AKQA

Rosie Milton-Schönemann appointed to newly created role of global director of marketing and communications at AKQA, following from Accenture Song. Signals continuation of executive changes under CEO Baiju Shah.

Leadership read: A change at the top rarely stays at the top. AKQA's move reshapes the layer beneath it in the sector as a new leader sets priorities and the team re-forms. Watch the first two or three appointments that follow; they signal direction more reliably than any statement.

curated · 2026-08-17 · context →

AKQA (WPP subsidiary) has integrated AI video tools into most early-stage creative workflows within the last 8 months. AI video reached an inflection point in 2026 with production-quality output suitable for commercial work (e.g., Carl's Jr. TV spots). Internal tool from parent WPP powered by various video models.

Leadership read: Eight months ago, AI video at AKQA was supplementary; it is now embedded in most early-stage creative workflows. That shift is operationally significant because it relocates AI from a finishing or post-production aid to the point where briefs are interpreted and creative directions are stress-tested. The agency has effectively committed to a production model where asset volumes, thousands of variants from a single 3D source file, are table stakes, and where the differentiating input is editorial judgment and brand fluency rather than render time. That is a different cost structure, a different quality-control burden, and a different definition of what a senior creative or technologist is being paid to do. The related signals provided for this period are largely unrelated to agency or media-technology workflow, renewable energy, fintech, health insurance pricing, so an honest count is: this is a thinly supported cluster in creative-AI workflow specifically, though the directional read from the IAB survey (nine in ten digital video buyers already using or planning to use AI in production) and Luma's disclosed partnerships with Dentsu and Publicis confirm the pattern is holding company-wide, not AKQA-specific. Across agencies and brand-side creative functions reaching this stage of AI workflow integration, the consistent functional pressure is on creative technology leadership able to operate at the intersection of prompt engineering, brand governance, and production quality control, alongside commercial leaders who can articulate and price taste and editorial craft as a margin-defensible service rather than a cost reduction. The market is moving toward operators who can hold both the technical and the client-value-of-craft conversation simultaneously.

curated · 2026-06-01 · context →