AI in Media & Marketing: Key Takeaways from FutureWeek and AI Creative Summit UK

AI in Media & Marketing: Key Takeaways from FutureWeek and AI Creative Summit UK

Written by Jayme Baggio, Production Lead at Channel 4

This week, I attended two major industry events exploring how AI is reshaping media, marketing, and creative production: FutureWeek’s AI in Media & Marketing Conference and the AI Creative Summit UK. Across both, one message was clear: capability, clarity and fluency are now the real dividers in how teams use AI.

Emerging Themes Across the Industry

1. Advertisers Are Moving Faster Than Creators
   Advertisers expect AI-enabled efficiency as standard, but still rely on partners who combine speed with reliability, risk control and creative judgement.

   
   Opportunity: Mirror client speed with responsible-by-design workflows that show how you deliver both speed and judgement.

    

2. Human-in-the-Loop Is the Credible Default
   AI accelerates delivery, but human oversight anchors tone, context and quality.

   
   Opportunity: Make your hybrid model explicit—map where people review, refine and sign off, and use that as part of your value proposition.

    

3. Hybrid Thinkers Hold the Creative Advantage
   The strongest outputs come from people fluent in both storytelling and tech systems.

   
   Opportunity: Build AI literacy across creative and production roles, and empower hybrid leads to set standards.

    

4. Governance, Rights and IP Remain Uneven
   Different organisations apply different standards on ethics, training data and ownership, slowing decisions and experimentation.

   
   Opportunity: Set a clear internal stance and rights baseline so teams can move at pace even when external guidance conflicts.

    

5. Quiet Evolution Behind the Ad Stack
   Shared protocols are bringing order to fragmented systems, giving brands clearer sightlines into spend and decision-making.

   
   Opportunity: Understand the infrastructure—fluency in how data, delivery and accountability connect will help future-proof workflows.

    

6. Practitioner-Built Tools Are a Gap to Fill
   Many tools impress, but not all reflect real production constraints.

   
   Opportunity: Identify a concrete pain point and build something simple that fixes it for your team first.

    

7. The Pace Gap Is Widening
   Agile teams are testing and shipping quickly, while larger organisations struggle with layered approvals and legacy processes.

   
   Opportunity: Use focused pilots and clear success measures to build fluency early, then scale what works.

    

The Through-Line

Teams who combine clear intent with technical fluency and strong human judgement will move fastest. Those who build clarity, capability and direction into their workflows will lead the industry.

Read more here.