Believe It or Not Ep. 2: Will humans still touch media plans within five years?

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.

In episode two, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “No human will touch a media plan within five years.”

Taking the “for” side of the argument is Nicklin, while Oakes represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.

The topic is inspired from comments made by Brian Lesser, the CEO of WPP Media, to staff in March 2025, in which he indicated that, within the next four or five years, there will “probably” be plans that “leave the building” that no planner ever saw.

Some staff, particularly planners, took that to mean their jobs could be at risk. UK CEO Kate Rowlinson later insisted to The Media Leader that Lesser “certainly didn’t say [media] plans wouldn’t be overseen by humans”.

Is it possible for media planning to be fully automated? What would that mean for agencies? Nicklin and Oakes discuss.

Highlights:

00:46: Recent developments in AI: Novels written by AI, using ChatGPT to treat a dog's cancer

6:38: Why AI can dominate media planning and execution: the knowledge base is codified and agent-to-agent transactions are already happening

16:34: What about non-digital planning? What about the need for creativity?

21:43: If you can automate planning, why do you need an agency at all?

24:39: The big pitfalls: insights, relationships

33:17: Brand safety and accountability

40:45: Second-order effects: Role restructuring, retraining, changes to senior management, personal credit

50:38: Verdicts