AI-Powered Transformation: Reimagine the Creative Enterprise

Read more about AI-Powered Transformation: Reimagine the Creative Enterprise

AI-Powered Transformation: Reimagine the Creative Enterprise

AI AI, Artificial Intelligence, Industry events 2 min read

Brands today face a perfect storm of challenges: skyrocketing demand for personalized content, shrinking timelines and an explosion of data that’s often underutilized. As these pressures mount, generative AI offers a vital solution. However, navigating this new landscape requires more than tools—it demands a transformation of workflows and mindsets.

At CES 2025, industry leaders from Meta, Adobe, NVIDIA and AWS convened to discuss the future of AI in creative enterprises. Moderated by our Chief Innovation Officer, Henry Cowling, the panel explored gen AI’s role in transforming workflows, breaking organizational silos and unleashing the potential of data and creativity. For those unable to attend, the full session is accessible below, along with key insights from the discussion.

“It’s critical that organizations move from being static and siloed to becoming more fluid. The key isn’t just adopting AI but organizing your teams in an organism mentality.”

— Jimmie Stone, VP, Creative Shop at Meta

Tackling the pressure to do more with less.

Today, brands are being asked to do far more with the same—or even fewer—resources. Varun Palmer, General Manager at Adobe Gen Studio, captured this challenge perfectly: “There is a need for 5x more content in the next two years. But I don’t know any CMO with a budget that’s increasing five-fold.”

Enter the indispensable role of generative AI. It offers not just cost-effective scalability but also operational efficiencies that make it possible to meet rising demands. Adobe’s own marketing workflows reflect this promise, with their team now generating billions of emails annually using generative AI, delivering faster and more personalized experiences without sacrificing quality.

Jimmy Stone, who is VP, Creative Shop at Meta, emphasized the shift required for creative teams, encouraging brands to evolve from relying on singular big ideas to embracing systems of ideas. Fueled by AI, this approach enables diverse campaigns that adapt to the speed of culture, delivering relevant content at the right moment and scale.

Building an organization fit for an AI era.

A recurring theme throughout the panel was that AI alone is not the solution—it’s how organizations prepare themselves to integrate it. Generative AI holds vast potential to unlock data insights, enhance creative workflows, and drive efficiency, but rigid, siloed structures within enterprises are a significant barrier to success. NVIDIA’s Director of Data Science for Media & Entertainment, Bianca Pryor, emphasized this point, calling on brands to break down internal silos and unify scattered datasets across marketing, IT and sales.

“The future of machine learning and AI is in experimentation. You’re sitting on a treasure trove of data—now’s the time to get down and dirty with it, running models, creating insights, and accelerating workflows.”

— Bianca Pryor, Director of Data Science for Media & Entertainment at NVIDIA

AWS’s Worldwide Strategy & Business Development Leader of Monetization, Chris Ziemer, reinforced this approach, noting that a strong foundation of integrated data infrastructure—combined with AI—enables companies to adapt quickly and scale creative and operational efficiencies.

Ultimately, brands must evolve into dynamic, collaborative organisms. This shift demands more than embracing AI—it requires rethinking internal workflows, encouraging cross-team collaboration and unlocking innovation at every level. To learn more about how to make this shift, watch the full session for deeper insights.

Fresh from CES 2025, explore how gen AI is revolutionizing creative enterprises with scalable workflows, personalized content and data-driven innovation. AI adoption Generative AI personalized content AI workflows Artificial Intelligence Industry events AI

What Gen AI Means for the Role of a Media Planner

Read more about What Gen AI Means for the Role of a Media Planner

What Gen AI Means for the Role of a Media Planner

AI AI, Media 4 min read

When you hear generative AI, you probably picture LLMs generating images, text, music and other types of content that mimic human creativity—tools for creative professionals. Its role in media planning and buying isn’t typically the first thing people consider, but I’ve seen first hand how generative AI is reshaping the media planning process.

Working with brands like Chime who have sophisticated multi-channel advertising programs, my colleagues have unlocked benefits ranging from enhanced automation to scalable personalization, all while driving cost efficiency. This topic took center stage during a panel discussion at Campaign’s AI Deciphered 2024, featuring Brayden Varr, ACD at Chime; Ashwini Karandikar, EVP of Media, Technology, and Data at The 4A’s; Jesse Waldele, and SVP of Digital Operations and Client Success at Dow Jones; along with myself.

