'In A World of AI, People Still Buy People' - Dentsu's Hiroshi Igarashi

While AI is proving to be the next era for advertising, Dentsu's global chief executive, Hiroshi Igarashi, is keeping his feet on the ground about the technology, seeing it as just the latest adjustment to be made within the business's long history.

Here Igarashi talks about some of the initiatives, partnerships, and innovations that have been formed of late to meet client expectations

How has AI already accelerated impact in your business? Any standout examples? 

At Dentsu, 'Innovating to Impact' is our promise to clients, so we take the concept of impact very seriously. There’s no doubt AI is accelerating our ability to reach some answers faster, but delivering true impact for our clients takes a more considered approach. Although AI underpins a wide range of our data and technology platforms, we won’t use it just because we can; it must also allow us to exceed client expectations of what impact looks like for them.  

Creating efficiency is, of course, one of many goals sought through the application of AI, but sometimes fundamental change can only be felt over time. For instance, large-scale organisational change might be the impact a client is looking for, but trying to arrive at that conclusion faster will not necessarily deliver the impact their business wants. Similarly, broad societal change could be the aspirational impact that another client is aiming for, just because we have AI doesn’t automatically mean we’ll positively influence millions of minds overnight.  

Where AI is helping to provide considered acceleration is through innovative partnerships like we have with Adobe. Adobe GenStudio Dentsu+, is a joint solution from Adobe and Dentsu that can transform a brand’s content supply chain. From the development of an idea, right through to the activation of the campaign, it can help our clients quickly drive meaningful engagement with their audience, reacting to new trends or market changes. In this case, the business impact for a client could be both a short-term increase in sales, but also a new level of measurable long-term business agility. 

As AI takes on more of the heavy lifting, where do you see it starting to lead — beyond just support? Media planning? Strategy? Creative? 

Data and technology are fundamental aspects of our business, but we are still very much a people-led business. As the saying goes: people buy people, and it is critically important that our clients feel this too. What we are witnessing though is that AI is enabling our client teams to spend more time on the human-led aspects of our work, as some processes are automated or accelerated by technology.  

A great example is how we have sped up data analytics to support media planning and optimisation with Microsoft Azure. With vast volumes of data now being produced, the task of data analysis could end up wiping out time that we can sit down with a client and really dive into the insights.  

Working with Microsoft, in under 12 weeks, we built a production-ready analytics copilot that uses conversational chat to quickly support analysis across media forecasting, budgeting, and optimizations. It has cut the time to insight by 90 per cent, which gives our teams more time to spend with the clients themselves, as well as move faster. 

In an AI-driven landscape, where core capabilities are increasingly commoditised, what will truly differentiate one agency from another? 

As I mentioned earlier, people will always be the differentiator, but I see this taking effect in two distinct ways. 

While there have been some extraordinary advancements in the last few years, true original thought, built on years of experience or an ability to connect the dots in innovative, human ways has yet to be recreated by a machine. Human emotions, the unseen connections that we have and the shared history through our evolved DNA have created a bond which is hard to replicate. Our creative teams and our innovators spread around the world draw upon these aspects every day to create thought-provoking and inspiring work for clients. 

But we also recognise that having great talent who can manipulate technology in new ways, push it to its limits, and discover new boundaries is also a huge competitive advantage. The 9,500-plus people involved in our AI Connective community prove this to us every day, and it’s the reason why we’re investing in both the infrastructure and the training to put our entire global team in the same position. Over 20,000 of our employees are already active AI users, and it is growing every month. 

What new roles or functions has AI prompted in your organisation? What future roles do you anticipate emerging? 

There are, of course, some specific new technology roles that may not have existed five years ago, but in the most part, this AI revolution is about adjusting existing skillsets. Our teams are quickly adapting and learning like many other industries, and often we’re at the forefront of helping set the new standards or benchmarks (we were the first holding company to become a signatory to the recent EU AI Pact, for example) and upholding our responsible principles. We must also be careful not to be bound by our current thinking and frameworks when it comes to defining new roles. The truth is that some of the next generation of roles cannot yet be conceived. 

AI is not the first new technology that our industry has dealt with after all. In the more than 120 years of Dentsu’s history, we have grown, evolved and adapted to many new opportunities, new economic environments and sweeping technological advancements. Remaining true to our core vision, we have continued to grow with agility, adjust and prosper, by ensuring that our people have the greatest opportunity to learn and succeed themselves, while leveraging new innovations along the way. 

Heading into the summer frenzy that is the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, the leaders of the world's largest advertising agency networks take on Creative Salon's questions around the biggest industry trend of the moment, the impact of AI. Stay up to date with Cannes Lions via the dedicated online section.