweat more. Grab a book in between.