Steve Barrett, our moderator and VP and editorial director at PRWeek & Campaign US, opened the panel discussion with a pivotal question: What do the new AI-powered tools mean for the role of a media planner? Below are some key insights from our session.

Creative and media are becoming closer together.

Historically, creative and media roles operated in silos, each adhering to their own set of responsibilities. This setup is far from ideal, because the intersection of creativity and performance analysis is crucial for brands to succeed. As Karandikar put it, "The creative arm needs to speak the language of performance while still capturing the brand message.” However, reaching a point where team members could put aside their production tasks to collaborate with others was, at the very least, challenging.

Now, with AI managing repetitive tasks and various aspects of content generation, creatives can concentrate on higher-level strategic thinking and innovation. As a result, they can collaborate more effectively with media planners—and vice versa—gaining deeper insights into target demographics and enhancing campaign optimization. Plus, it opens up new possibilities for media planners who may not have the support of creatives on their teams.

Varr, approaching the topic from the creative and design side, highlighted how performance marketers are leveraging AI tools to enhance creativity on limited budgets. “If you work in the performance space, you probably have zero creative production budget,” he said. “But we have to get noticed. With tools like Adobe and Midjourney, we can create content that helps us stand out in these feeds more than ever, and it’s positively impacting our key metrics that we evaluate every day.”

What’s more, in highly regulated markets, brands often face restrictions that prevent them from using demographic data, such as age, gender, or location, to target consumers. Instead, they can rely instead on creative content as a key input. That means exploring various attributes—such as interests, behaviors, or emotional triggers—within the creative itself to connect with consumers. Media buyers are increasingly collaborating with creative teams, brand strategists and media strategists to craft campaigns that resonate with target audiences.

It’s not just about automation; it’s about intelligence.

As mentioned earlier, automation allows creatives and media planners to focus on high-value tasks rather than routine analytics. But it doesn’t end there. Gen AI excels at processing vast datasets to reveal patterns and trends that human analysts may miss. By generating actionable insights, generative AI helps inform media strategies, allowing planners to optimize their approaches based on real-time data rather than relying solely on historical experiences.

Waldele said, “Where we really see a huge opportunity is not just in media plan automation, but in media plan intelligence. We can create media plans that are performing and infused with that intelligence.” To provide an example, working with enterprise clients with complex media programs, we can automatically tag thousands of potential attributes within our creatives. This used to be a cumbersome task that required building complex taxonomies to capture various elements of an ad. Marketers had to create detailed tags for simple attributes like “red background” or “blue background,” while also specifying the product’s context. This method imposed limits on the number of characters allowed in an ad name and often left teams struggling to log every attribute of the creative that could impact performance.

Now, the automatic tagging capability streamlines the process and enhances the depth of analysis. AI can pick up subtle details that were previously imperceptible to the human eye—such as whether a card is positioned at the top of a phone or next to it—and understand how these elements resonate with audiences. Moreover, many ad platforms integrate generative AI to dynamically alter creatives in response to immediate audience feedback. It’s a significant leap forward—not just in terms of efficiency, but in the depth of intelligence that drives media planning today.

There’s value in taking risks.

From highly personalized creative content to real-time insights, brands have much to gain by incorporating generative AI into their media strategies. Still, many find themselves caught up in the challenges, risks and considerations. As Varr said, it’s easy to say no to these tools, but doing so can be costly. Once your competitors start effectively harnessing the untapped potential of generative AI, catching up becomes a formidable challenge.

While smaller brands tend to be more agile and willing to take risks, established enterprises have just as much—if not more—to gain from embracing innovation. To secure your team’s buy-in, Varr suggests, “Find someone who believes in it, and then demonstrate the impact. If you can do that, that’s when you’ll succeed.”

We are entering a new era of collaboration, agility and intelligence. By breaking down traditional silos and fostering collaboration among creative, media, and strategic teams, organizations can leverage the full potential of their insights and automate routine tasks. This empowerment not only enhances creative quality and campaign effectiveness but also positions brands to respond swiftly to market dynamics. In a time when agility and informed decision-making are crucial, those embracing generative AI will not only stay ahead of the competition but also redefine what's possible in media planning and execution.

