• by Kate Dohaney , June 18, 2025

In today’s content economy, speed isn’t just a luxury, it’s the cost of entry. Brands are under pressure to produce more assets, for more platforms, in less time and with fewer resources. It’s a relentless rhythm. But here’s the truth most legacy agencies don’t want to admit: the old model isn’t built for this. It’s bloated, it’s slow, and it’s dangerously allergic to true automation.

AI and automation are not coming for our jobs, they’re coming for our inefficiencies. I’ve spent nearly two decades inside some of the most complex creative ecosystems in the world, and if there’s one thing I know: the future of content isn’t just faster. It’s modular. It’s automated. It’s intelligent. And it’s built inside the brand, not outsourced to an army of middlemen.

Here’s what I see happening on the front lines:

Modular is the new masterpiece. Modern content isn’t linear. It's designed like code, built in blocks, made to scale, remix, localize, and optimize. The brands doing this well aren’t asking for 12 videos. They’re asking for a machine that generates 300 versions from a few core assets, tuned for different platforms, regions, and contexts. That’s not killing creativity -- that’s multiplying its value.

In-house is a power move. The myth that internal teams can’t do high-quality work is tired. Give them the right tools, frameworks, and operating model, and watch what happens. Smart brands are investing in internal production capabilities, supported by strategic partners (not co-dependent ones). The agency-as-overlord era? Over.

Creativity + automation = power. This isn’t about bots writing scripts. It’s about automation handling the 80%, so your team can focus on the 20% that actually moves people. From AI-assisted editing to automated content tagging, we’re finally freeing talent from grunt work and unlocking real creative energy.

Legacy is not a strategy. Here’s a tough pill: legacy agencies still pricing by headcount and hiding behind bloated scopes are rapidly becoming irrelevant. Marketers today want lean, nimble, performance-driven partners. If your pitch deck includes 15 layers of approval, you’ve already lost the room.

Culture beats tech, every time. You can throw every tool at a broken system and still get chaos. The brands thriving in this new model are the ones that foster collaboration, reward adaptability, and aren’t afraid to blow up the playbook. Tech’s only as good as the team using it and the mindset behind it.

To every marketing leader juggling platform chaos, tighter budgets, and never-ending demands: I get it. I live it. This era demands something bolder than hustle. It demands a smarter operating system, designed for how people actually consume content today, not how agencies billed it in 2012.

This isn’t evolution, it’s insurrection. We’re not here to maintain the status quo. We’re here to redefine what’s possible.