For modern creative agencies like AMF Media Group, AI is impacting nearly every aspect of operations, from the most mundane tasks to high-level creative execution.  

On one end of the spectrum, AI is improving business infrastructure by streamlining billing, CRM, and project management. On the other end, it’s helping agencies create entirely new offerings.  

In between, AI is adding power and dimension to digital advertising tactics, enabling micro-adjustments in ad buys, and supporting creative teams with tools like text-to-image and text-to-video, both for previsualization and for final asset delivery. 

In this blog post, we take a look at the expanding impact of AI in marketing, sharing insights from our resident AI in Marketing expert and Video Lead, Robert Mooring. 

The AI Advantage 

Technology has long been integral to the work of creative agencies, but many advancements previously went unnoticed, as they were folded into software updates or platform improvements that simply enhanced efficiency without being labeled as AI.  

Over the last five years, however, and especially in the last two, the rise of generative AI has shifted the conversation. Agencies are no longer passively benefiting from embedded features; they’re actively seeking out and deploying AI to gain strategic advantage. 

At AMF, AI adoption began as an agency-wide initiative, not just a one-off experiment. According to Robert, the focus was originally just on operational efficiencies that could support the health of the business – everything from automating time-consuming internal processes to enhancing repetitive creative tasks. But the deeper and more exciting transformations have taken place in creative and digital. 

“Digital teams are using AI to refine ad buys with precision,” Robert said. “From advanced geofencing to daily optimizations based on performance data, AI helps identify what content is gaining traction and enables quick, data-driven shifts in strategy. The insights we get from AI allow us to reallocate resources to high-performing segments, and show clients demonstrable ROI.” 

However, while data is informing how advertisers shape their messaging, using AI to personalize creative still has room to grow.   

“Ideally, we would like to dynamically alter visual elements or messaging based on demographic or location data,” Robert said, adding that while the technology already exists, in practice, clients remain cautious – especially where representation and authenticity are concerned. “Nevertheless, we are actively developing ways to personalize content efficiently,” he said. 

One approach has been to train custom large language models (LLMs) on internal data – specifically, on the creative briefs that have performed well over the years.  

“These models are trained securely and never expose client data,” Robert said. “Instead, they allow us to input a new brief and receive refined outputs based on current market data and historical success.”  

This makes the creative process more objective and aligned with audience expectations, rather than relying solely on intuition. 

The Human Factor 

The success of new AI-powered strategies and tools depends heavily on high-quality data inputs, which is why human curation remains a vital piece of the puzzle.  

“When we were building our internal LLMs, our account and client services teams worked together to identify the most impactful briefs from the last decade,” Robert said. “Poor-quality data was filtered out by humans to ensure that what the model learned from was useful and relevant.”  

In larger data sets, AI engineers can further refine accuracy by analyzing how closely certain pieces of data align with successful outputs and flagging outliers. Plus, creative decisions – especially involving storytelling and eliciting emotional responses from audiences – require human judgment.  

“AI might help assemble assets or analyze data, but only people can determine when a piece of content feels right,” Robert said. 

Intelligent Spend Management 

AI is especially valuable to marketing teams looking to expand their creative capabilities under tight budget constraints.  

For example, AMF recently created a powerful campaign for a nonprofit organization with a limited budget using generative AI to produce visuals and video that would have cost ten times more just two years ago.  

“Some of the content involved sensitive subject matter, and using AI-generated content helped the team represent that community authentically without exploiting real individuals,” Robert said. The resulting work was cost-effective, impactful, and deployed strategically across platforms. 

And campaign optimization doesn’t stop at creation – when processed with AI, performance data can be used to adjust ad delivery weekly over the duration of a campaign. This was the case for the non-profit.  

In another example, AMF helped a financial services client – one that runs multi-format campaigns regularly with quarterly refreshes – leverage AI to track KPIs like account openings and site visits. This allowed AMF to refine future creative based on actual performance, ensuring each campaign improved upon the last. AI also supported sentiment analysis, helping the PR and content teams understand how audiences were responding across social media. 

“While the decisions were ultimately made by humans, the insights came from AI tools that analyzed performance in real time, allowing for timely and effective pivots,” Robert said. 

Embracing the Shift 

Clinging to “the way things have always been done” is no longer viable; to stay competitive in this evolving landscape, marketers need a growth mindset.  

“The pace of technological change is much faster now, even than previous industry revolutions such as the introduction of digital photography – and that means continuous learning and experimentation are essential,” Robert said. 

At AMF, team members regularly exchange ideas across departments to stay ahead of what’s possible. One initiative under discussion involves using AI to conduct comprehensive content audits. A trained LLM could compare a client’s website to a competitor’s, analyze site performance, and offer actionable insights, all from a simple prompt. 

Using AI for Good 

Importantly, while AI is a powerful tool, it hasn’t led to job cuts at AMF. Instead, it has freed up teams to focus on their most human, creative, and strategic work. As we continue to explore and expand our AI capabilities, our focus remains clear: use technology to amplify creativity, improve results, and enhance the human side of marketing – not replace it. 

“Ethical use of AI goes beyond protecting client data; it’s about leveraging technology in ways that uplift both agency talent and the communities we serve,” Robert said. 

To learn how AMF can help your organization leverage AI for success, Contact Us Today!