“Spam Has Essentially Migrated from Email Into the Feed”
“While the rest of the world debates what’s next, APAC marketers are often already testing it,” says managing director of dentsu business transformation APAC, Chris Bower, and consumers “are becoming less forgiving of friction.” When it comes to artificial intelligence, he believes we’re at a crucial point for shaping it as a tool for growth and connection – and in APAC it’s the consumers who are driving that.
“Whether they’re buying groceries, booking travel, or engaging with content, they expect fast, intuitive experiences that mirror what they’ve come to expect from the most advanced platforms in their market, whether that’s Shopee, Grab, or WeChat. These expectations are often shaped outside the brand’s category, which makes it even more important for marketers to understand the broader digital environment their customers live in,” says Chris.
While he’s wary of making sweeping generalisations about an incredibly diverse region, Chris reflects that whether it’s AI-powered commerce experiences or content made using smart creator collaboration tools, consumers are responding positively to brands that invest in cutting edge tech – and their expectations are high.
Contrast that appetite to the strange reticence he witnessed on display this summer at the world’s biggest advertising festival: “At Cannes, the mood around AI was oddly passive. There was a nervous acknowledgement that it would change everything, but a quick return to the comfort of traditional agency models. Yet beneath that, we could see the ground shifting. Automated content pipelines gaining speed, creator-led marketing continuing to rise, and experience-based sponsorships, especially in sports, becoming a powerful way for brands to connect in physical, memorable ways that digital alone can’t replicate.”
These diverging attitudes can, in part, be attributed to the lack of baggage weighing down businesses in APAC. “What also stands out is the pace of change. Many brands in APAC, especially in high-growth markets, aren’t weighed down by legacy systems or slow decision-making cycles,” says Chris. “That gives them a structural advantage in adopting new technologies, trialling emerging formats, and responding quickly to shifts in consumer behaviour. While the rest of the world debates what’s next, APAC marketers are often already testing it.”
Traditional global holding companies, by comparison, are weighed down by set ups that prevent them from moving at the speed that clients and their consumers demand.
“The real barrier to integration in most holding companies isn’t capability, it’s structure. Legacy P&Ls and internal incentives often work against collaboration, which means clients get a fragmented experience that’s more about how the business is organised than what they actually need. Even when agencies have tried to ‘integrate’, the strategy has often been to cross-sell more services, not to solve the client’s problem more effectively,” he says.
Chris argues that dentsu takes a more client-centric approach compared to the traditional big holding companies. Pitching an integrated solution isn’t enough, creative, media, tech and transformation talent need to deliver them together, with a shared understanding of what the client needs. “When clients see that kind of collaboration in action, it earns the right to solve the next problem too. The integration that matters isn’t what’s written on the creds deck, it’s what happens in the room when the work gets real. Our job is to make sure our internal structure never gets in the way of delivering that.”
And these teams can’t just deliver solutions for today, they need to work with an eye on the future. With the pace of change in AI and media platforms as it is, it could be easy for clients to get locked into outdated models. “The key is to design for change. We start by understanding the client's workflow in detail, what needs to happen, step-by-step, and then identify which parts are best handled by automation, which might benefit from AI, and which still need a human touch. No single tool will be right forever, so we help clients build their systems in a modular way. That means you can swap in new technologies as they emerge, without having to rebuild everything from scratch.”
The real opportunity is in combining both AI and human creativity, Chris says. “At Cannes, I shared a framework for integrating AI into the creative process, not as a replacement for human storytelling, but as a tool to explore more ideas, get to stronger insights faster, and free up creative energy for the work that really matters. When used well, AI can materially enhance originality, not dilute it.”
That said, Chris notes a real risk that AI becomes a shortcut to generic output. “We’re already seeing a wave of AI-generated content flooding social platforms. Spam has essentially migrated from email into the feed. The brands that win won’t be the ones that produce the most content, but the ones that use these tools with clarity, purpose, and a strong creative point of view. AI can help us go faster, but it still matters where you're going.”
It’s also important to make sure that data “flows cleanly” across the process, without the need for reformatting or manual intervention, which slows things down.
For brands keen to make sure that they’re fit for a future of rapid change and evermore powerful AI tools and systems Chris says they need to start experimenting with AI now, rather than waiting for “perfect clarity” and to create safe, structured environments for teams to play – otherwise they will go off and dabble unofficially and without support. It’s also crucial to build testing relationships with customers, so they’ll share what they love – which will allow brands to deliver more personalised experiences.
But the key to being ready for tomorrow isn’t simply about plugging in the right tech, it’s about making sure you’ve got the right operating model to begin with.
“The most future-fit brands aren’t just adopting new technologies, they’re changing how teams work across marketing, tech, and operations so they can adapt faster and deliver with more cohesion,” says Chris. “This is especially important in APAC, where the ‘right answer’ often differs by market. Rigid, one-size-fits-all models create friction. Embracing those differences is where real progress begins.”