Explore how generative AI is reshaping media planning by enhancing automation, collaboration and insights, bridging the gap between creativity and data-driven strategies. Discover how generative AI transforms media planning with automation, data-driven insights and enhanced collaboration for smarter campaigns. media buying Generative AI customer data automation AI workflows Media AI

Wednesday Oct 23, 2024

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Amazon Web Services

We leverage AWS technologies to drive marketing & technology excellence.

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Launched Opportunities

200+
Years of
Experience

10

At Monks, we partner with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to leverage cutting-edge cloud technology, delivering innovative marketing and technical solutions to clients around the globe. Through partnership with the AWS Advertising & MarTech team, we empower organizations across industries to harness data effectively, transforming it into actionable insights that drive new business value and create a competitive advantage.

This partnership also enables us to push the boundaries of innovation with generative AI, creating scalable experiences ranging from million-user UGC platforms to conversational voice, avatars and machine learning applications—and that’s just the beginning of what’s possible. Additionally, our collaboration helps clients in media, entertainment, games and sports evolve their broadcast needs while driving cost savings and sustainability efforts, delivering seamless solutions from camera to consumer.

Our strong focus on rapid application development, paired with expertise in DevOps practices, ensures we can build and deploy these transformative solutions with speed and efficiency. Together with AWS, we are committed to helping businesses unlock the full potential of digital marketing in an ever-evolving landscape.

Industries we’re furthering using AWS.

- Advertising & Marketing Technology
  
  In today's fast-paced advertising and marketing landscape, organizations must swiftly adapt to evolving consumer behaviors and market dynamics. We partner with AWS to help brands harness the power of advanced technology, driving impactful campaigns and optimizing marketing operations. Our tailored solutions empower businesses to innovate faster, enhance customer engagement and achieve measurable results in their advertising efforts. Explore Monks.Flow.
- Media & Entertainment, Games, and Sports
  
  As the media, entertainment, games and sports industries evolve at an unprecedented pace, organizations face the challenge of meeting ever-changing viewer expectations. We collaborate with AWS to help businesses leverage cutting-edge technology, enhancing content delivery and audience engagement. Our specialized solutions empower organizations to innovate quickly, streamline production processes, and drive immersive experiences that resonate with fans and consumers alike. Learn more about our solutions specific to these industries:
- Content Production
  
  We leverage AWS to streamline content production, utilizing its scalable cloud infrastructure for faster workflows and real-time collaboration, resulting in high-quality content delivery.
- Media Supply Chain & Archive
  
  We optimize media supply chain and archive processes for seamless content management and retrieval, enabling efficient handling of vast media assets while ensuring quality and accessibility.
- Broadcast
  
  We enhance broadcast operations by leveraging cutting-edge technology to ensure reliable, high-quality transmission and real-time content delivery. This optimizes audience engagement and operational efficiency. Learn more about Live Cloud Production on AWS Marketplace.
- Direct to Consumer
  
  We help clients design and deploy direct-to-consumer (D2C) solutions for over-the-top (OTT) streaming of both live and VOD content. Our solutions encompass discovery, transcoding, digital rights management (DRM), personalization, monetization, targeted ad insertion, streaming and playback analytics, as well as content distribution. This includes standard CDN, CDN caching, edge optimization, and manifest manipulation for personalization and ad insertion.
- Monetization
  
  We help clients leverage AWS monetization solutions to simplify and modernize their advertising, licensing, subscription and marketing technology strategies. This helps increase revenue across viewing platforms while building deeper, more personalized relationships with audiences. Learn more about Live Cloud Production on AWS Marketplace.
- Retail
  
  In an increasingly competitive retail landscape, organizations must adapt to changing consumer behaviors and market trends. We partner with AWS to empower retail businesses through cloud-based solutions that enhance operational efficiency, optimize inventory management and deliver personalized customer experiences to drive innovation and growth in the digital marketplace. Learn more by reading our recent report on Virtual Product Try-On.
- Travel & Hospitality
  
  As the travel and hospitality industry faces rapid changes and evolving traveler expectations, organizations must stay agile and responsive. We collaborate with AWS to empower these businesses with cloud-based solutions that enhance operational efficiency, optimize customer engagement and streamline booking processes, driving innovation and memorable experiences for travelers in a digital-first landscape.
- Government
  
