Meta leaders Will Easton, Managing Director of Meta – Australia and New Zealand, and Alex Schultz, CMO & VP, Analytics at Meta, have called out ‘misleading commentary’ that suggests the creative agencies will be replaced by AI.
Both have taken to LinkedIn with the shared sentiment that the future of agencies will continue to be an important partner to the tech giant.
Meta CEO and chairman Mark Zuckerberg said in a recent interview with Stratechery, as reported by PPC, that Meta aims to automate the entire advertising process from end to end.
Mark Zuckerberg
Zuckerberg said: “You’re a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out.”
While he did acknowledge that creatively, businesses “have a sense of what their message is or what their video is or their image, and that’s pretty hard to produce”, he pointed out that Meta can “just make it for them”.
While Zuckerberg’s comments ruffled feathers across the industry both Easton and Schultz said that creative agencies are still very much partners to Meta.
“We believe in the future of agencies. And clearly, I checked with Zuck that I was interpreting his comments correctly before posting this. The role of creativity is more important than ever,” said Schultz.
He said the tech giant considers creative the new targeting. “So many marketers I hear from spend much of their day on non-core tasks that take away from creativity. We believe AI will enable agencies and advertisers to focus precious time and resources on the creativity that matters. And we’re seeing agencies using AI in a way that is aligned with this vision already.”
“At the same time, millions of small businesses rely upon our platforms to grow. For these businesses who aren’t able to work with an agency, or don’t have time during their busy days to think about their creative or targeting, that’s where AI – and tools such as our Advantage+ suite of AI-enabled solutions – can help level the playing field.”
Schultz added that advertisers, much like Meta’s own marketing teams rely on their agencies to make decisions across channels and across platforms. He continued: “While we think there will ultimately be more automation in marketing, the role that agencies play is going to become ever more important through their ability to plan, execute and measure across platforms.”
Alex Schultz
“The only constant in marketing is change, and marketers are brilliant at adapting. Agencies, in particular, have not only embraced change, but have also played a vital role in helping businesses tell their stories across emerging platforms. They have been and will remain trusted advisors to help businesses maximize performance and drive ROI.”
Easton agreed with Schultz sentiments and added that the agency ecosystem is important in the future and continues to be a very valued set of partners to Meta.”
“No question AI is going to add some value and efficiencies, but this will increase the importance of agencies and the strategic part they play in the value chain.
“I sat in a meeting recently with agency leaders across Australia and New Zealand (Meta Client Council) and its really impressive to see how they are embracing the opportunity AI provides across all parts of their business.”
Top image: Will Easton and Alex Schultz