Shirley Smith, SVP Sales EMEA at Innovid, takes a look at the major pressure points in ad tech, and the moves the industry is making...

For much of the past two years, our industry has focused on what AI can do. The conversation has moved quickly from possibility to implementation, and now to optimisation. 

One of the strongest signals I heard at this year's MAD//Fest, and something that was echoed across the events season this year, is how the conversation around AI is becoming much more nuanced. Rather than asking whether to use AI, businesses are asking where they can use it to create genuine value and where human judgement still matters most. And for that balance to be maintained, we must ensure the next generation has the skills to work in tandem with these technologies.

Advertising has always been a people business, whether it's the teams creating campaigns or the audiences they're trying to reach. As AI capabilities become increasingly accessible, access to the technology itself becomes less of a differentiator. Competitive advantage increasingly comes from the strategy, creativity, commercial judgement, and cultural understanding guiding how it’s used. Those are the qualities that turn automation into outcomes that actually resonate with audiences. 

Any industry veteran would tell you that much of advertising effectiveness still comes down to understanding people. AI can speed up workflows, generate creative variations, and surface insights from vast datasets, giving people more capacity to apply judgement to what those signals really mean. A spike in searches for last-minute flights, for instance, could be someone planning for a spontaneous holiday or a family emergency. The signal may be the same but the context can be entirely different. 

Another theme that deserves more attention is governance. Many organisations have moved beyond experimentation and are now embedding AI into operational processes. That naturally raises more practical questions. How do businesses maintain oversight? Who remains accountable for decisions? How do we avoid creating more complexity while trying to drive efficiency?

These are healthy conversations for the industry to be having because they show that AI is being treated as a business capability rather than simply a novelty. Success won't be measured by who adopts AI fastest, but by who can translate it into meaningful business outcomes while maintaining the right oversight and control. Discussions around measurement and commercial impact reflected that growing maturity. But there’s another side of AI readiness that deserves just as much attention. It’s whether we’re developing the people who will ultimately determine how these technologies are used. 

Our industry's biggest long-term opportunity has always been its people. Advertising has historically relied on attracting curious, creative people from a wide range of backgrounds. But too many young people still don't understand the breadth of careers available across media, marketing, and advertising. Others simply don't know how to get started.

If we want AI to strengthen our industry rather than narrow it, we need to invest just as much energy in developing people as we do in developing technology. That means making career pathways more visible. It means creating meaningful mentoring opportunities. It means opening our networks and sharing knowledge with the next generation. And it means recognising that diversity of thought will become even more important as AI increasingly influences the work we produce.

There's another reason this matters. As AI plays a greater role in advertising decisions, so do the people setting its objectives, providing context, challenging its outputs, and determining when human judgement is needed.. Bringing more diverse perspectives into our industry matter not only for representation, but for the quality of the campaigns and decisions we produce.

Industry initiatives (Digilearning being a prime example) demonstrate what's possible when businesses come together to make the industry more accessible. Giving young people exposure to careers they may never have considered, alongside practical learning and mentorship, helps create a stronger talent pipeline for everyone. The responsibility doesn't sit with any one organisation. It's something the whole industry can contribute to.

Technology has continued to change our ecosystem, from the early days of programmatic buying to the AI-powered workflows we see today. Technology expands what’s possible. People determine how that possibility gets applied and what value it creates. 

As we look toward the next phase of digital advertising, the more important question for the years ahead is whether we're investing enough in the people who will determine how that technology is ultimately used. That's a conversation worth continuing long after the halls of the Old Truman Brewery have been cleared out.

Innovid

Innovid is the leading omnichannel advertising platform, empowering marketers to create, deliver, measure, and optimise ad-supported experiences. At the core of Innovid is NIVO, powering AI agents and orchestration to activate, adapt, and optimise ca...

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