  As government agencies navigate complex challenges and the demand for enhanced citizen services, our partnership with AWS enables them to leverage cloud solutions for improved data management, streamlined operations and increased transparency. We empower organizations to innovate and deliver efficient services that meet the evolving needs of their communities.
- Nonprofit
  
  In a dynamic nonprofit landscape, organizations need to maximize their impact while efficiently managing resources. With AWS, we provide cloud-based solutions that enhance operational efficiency, enable data-driven decision-making and facilitate outreach efforts, empowering nonprofits to effectively drive change and engage with their communities.
- Education
  
  As educational institutions adapt to modern learning environments and diverse student needs, AWS supports their leveraging of cloud technology to enhance collaboration, streamline administration and deliver personalized learning experiences. We help education organizations foster innovation and improve outcomes for students and staff alike.
- Automotive
  
  In the fast-paced automotive industry, businesses must keep up with technological advancements and changing consumer preferences. By utilizing AWS, we empower automotive organizations with cloud solutions that optimize supply chain management, enhance connectivity and support data-driven insights, driving innovation and improving the overall customer experience.
- Financial Services
  
  As the financial services sector grapples with regulatory requirements and evolving market dynamics, our collaboration with AWS helps organizations harness cloud technology for secure data management, improved compliance and enhanced customer experiences. We enable financial institutions to innovate and deliver reliable services that build trust and drive growth.

Use Cases

How we harness the power of AWS

Generative AI

Leverage Amazon Web Services to implement generative AI solutions, enabling organizations to create innovative content, automate processes, and deliver personalized experiences at scale.
DevOps

Streamline DevOps practices to facilitate continuous integration and deployment processes that enhance collaboration, improve efficiency and accelerate software delivery.
Data & Analytics

Empower organizations to derive actionable insights from their data, enabling informed decision-making and driving business growth.
Conversational AI

Conversational AI solutions enhance customer engagement through intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants, providing seamless, real-time interactions.
Machine Learning

We apply machine learning capabilities through AWS to help organizations build predictive models, automate tasks and enhance decision-making.
Migration & Modernization

Our partnership with AWS supports organizations in migrating systems and modernizing applications, ensuring a smooth transition to the cloud while enhancing performance and scalability.
Security

We implement robust security measures on AWS, helping organizations protect their data and applications through advanced security protocols, compliance solutions and risk management strategies.
Storage

Using AWS storage solutions, we provide scalable, secure and cost-effective options for managing and archiving data, enabling organizations to optimize their data storage strategies effectively.

Case Study

NBA in VR •For Meta & the NBA, we engineered the software-defined production platform to turn their VR broadcast ambition into an operational reality for 56 games across three seasons.

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September 17-19, 2024

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AI-Generated Hygiene Content • An Ownable, Brand-Safe AI Workflow

Client
SNCF Voyageurs
Solutions
Artificial IntelligenceStudioContent Adaptation and Transcreation

A gif of images with peoples faces and landscapes swapping

Fast-tracking the generative AI transformation journey.

French passenger rail company SNCF Voyageurs sought a means of producing high-volume hygiene content for web and social, without the need for 100 briefs, 100 days of planning, 80 days of post-production… you get the picture. So, we partnered with the brand to fast-track the creation of 230 visual assets, accelerated with the use of generative AI and strategically automated AI workflows. By harnessing the power of AI-generated creative, we were able to enhance productivity and refine the artistic process, all while staying true to the essence of the brand.

Acceleration and enhanced production with generative AI

The first step to developing brand-safe models: start with guidelines.

First, we developed a content matrix, which structured the various kinds of scenes to depict related to specific seasons or weather, time of day, holiday type, whether we wanted to depict a traveler or an SNCF employee, and more. This helped us automate and generate hundreds of combinations for landscape and people images.

Next, it was time to create the generative AI model. We began this process by reviewing brand guideline documentation, which served as a reference to generate photography that aligned with the brand and the needs of its audiences. We tested various models in Stable Diffusion to nail the results we wanted to generate at scale. We used TopazLabs Photo AI to upscale and retouch AI-generated assets at lightning speed, along with additional retouches in Photoshop, including the software’s Generative Fill feature to extend backgrounds for wide header images.

