Creative & Content

Client-agency partnerships in the age of content explosion

“Every week there’s a new tool promising to revolutionise marketing. Some will. Many won’t. From a client partnership perspective, our job is to help clients navigate that reality without losing quality and accuracy. First of all, moving away from the hype.”

How do you feed a ravenous, always-on content machine? It’s not a question of continually adding headcount – even if that were feasible. And though tools including AI show great promise, nor is it about upping the production rate.

Thriving, not just surviving, the content tsunami is about taking an intentional, operationalised approach to content that really hasn’t been seen before.

“The big shift is that content is no longer a campaign output, it’s an operating system. Brands aren’t producing three ‘big moments’ a year anymore.

They’re feeding a constant stream of channels, formats, audiences and markets,” reveals Lani Carstens, Global VP, Client Services at Prose on Pixels (POP) – Havas’ AI-powered global content at scale network.

“What we’re seeing is clients moving away from ‘let’s make a campaign and adapt it later’, to building smarter production ecosystems right from the start. For years, agencies were rewarded on volume; now, we’re focusing on precision, relevance and performance.”

This starts with the audience. Understanding who they are, what they care about and where they engage with content. Those insights shape the content ecosystem so that brands create content that’s truly relevant rather than just abundant.

This is especially relevant on the global stage. Audiences crave personalisation and that means adding local relevance, even from global brands. What they don’t want is to feel as though generic content has simply been translated and dropped into their markets.

A content ecosystem from the ground up

In a content ecosystem that has been designed for this from day one, it means content is also built for adaptation from day one.

It’s modular creative frameworks, smart asset structures and localisation that is culturally relevant, not just linguistically correct. And content that can adapt in real time to changing conditions.

Carstens explains: “With the evolution of technology and AI, we can rapidly react to live audience‑data triggers – which allows local work to become relevant and optimisable. It’s where speed, personalisation and global consistency meet.

Done properly, localisation stops being a production headache and becomes a competitive advantage.”

While the right approach, it is also challenging. It means upending established ways of working, breaking teams apart and remodelling them and yes, embedding AI across the organisation in a way that is meaningful, not just a piecemeal project here and there.

“The smartest brands are stepping back and rethinking the whole ecosystem rather than just trying to make production faster,” Carstens says. “They’re investing in clearer governance, smarter workflows and better use of audience insight.

And while many still think of AI only from the ‘generative’ perspective, this technology is actually transforming the whole end‑to‑end production workflow. AI is a powerful enabler, but it works best when it’s part of a thoughtful system, not a shiny new add‑on.”

One of the biggest hurdles to developing this “thoughtful system” is the organic growth of brands and their agency suppliers to date. Fragmentation is everywhere. There are multiple agencies, multiple workflows, multiple asset libraries and multiple versions of the same content floating around the world.

“It’s expensive and exhausting for brands,” Carstens reflects. And not to mention the silos, routinely set on a collision course with the desire for integrated solutions. The current ‘wish versus reality’ set‑up is incompatible with an intelligent audience‑first, content‑centric approach.

“The fix isn’t just producing more efficiently; it’s designing the operating model differently in the first place, building an integrated content engine from day one,” Carstens advises.

She alludes to POP’s “audience‑first foundation”, allowing assets to be built in a way that also supports repurposing and reusage. “We adapt, version, and personalise content without constantly starting from scratch. It’s faster, sustainable and more cost‑efficient.”

This may be an example of a supplier performing localisation on behalf of a client, but an effective and future‑resilient content delivery relationship goes far beyond that of simple supplier/purchaser.

To be proactive as well as reactive to the changing needs of the market, brands need to seek out true partnerships to really make the most of the available knowledge and expertise.

The role of the partner

The term ‘partner’ rather than supplier or agency isn’t just semantics. Increasingly, brands rely on their partners to take on the role of strategic business advisor, helping clients shape broader commercial and organisational approaches, beyond communications solutions.

Clients expect their partners to connect dots across the ecosystem, anticipate disruption and guide them on decisions that influence not just marketing, but their growth plans.

“The future relationship is much less transactional and much more collaborative. Clients don’t just need suppliers anymore; they need trusted partners who can help them design and run modern content ecosystems,” Carstens insists.

Procurement teams play a critical role in shaping these strategic relationships and ensuring partners work with the right platforms, have the right processes and rigour to scale.

Their decisions now influence the entire content ecosystem, and value is measured in speed, consistency, quality, and, ultimately, business impact.

This becomes challenging when the landscape evolves at pace – as with AI.

It’s not just a question of which solution to buy, it’s what problem am I trying to solve? What will happen to the rest of my ecosystem if I adopt this solution and will it drive more value – or more cost – as I begin reshaping my organisation to accommodate it?

“AI is incredibly exciting, but often daunting given the speed of its constant evolution,” Carstens admits.

“Every week there’s a new tool promising to revolutionise marketing. Some will. Many won’t. From a client partnership perspective, our job is to help clients navigate that reality without losing quality and accuracy. First of all, moving away from the hype.”

Carstens also notes that the wider implications of using AI need to be approached with caution. Protecting brand integrity, managing legal and IP considerations and ensuring proper governance are critical elements but, she adds, “also fiercely protecting craft”.

She relates how Prose on Pixels’ own AI solution, Vermeer.ai, combines POP’s craft skills with the latest GenAI models to deliver content responsibly but still keeping humans in control.

“In the end, the best work still comes from talented people who understand cultural nuance, powerful storytelling and audience behaviour.

The sweet spot is combining brilliant human creativity with technology that removes friction and unlocks scale,” she says.

About

Lani Carstens  is Global VP, Client Services at Havas Prose on Pixels