As we begin the new year, Media in Canada interviews the industry’s top executives to find out their thoughts on the year that was and what they see on the horizon for 2024. Today, we feature EVP Plus Company and president of media group Karine Courtmanche (left) and Media Experts CEO Karel Wegert (right).

What do you think were the most seismic changes of 2023?

Karel Wegert: In our industry and many others, an unmistakable trend is the meaningful and scalable integration of AI as a pivotal tool for businesses. I anticipate that the impact of AI on advertising will be more pronounced in 2024, [as we] navigate where to apply the tech and how we can find true improvements… The speed of AI’s arrival and the importance of its potential cannot be ignored. 

I think one of the most impactful changes [in 2023 was] the introduction of ad-supported products by streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+. The video landscape has become far more fragmented and is reshaping our video purchasing environment, providing advertisers with even greater opportunities to engage with their audiences.  

Karine Courtemanche: Many trends affected the industry and will continue to do so: cookieless readiness and the pace of platform transformation. In a year, X went from mainstream to fringe with worrisome brand safety implications; Snapchat led in new users; TikTok led in search on key categories; and Meta was under scrutiny. An increasing number of media and retail partners wish to monetize their audiences and cleanroom solutions are blooming. This translates into new opportunities for agencies, particularly in terms of increased targeting capabilities, but it also means more fragmentation.

But none of these trends had an impact as seismic as AI. ChatGPT only launched a year-and-a-bit ago (can you believe it?) and it is all we heard about in 2023. We believe it has two profound implications for media agencies, way more profound than a chatbot or any similar applications. It raises the bar for speed, agility and cost efficiency. Everything that should be automated should be.

How do you predict those changes will evolve in 2024? 

Karel Wegert: The media industry is currently exploring effective applications of AI/ML (machine learning) in our field. Early endeavours in creative versioning and support chatbots have demonstrated potential. I’m really excited about how some of our work at IPG Mediabrands will come to life [this] year, particularly around AI-driven customer journey mapping and audience creation. We are empowering our team at Media Experts with access to the AI tools to help automate and streamline aspects of their roles. This initiative holds the promise of generating creative solutions that we’re probably not even thinking about today. 

Karine Courtmanche: The pressure for agility at affordable costs will only grow exponentially. The threat of a recession will accentuate the speed of change. Unfortunately, when things are done fast and cheap, there is a price to pay: innovation, creativity and ethics will suffer.

Innovation and creativity = the temptation to cut and paste the last campaign. Ethics = leveraging brand safety tools and investing in Canadian media vs. giving it all to one global platform. Ethics also includes all forms of responsible media and we witnessed a growing number of marketers wishing to reach diverse communities in 2023. EDI policies (equity, diversity and inclusion) now influence media strategies and we must have the solutions and the technologies in place to fulfill these missions.

What do you and your agency see as the biggest challenge facing your business today? 

Karel Wegert: As we enter our fourth year since the onset of the pandemic, my primary focus remains cultivating and sustaining a vibrant and distinctive corporate culture within our agency. While remote work has proven its viability and flexibility, the office environment remains crucial for fostering collaboration, innovation, and a strong sense of organizational culture. We are gradually reintroducing individuals to our offices, some of whom have never experienced the pre-pandemic office environment and working towards an equilibrium that offers the desired flexibility while providing the sense of connection that makes our agency so unique. 

Karine Courtmanche: We are embracing the change and making significant investments to keep innovation and ethics at the core of what we do, despite the current market conditions. We started a task force to automate everything that can be automated. And it started before chatGPT; it was triggered by COVID. We managed the biggest media account during the pandemic – the Government of Canada – and found ways to deliver hundreds of targeted campaigns at scale to communicate COVID-related news. During those two years, the speed to market and the volume of campaigns increased drastically but the size of our team did not; we achieved it by automating many steps of the process and finding the right balance between machine learning and human thinking.

Interviews were conducted separately and edited for length