I realise I’ve been away for what seems like forever. The truth is, life, work, pretty much everything has been hectic.

In the last couple of years, unless you’ve been on a remote island with no internet, the marketing industry has been undergoing a huge shift towards technology powered enablement in terms of AI and Gen AI. With new demands, work seems to be faster paced and more demanding than ever.

So when I recently stepped in to support a global client account facing a perfect storm: a massive surge in deliverables, complex multi‑market regulations, multi‑language requirements, and zero time to scale a traditional team.

The challenge wasn’t just the creative — it was the variables. With country‑specific clearance rules, rate cards, formats, and language combinations, the estimating and approval process alone was a minefield of delays and errors. I realised that with the years of client services training I had, it wasn’t enough in today’s rapidly changing, technology‑led landscape. It was essential to put a repeatable system in place — not in the conventional way you’d normally build out a team, because we didn’t have the luxury of time. We needed something easy to follow, with minimal onboarding time, so anyone joining the team could fast‑track their way into the account.

Step 1: Rapid onboard (the knowledge build) I used WPP Open and, for anyone not familiar with it, the platform is WPP’s secure AI platform for marketing that connects talent, tools, and data in one place. I used it to build a custom agent for this account. By uploading legacy handover data, account history, and market‑specific clearance rules and rate cards, I was able to use the agent to get up to speed in hours — not weeks. And because it’s secure, I had peace of mind knowing the proprietary information would stay safe within the confines of WPP Open.

Step 2: Codify the process (create a prompt that would generate an “estimating script”) I didn’t have the luxury of building a formal system, as we were in the middle of delivery when we transferred the finance operations over. So I applied the business rules into a detailed prompt — a repeatable prompt that would synthesise media plans with rate cards, formats, and language variables consistently.

Step 3: Scale the capability (the team force multiplier) Getting myself onboarded was only half the battle. To hit deadlines, I gave the wider team access to the agent and the script so the expertise could travel — instantly.

• Generate accurate estimates by cross‑referencing media plans with complex, country‑specific rate cards and language requirements.
• Navigate advertising clearance and market‑specific regulations with far fewer false starts.

The result: We didn’t just “survive” the surge. A team that hadn’t spent any time on the account could deliver content at scale and ensure we could produce accurate, complex estimates in minutes — scoping markets correctly from the start.

I came across the term “lived experience” in a recent strategy project I worked on; it taught me that this experience is hard‑earned. My client services knowledge and operational judgement have been earned through working with many clients and brands, and combining that with AI, I believe is the new way we need to navigate marketing’s most challenging era. Because I’m sure everyone can tell a similar story: when you don’t have time to build formal systems, you need to find a solution fast. Well, I found mine — creating AI agents lets you capture what your most experienced lead knows and distribute it across a team instantly.

We’re moving towards two types of work: The methodical (math, variables, data, compliance) captured in agents, and the intuitive (client relationships, strategy, creative troubleshooting) where humans create the edge.

In high‑pressure agency environments, the goal isn’t just to be faster — it’s to build systems that allow your team to be as smart as your most experienced lead, instantly.