Welcome to Week In Review
From new tools transforming creative work, to campaigns reshaped by automation, we track the biggest shifts at the intersection of AI, media, and marketing. This week, Gartner predicts AI will reshape entry-level marketing roles, AI and data community AIMM Forum launches, and Amazon unifies its ads platform.
Top Stories of the Week
Amazon Unifies Ad Platform Under Amazon Ads Agent
Amazon has relaunched its advertising platform as Amazon Ads Agent, bringing sponsored ads, display, video and audio into one AI-first environment. New capabilities include conversational media planning, natural-language targeting and analytics, and automated campaign optimisation.
Why it matters: Amazon is pushing advertising towards a model where marketers provide the brief and AI handles much of the execution. That could shift agency value further towards strategy.
VideoWeek Launches AIMM Forum
The team behind VideoWeek and FutureWeek launched AIMM Forum, an independent community for senior leaders navigating AI in media and marketing. Its advisory board includes leaders from WPP, Mastercard, Monks and Heineken, with in-person and online roundtables to take place next year.
Why it matters: As AI transforms the industry, AIMM Forum aims to create a peer-to-peer space focused on the strategic and organisational challenges facing practitioners, all under Chatham House Rules.
Gartner: AI Could Eliminate Traditional Entry-Level Marketing Roles
A new Gartner study predicts most high-performing marketing teams will eliminate traditional entry-level roles by 2030, with 18 percent of marketing leaders already reporting some AI-driven role elimination. It argues junior marketers should instead be given earlier exposure to strategic, higher-value work.
Why it matters: There has been an ongoing discussion in the marketing industry on the impact AI is likely to have on entry-level roles. AI isn’t simply changing individual marketing tasks; it could reshape how marketing careers begin and how organisations develop future leaders.
Quote of the Week
Brands
Allica Bank Builds AI Compliance Engineering Function
Allica Bank has partnered with Adclear to create an internal function that automates checks around AI-generated marketing content and accelerate marketing approvals, reportedly saving hundreds of hours in manual reviews.
95% of ChatGPT Users Still Use Google
According to new research from Search Engine Journal, 95 percent of ChatGPT users still use Google when searching, suggesting AI assistants are complementing rather than simply replacing traditional search.
Agencies
AI Shopping Reshapes Brand Leadership
Research from agency Jellyfish suggests AI shopping assistants favour brands with strong reviews, citations and earned media. The agency analysed how AI shopping systems make product recommendations and found that there is no single ‘AI shelf’ – different LLMs make different suggestions even with the same prompt.
Havas Media Launches AI Discovery Practice
The agency Havas Media Network has established a dedicated practice in Australia and New Zealand focused on brands’ visibility within AI-generated search and recommendations.
Dentsu Publishes 2026 Global CMO Report
Dentsu Creative UK published the ‘Making it Real’ report, which revealed that marketers having largely moved away from testing AI to now scaling it. Despite this, 71 percent of CMOs say AI is improving their speed to market.
Tech
Meta’s Muse Raises Privacy Concerns
The Guardian reported that Meta’s Muse AI agent could reveal users’ home addresses under certain conditions. This comes following a story where Meta’s new personal shopping AI agent Muse agreed on a price with a potential consumer on behalf of a user on Facebook Marketplace, giving out an address without authorisation.
Multiply Launches AI Ad Spend Recovery Agent
Multiply announced the launch of an Ad Spend Recovery Agent, which identifies wasted advertising spend and automatically applies campaign optimisations.
LiveRamp Expands OpenAI Partnership
LiveRamp is extending its identity and measurement capabilities within ChatGPT Ads – the expansion includes new audience integrations. In June, LiveRamp became a measurement partner for ChatGPT Ads.
Startup of the Week
Salesforce has agreed to acquire AI customer research startup Listen Labs, following reports valuing the deal at around $2 billion. Its AI agents recruit research participants, conduct interviews, analyse responses and simulate customer behaviour.
Number of the Week
A net 75 percent of marketers plan to increase investment in AI assistants in 2027, according to Kantar’s Media Reactions 2026 study. Yet only 23 percent of consumers trust AI recommendations — highlighting a significant gap between industry investment and consumer confidence.
