PHD Worldwide, an Omnicome Media Group (OMG) agency, has launched Ascension, a resource created to inform how the agency plans, the tools it develops and the conversations it has with clients. The publishing platform offers ongoing exploration of the impact of GenAI and how clients and agencies will need to evolve to effectively leverage the tech to drive business growth.

Ascension, a magazine hosted on PHD’s global website, features carefully curated content informed by contributors from around the world such as Matt Devlin, managing director of Marketing Science for PHD Media Canada.

Devlin says, “We have a long tradition of publishing thought leadership content that is used internally, by clients and the wider industry. This type of a project is an opportunity for the global network to engage in a conversation about how our business is changing. The scope is media planning – but also operations, creative, marketing, consumer behaviour and beyond. The content shared on the site is ‘magazine’ style – but the conversations have also informed planning solutions we’re rolling out with our teams and where the next phase of development and integration will happen.”

Ascension identifies seven different executive functions required as part of the day-to-day development of marketing communications. It also covers the three eras of Ascension, which provide a development road map from today to the end of the decade. These include The AI Experimentation Era, from 2024 through 2026, a period of pilot projects and refinement that set the stage for more profound changes to come.

The AI Acceleration Era, 2026 through 2028, is projected to be when AI becomes a fundamental element of marketing, being used by a large part of the workforce for efficiency and effectiveness. This era will focus on replacing or enhancing current functions.

The third era, the AI Elevation Era, 2028 through 2030, is when efficiencies and effectiveness will be realized by existing platforms and the focus will turn to creating more intelligent systems to take greater control of decision making.

Ascension is the latest publication in PHD’s thought leadership library of seven books exploring meaningful change moments over the past decade.