AI, Avocados, and Advertising: What Does 2030 Really Hold for Marketers?

Media Minute is WPP Media's series, specifically crafted to empower our clients and marketers for their intelligence era.

The future of advertising isn't some far-off concept; it's a strategic reality that brands and marketers need to prepare for today. In a recent WPP Media webinar, leaders from WPP Media and Google discussed key findings from a survey of over 60 industry experts about the future of advertising.  The conversation was too good not to share.   

Here are the strategic takeaways every marketer should be acting on today. 

1. The Opportunity: Supercharge Your Creative Engine 

The debate is over: AI is set to become the workhorse of creative production. A full 71% of industry experts believe companies will rely on AI to produce the majority of creative content by 2030.   

This is your brand’s chance to achieve unprecedented speed, scale, and personalization without blowing your budget. AI can handle the heavy lifting—first drafts, asset generation, rapid A/B testing—freeing up your human talent to focus on what they do best: strategy, big ideas, and creating true emotional resonance. 

"...adopting an approach where we do leverage AI for unprecedented speed, scale, personalization and content creation, but absolutely augmenting human creativity by handling some repetitive tasks, generating diverse options and ultimately providing data driven insight."

Start upskilling your teams in prompt engineering and AI tools now. By letting AI handle repetitive tasks, you empower your best minds to focus on the strategic nuance and brand voice that will set you apart. This isn't about cutting costs; it's about reallocating creative energy to higher-value work. 

2. The New Battleground: Winning the 'Battle of the Bots' 

More than 60% of experts agree it's "likely" that most brand interactions will soon be bot-to-bot (e.g., a consumer's personal AI agent interacting with your brand's AI). This creates a critical new moment of truth for brands.    

 "I think brand takes on more relevance, heightened relevance, because if you are interacting with a bot and giving it very brief instructions... you want consumers to be giving branded instructions, you know, buy this specific brand of shampoo, not just generic shampoo."

Of course, not all purchases are created equal. Google's Joshua Spanier offered a compelling, human-centric counterpoint, reminding us that we won't cede control over everything. His reason? Avocados. "I like my avocados a certain ripeness and softness," he joked, highlighting that for purchases requiring personal preference, humans will always want the final say. 

Your brand’s strategy needs two layers. First, build a brand strong enough to be the default, named choice for bot-driven purchases. Second, continue creating marketing that appeals to human nuance and preference for those more considered, "avocado-level" decisions. 

3. The Strategy: Master Personalization Without Losing Your Brand's Soul 

While the idea of hyper-personalization using every data point imaginable is tempting, the experts urged a more strategic approach. The effort to achieve the final 5-10% of granular targeting often isn't worth the cost and can lead to a fragmented brand message that undermines your long-term goals. 

"We have to build brands for the long term. We can't just build for the immediate conversion. The cumulative impact of fragmenting your brand appearance has a deleterious effect."

Use personalization to deliver relevant messages to key audience segments, but ensure every communication reinforces a cohesive, durable brand identity. It's a balancing act between short-term relevance and long-term strength. Don’t sacrifice your brand’s soul for the sake of a single conversion. 

4. The Mindset: Fragmentation is Your Biggest Opportunity 

The old, simple media landscape is gone. Today, marketers face a fragmented world of countless channels, platforms, and touchpoints. But this complexity isn't a threat—it's an opportunity to connect with consumers in more meaningful ways than ever before. 

“The fragmentation of media is a massive opportunity that I think we should all be excited about... It’s never been a better time to do what we do.”

Embrace the change. Your canvas has never been bigger. You’re no longer just a “TV buyer” or a “social media manager”. You are a strategist orchestrating a brand’s presence across every surface and interaction.  

Your Action Plan For The AI-driven Future 

The message from the webinar was clear: the media landscape is changing, but this complexity is a massive opportunity and the time to prepare is now. As you look toward 2030, start asking these critical questions within your organization: 

• How are we preparing our brand to be the default choice for AI assistants? 

• Are we equipping our creative teams to leverage AI as a partner, not just a tool? 

• What is our strategy for balancing data-driven personalization with the need for a strong, cohesive long-term brand message? 

The brands that answer these questions today will be the ones that lead the conversation tomorrow. It’s never been a better time to do what we do. Let's get to work.