Forget
AI: This is the Real Trend Making Life Miserable for Traditional Ad Agencies
Here’s why brands are ditching massive
agencies for this low-cost alternative.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V
AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN
Jun 30, 2026
While the ad agency
world freaks out about A.I. being infinitely better than humans at a multitude
of tasks, including every kind of content creation, it turns out that there are
much more subversive activities underway. These efforts by influencers, remote
gig workers, and at-home creators are far more likely to make life really
miserable for traditional advertising executives, some of whom are still
sucking down three-martini expense account lunches while the world shifts
radically around them. Even the Apple TV+ show Your Friends and Neighbors presents a far more
realistic view of the economic pressures and other personnel issues at agencies
than you’ll find talking to execs from Madison Avenue who apparently haven’t
yet gotten the memo.
The big firms and
spin-outs that are trying to position themselves as new and innovative,
youth-oriented enterprises are still largely hawking the same tired and
antiquated pitches while offering expensive, highly polished creative, which is
too slick and woefully off target. Sadly, those old models, stories and
approaches no longer connect—emotionally or intellectually—with the
demographics that every advertiser wants to target and reach.
If the customers and
their audiences aren’t looking and listening, it doesn’t matter how wonderful
your messaging and ads may be. You can tee me up for flattering articles in the
old business magazines that might matter to my parents, but no one I know reads
those rags or cares about anything they have to say. The giant agencies are out
of touch and no longer have the access, reach or ability to connect to the
people that matter, and yet these are the links and connections that the
old-line agencies are still bragging about. It’s largely the same issue with
cable, where the wrong crowd may be hearing the chatter, but even they aren’t
listening to what’s being said or sold. It’s just background noise to keep them
awake.
The game today is about
an entirely new reality where massive teams and abundant resources and a
decades-old track record really don’t matter, but where credible and authentic
relationships and accessible networks of engaged fans are the keys to the kingdom.
What smart advertisers, promoters and product managers are looking for and
attracted to today is very simple—User Generated Content (UGC)—which is
unvarnished, live, authentic, presented as peer-to-peer, easy and inexpensive
to create, and immediately publishable at virtually no cost (thank the Internet
for that) to millions of engaged fans and buyers.
The entire space has
rapidly advanced and grown up, and now the content offerings are extensive and
addressed to every conceivable market and interest. Even more importantly from
the standpoint of any advertiser is the extent to which both the providers and
the audience can be sliced and diced with degrees of accuracy and precision
that only directly connected networks can offer. And finally, the actual cost
to connect to the right audience in the correct context and at the right time
is pennies compared to any other offering.
I’m watching several
new startups, including Selfie, which
offers a mobile app used to quickly create a personal digital twin, implement a comprehensive rollout plan
that turns out to be ideal for one or more of these new fangled influencer
networks because (a) the Selfie product and service is AI and mobile-first, so the phone app is the key;
and (b) Selfie’s primary targets and ideal end users are, in fact, the very
highly-regarded influencers already having tons of fans and followers who are
active participants in these kinds of networks; and (c) the marketing brief for this Selfie campaign requires each
influencer who joins the Selfie Influencer Network to download and build their
own Selfie and create and post a demo video of their Selfie, along with an
explanation of how they will be using it and why having their own Selfie makes
sense for them and saves them time. Hard to imagine more of a win-win situation
for all concerned.
But equally important to
any new business or established firm thinking about using one of these
influencer networks—even if your products or services aren’t quite as ideal as
the Selfie app—are the selection, specification and management tools available to
the client that permit practical choices including the age, gender, geography,
video experience, presentation skills,
other relevant skill sets, and size of the fan and follower audiences segmented
by social media channel for each influencer that the client invites to
participate in a given promotion across the network. In addition, the client
can set other performance requirements and metrics as well as compensation
arrangements for each influencer signing on to a specific campaign.
There are a growing
number of players in the influencer network space and many of the newcomers
most likely offer access to the same influencers who are under no obligation to
provide their services exclusively to a single network. Each campaign stands alone—the
costs are variable but incredibly modest compared to typical agency fees (there
are no media or creative costs), and the entire commitment has a specific time
frame and no further obligation beyond the initial campaign. Whatever your
market, targets and budgets, this new channel is a must to check out
before you start your next marketing programs.
It was a great experience. Having Gov. Pat Quinn validate
everything you are working so hard for really reinforces that we are on the
right track.