Marketing Procurement

AI-driven procurement: how marketing procurement can lead strategic transformation

Looking ahead – time to lead

Procurement leaders today face a choice: continue incrementally adapting existing agency relationships or proactively shaping entirely new marketing ecosystems designed specifically for the AI-driven future

Whether procurement teams are already strategically positioned or looking to transition beyond transactional roles, generative AI offers a powerful opportunity to amplify procurement’s strategic impact.

The limits of legacy commercial models

Traditional marketing procurement typically relied on labour-based commercial models, paying agencies based on hours and seniority. While straightforward, these models often lead to inefficiencies, high costs, and opaque results, frequently causing tensions around value and accountability.

Many organisations shifted towards output-based models, focusing on specific deliverables and measurable quantities. However, despite improvements over labour-based models, these output-based models have also revealed shortcomings.

Quantity does not inherently equal quality; prolific yet impersonal content often leads to wasted resources and suboptimal targeting.

As the industry has learned, simply delivering more doesn’t mean achieving better results. The industry knows the pain points: low-quality inventory, non-personalised content, and significant waste arising from poor targeting.

Volume in a predominantly manual agency ecosystem remains expensive and time-consuming, demanding considerable resources to deliver at scale.

But with generative AI, this dynamic shifts dramatically. The costs associated with creating thousands of content variations can become negligible, fundamentally changing procurement’s approach to value and price.

Reframing commercial partnerships for the GenAI era

The introduction of Generative AI forces organisations to rethink their commercial partnerships with strategic agency partners entirely. Traditional cost metrics become irrelevant when AI-driven platforms can produce high volumes of tailored content in minutes, making cost-per-content calculations obsolete.

Instead, organisations must now ask what has become relevant.

Consider content creation. Imagine having a sophisticated, AI-enhanced platform meticulously tuned to your brand, customers, and commercial environment. Such a platform can produce thousands of uniquely personalised content deliverables in minutes, making cost-per-deliverable much less meaningful.

The real question becomes: how much does designing, creating, and operating such a platform cost? Organisations must factor in the research and development necessary for continuous innovation and optimisation.

Technology costs and the investment in people who manage and enhance these platforms become critical.

People remain central, but their roles shift significantly. Procurement must transparently account for how these human resources are compensated, demonstrating their strategic value.

Navigating the multi-speed reality of transformation

Transitioning to these future-oriented, transparent commercial models isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Every organisation’s journey will differ, shaped uniquely by its current capabilities, strategic ambitions, and market conditions.

A global pharmaceutical giant, for example, recently faced precisely this challenge. Collaborating with Alchemists, they redesigned their global agency ecosystem to establish clear, transparent cost structures for their core teams, technology investments, and content production.

This strategic initiative wasn’t about incremental adjustments but about laying the foundation for ongoing innovation and adaptability, reflecting the company’s long-term vision.

Similarly, a prominent financial services provider realised that their legacy agency ecosystem was no longer viable for today’s demands, especially given social channels’ role in modern marketing.

Partnering with Alchemists, they strategically restructured their ecosystem and developed a detailed RFP for the GenAI-enabled platform that we recently concluded.

By directly aligning internal capabilities, technology providers, and agency partners, they gained enhanced agility and more transparent oversight over their marketing activities.

These examples illustrate the critical reality of multi-speed transformation. Some companies can leapfrog directly to these future-facing commercial models, while others require a more incremental, iterative approach.

The challenge for procurement teams is determining the appropriate path and pace, uniquely tailored for their organisations and circumstances.

This need for unique, customised approaches can understandably make procurement professionals apprehensive: are we embarking on an entirely uncharted journey?

The truth is, while some of this may feel new and unprecedented, successful transformation often means carefully adapting proven frameworks rather than entirely reinventing them.

Strategic procurement isn’t about blindly following trends but crafting ecosystems suited explicitly to an organisation’s goals.

The strategic opportunity for procurement leaders

Procurement leaders stand at a defining juncture. Generative AI is not merely a technical innovation but a powerful catalyst for rethinking how procurement functions within organisations.

The opportunity is clear: procurement can become a central strategic architect of commercial partnerships, delivering clarity, transparency, and strategic value far exceeding traditional models.

Embracing this shift means more than adapting existing practices; it demands a new perspective on agency relationships and commercial partnership structures.

Procurement must rise above transactional interactions, becoming proactive architects of ecosystems designed explicitly for agility, strategic alignment, and continuous innovation.

Looking ahead – time to lead

Procurement leaders today face a choice: continue incrementally adapting existing agency relationships or proactively shaping entirely new marketing ecosystems designed specifically for the AI-driven future.

The shift to commercial models built around clear, transparent, and strategic cost structures isn’t just coming—it’s already here. The real competitive advantage lies in embracing it sooner rather than later.

Alchemists understand these complexities intimately.

Having successfully supported global brands through similar transformations, we welcome procurement leaders who want to explore how these strategies could empower their organisations.

The future is being written today, and procurement teams have a unique chance to author the next chapter of strategic innovation.

About the author

Vlad Komanicky, CEO & Founder and Lenka Ornova Director at Alchemists

Six years ago, Vlad established Alchemists, a visionary consultancy that specialises in reshaping agency-client relationships, optimising commercial models, and strategically embedding innovation through in-housing and next-generation technology,

As a frequent speaker and contributor to global industry forums, Vlad continues to shape the conversation around Generative AI and how it will reshape everything we know in marketing. Vlad passionately champions the real-world application of AI, particularly emphasising the importance of cultivating human capability alongside technological advancement. He is deeply committed to developing practical frameworks and mastery programs that bridge technology with creativity, enabling organisations to drive tangible results through culturally relevant, innovative solutions.