Elda Choucair, Group Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Media Group.Title: Group Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Media Group
Years in the role: 4 years
Years in the industry: 26 years
Years in the middle east region: 26 years
Other roles / board memberships: ABG, IAB, IAA, Endeavor, UN Women Unstereotype Alliance
Power Essay: Beyond automation – why agencies will matter more in the age of AI
The agency business model is facing a seismic shift. Artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with economic and geopolitical pressures, is reshaping how value is created, delivered and measured across every industry, marketing included. For agencies, this transformation will not be about replacement but reinvention.
AI impacts organisations on three levels. First, it makes processes cheaper, faster and more efficient. Second, it improves effectiveness, helping teams make better decisions. Third, it enables things we never imagined possible, driving innovation at scale. All three forces are already at play, but what’s about to accelerate is their integration into daily operations, fundamentally altering how agencies and their clients work.
A new scope of work
In marketing, this means re-imagining execution. Predictive modelling, scenario planning and real-time analytics are replacing our reliance on historical data and slow, periodic planning. Within the next 12 to 18 months, much of the marketing execution will be largely automated, with AI-powered platforms independently managing routine tasks.
Automation can optimise within a platform, but it doesn’t decide where a brand should play.
You can already see this shift in action. Consumer insights, whether from attribution modeling, algorithmic attribution, marketing mix models (MMMs), or first- and zero-party data, are being fed directly into demand-side platforms (DSPs). This creates a closed loop where insights not only inform but also automatically optimise media buying and investment strategies. DSPs then generate real-time performance data, such as impressions, conversions, and reach, which feed back into models like MMMs and incrementality testing. The result: campaigns that are continuously optimised without human intervention.
A higher value proposition
So, if execution is increasingly automated, where do agencies fit in and what value do they bring? Far from becoming obsolete, agencies are moving higher up the value chain, focusing on strategy, orchestration and creativity, areas where human judgment remains essential.
Strategic orchestration is one of these areas. Automation can optimise within a platform, but it doesn’t decide where a brand should play. Agencies help advertisers answer bigger questions: Which markets to enter? Which channels to prioritise? How to balance short-term sales against long-term brand equity? A DSP may adjust spend within connected TV, but it is the agency that advises whether CTV should be 10 per cent or 30 per cent of the media plan.
Similarly, stitching together separate DSPs that otherwise provide a fragmented view is the role of an agency. This cross-platform integration is essential to give advertisers a unified picture of the consumer and connect these walled gardens with offline insights, like retail sales.
The choice of model and the customisation or calibration of systems like MMMs, attribution and AI also require human intervention. Someone needs to choose the right inputs, interpret outputs responsibly, and reconcile conflicting results. Machines can crunch data, but they cannot provide the human judgment needed to distinguish signal from noise.
The role and value of agencies become even more obvious when you contemplate creative considerations like storytelling. Automation can tell you who to reach and when, but it cannot decide what to say. Agencies shape the brand’s narrative, cultural resonance and emotional appeal. Neuromarketing and behavioural science can inform this process, but only people can craft stories that truly move us.
Governance, compliance and ethics fall in the same category. With regulations tightening everywhere, advertisers need agencies to be the stewards of data use, particularly with the setup of privacy-first measurement and (re)building trust with consumers.
In other words, agencies will deliver value to their clients by translating AI outputs into business language for CEOs; aligning campaigns with growth targets; and bridging the gaps between marketing, finance, sales and IT.
Think of it like aviation: AI systems and DSPs are the autopilot, efficient and precise. Agencies and their executives are the pilots, deciding where to fly, why and how to respond when turbulence hits. Without the pilot, the autopilot can only follow a straight line.
In this new era, agency value doesn’t evaporate; it moves upstream instead. From buying ads to designing growth strategies. From reporting metrics to interpreting insights in context. From targeting audiences to shaping meaningful brand experiences.
The future of agencies is not about doing more of the same, faster. It’s about moving higher, becoming the architects of growth in an automated world.
Highlight of the last year
Despite market challenges, the group expanded its portfolio with major brands including Etihad, Visit Qatar, Shamal and others. This year also marked the launch of Flywheel, an AI platform boosting e-commerce performance, and CREO, which equips clients with advanced tools and data-driven strategies to manage influencers more effectively.
Rapid fire
What the industry needs to talk more about:
What drives clients’ business: sales, growth and impact.
What the industry needs to talk less about:
Buzzwords that sound smart but do nothing.
If you could change one thing in the blink of an eye, you would …
Make AI adoption ridiculously easy.
What’s one thing about you that would surprise your team?
I signed up for Dubai’s T100 Sprint. See you there! Not sure if it would be a surprise or an expectation.
What mobile application can you not live without?
WhatsApp, life runs on it.
What word / phrase do people remember you for using the most?
“Leadership is a choice”.
What’s one local / regional tradition that you love the most?
Family first.
If you could choose any two people, currently alive, in the world to share a meal with you, who would it be?
Satya Nadella and Indra Nooyi … Brains and heart at the table.
What’s your top word of advice for Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Obsess about mastering the job you have, not the one you want to have.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Used to be McChicken, thankfully not anymore.
What’s your favourite ad from the past 12 months?
‘Bad Guy Gone Good’ by Jenan.
