OUTSIDER

AI Adoption Report (2025)

Fewer than 35% of in-house teams use AI for anything beyond copy tweaks, and less than 10% of agencies have a real AI production workflow behind the scenes. The gap between “experimenting with AI” and “operating with an AI-first pipeline” is widening every month. This report shows where the industry actually is today—and where the we are operating.

This is the state of our evolving AI workflow.

1

AI Creative Briefs

100% adopted

Brain and doc dump your goals and expectations, AI distills into clear actionable brief for you to sign off on. Briefs were once static laborious docs and now can move dynamically, you can even chat with them. Creatives are able to pre-review work against briefs. AI briefs have sharpened strategy by considering broader points of view.

industry standard: 2027

2

AI Concepting

accelerating

AI gets us to average faster than ever. Humans still need to surpass it. Dozens of concepts, hooks, visual metaphors, and campaign directions can be generated from a single brief. Concepts are seen sooner, there's no need to over explain when pitching work. Proofs of concept are often high fidelity enough to approve. Alignment happens quickly.

industry standard: 2026

3

AI Art Direction

accelerating

Casting, wardrobe, sets, props, lighting, and overall visual continuity were originally boxed in by budget. We now can generate multiple art direction territories (casting options, wardrobe palettes, set variations, lighting moods). This allows for greater creative expression and personalization. Capture with multiple lighting setups or different cameras. No problem.

industry standard: 2026

4

AI Design

accelerating

Repetitive design tasks have been augmented allowing more time for craft and exploration. AI as a parter builds in micro-reviews to the process to keep work moving at 3x the traditional pace. Design blends with concepting, art direction and copywriting moving between disciplines seamlessly to create impactful work.

industry standard: 2026

5

AI Copywriting

100% adopted

First drafts are generated in seconds based on the brief. Copy changes are often prompted globally. Tasteful editing is the main role. Traditional writing has a place but it's about breaking patterns and surgical rewrites. Copy moves seamlessly with design and Art Direction fluidly adjusting to the best result.

industry standard: 2026

6

AI Image Capture

100% adopted

AI image capture is now indistinguishable from traditional. AI imagery can inform real shoots or you can fully generate AI imagery. Prompt structure and libraries are essential for brand consistency. Cameras, lighting, angles may all be specified in addition to Art Direction.

industry standard: 2026

7

AI Video Capture

underdeveloped

Video capture is still in its infancy. Clips are convincing, but deep brand storytelling is still challenging. Lack of realism and acting direction is still distracting. Launching full AI commercials and social assets are a brand risk unless done with creative concepts or work-arounds.

industry standard: 2026

8

AI Editing and Motion

underdeveloped

Still a creative slot machine. It's possible to generate interesting moving visuals that push marketing and brand work forward in concept. Production pipeline is still out of reach because generations are difficult to edit and control.

industry standard: 2026

9

AI Performance Review

100% adopted

Our custom GPT makes best practices and platform optimization completely accessible. AI can reliably predict ad performance and resonance with target audiences while showcasing blind spots, flagging any risks, or mistakes. QA happens earlier in the process now.

industry standard: 2027

10

AI Personalization

100% adopted

Creative work is no longer limited and can scale nearly infinitely. Cater to specific audiences or experiment with new ones inexpensively. Take approved creative and create alternative Art Direction. Consistently refresh and speak to users with personalized content at any touchpoint.

industry standard: 2027

11

AI Production

underdevelopd

Human craft still matters greatly when shipping final work. Digital specs, spacing, refinement an a last look are best in the hands of a human. QA can be augmented with AI for faster final checks and editing.

industry standard: 2026

12

Performance Analysis

100% adopted

Every project now results in more data to train future brand behaviors. The new evolution in creative work is the fast followup. Once the results are in the opportunity to refresh, revise and boost based on the analysis. AI ingests the data and breaks down clear actionable steps leading to increased performance or more data for best practices.

industry standard: 2027

Flexible creative plans, month to month.

S

It's like adding a top-shelf designer to your team. A reliable stream of polished, on-brand creative—delivered fast, every couple days. You get a senior designer dedicated to your output, keeping your brand sharp, consistent, and instantly deployable. No hiring, no drift, no downtime. Just steady creative momentum.

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M

It's like adding an art director and copywriter to your team. High-performing creative delivered on repeat. We concept, write, design, and package creative built to convert—optimized for speed, volume, and clear results. Whether you’re testing variations or scaling a major promo, you get ad output that moves metrics immediately.

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L

It's like adding a creative department to your team. Launch or relaunch your brand with clarity, confidence, and day-one impact. In 30 days, you get a refined identity, three strong creative directions, and a rollout kit you can deploy instantly. Own a brand that feels intentional, premium, built to last and ready for growth.

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