Testing AI models for the best result to generate at scale

An AI-powered workflow built for cost effectiveness.

Navigating legal nuances and the ownership of intellectual property were at the forefront of our engagement with SNCF Voyageurs. We helped the brand create a framework that secured both IP protection and data privacy protection, enabling the brand to continue to use the AI-trained models without issues in ownership moving forward. As a result, SNCF Voyageurs will continue to see cost savings using the AI workflows we’ve developed with them, compared to the budgetary and time costs that come with traditional photoshoots.

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Media

Performance-Driven Creative Production

Blend data-driven creative and performance media strategies to drive conversion.

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Fuel for the media engine.

As black-box algorithmic campaigns take over digital platforms, creative is the most critical lever to fuel new performance gains. The modern digital landscape requires all ad creative to be quantifiable, tested at scale, audience-specific and channel-native. To deliver on this, our performance creative experts work hand-in-hand with media strategists and AI technology to rapidly produce and optimize new assets according to your business goals. Our solutions combine agile development, iterative testing, generative AI, and human ingenuity to deliver the most effective and relevant message to your target audience and unlock efficient growth for your brand.

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Case Study

Generative AI creates relevant experiences, faster—and outperforms legacy ads with +66% ROI for Forever 21.

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What We Do

Our Services • We quickly concept and develop direct response creative, often from existing partner assets, to test against specific audiences and relevant funnel placements, fueling ROI from paid media efforts.
Asset Optimization

Unlock limitless test variations from your existing image and video assets with fresh copy, overlays, resizes and movement.
User-Generated Content

Build authentic customer relationships using high-quality UGC, with rapid time-to-market and pre-planned test iterations.
Movement & Video

Stand out in your audience’s feeds with movement-first design, including video, GIFs, animation and more.
Ecommerce Content

Optimize and elevate your PDPs and brand store, from Amazon to TikTok Shop and other marketplaces.
Illustration & Animation

Educate your target audience with explainers and attention-grabbing graphics, no photography needed.
Modular Production Shoots

Build a custom, modular content library to unlock thousands of performance tests with original photo and video assets.
Channel Customization

Native design and fit-for-format testing helps your assets fit in on CTV, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest and more.
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Powering 44% more sales for Hatch.

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Case Study

High-Performance Ad Creative •Leveraging our insights in creative performance, we partnered with Hatch to help accelerate their creative output and keep up with growing demand.

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AI in Creative

Text-to-image technology gets our creative in market faster, unlocking multiple benefits in the creative process. In addition to cutting down time spent on concepting and approvals with AI-generated mockups, the technology also speeds up QA with automated content checks based on your brand guidelines, testing taxonomy, and ad platform requirements.

Even the biggest brands have challenges maintaining fresh asset libraries, with long timelines and high cost to shoot new content. Generative AI allows us to get scrappy with existing content and create modularity. From new backgrounds to alternating models, localization to platform-native aspect ratios, the opportunities are endless.

Technology

Intelligent, AI-powered workflows from Monks.Flow.

An AI-centric managed service for brands ready to unlock personalization at scale.

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Integrating test plans with design.

Our performance creative experts are embedded with our media strategists to put data-driven testing at the beginning of the development process, rather than retrofitting tests onto existing brand work. We start with custom learning agendas based on historical performance and your business goals, then bake in our testing dimensions to the creative concepts themselves, from visuals to value props to tone and more. We generate a tailored ad taxonomy to analyze results in aggregate, then fuel iteration quickly. Every decision is data-driven, while keeping your brand’s voice center stage.

Extension of your creative team, partner to your media buyers.

Our creative strategists form an agile bridge between your brand designers and your advertising experts, whether in-house or outsourced. Your creative team benefits from extended capacity, combined with deep knowledge of performance media best practices, while your media marketers can ramp up their testing velocity without sacrificing quality or learnings. ROI is our north star as we adapt your brand concepts and traditional media assets into bespoke digital iterations for each stage of the funnel and each ad placement. We are equally fluent in “art director,” “media buyer,” and “data analyst”—our cross-functional expertise seamlessly integrates us into your team to benefit your bottom line.

Designing for performance benefits every vertical. • Motion-first testing can help B2B, SaaS, and digital platforms stand out from the pack.
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