The Future Of The Chief Strategy Officer

Strategists once built insight slowly, now they curate it at speed.

If agency strategists used to be craftspeople building an alluring font of advertising knowledge, they have now become master curators utilising AI to sift through more information than ever before.

The ramifications include the changing role of training, under pressure to provide output more quickly, and to make increasingly discerning decisions from new and wider sources of information.

An APG survey found that 95 per cent of strategists use AI tools such as Chat GPT at least weekly. Meanwhile the IPA's Advanced AI For Planning course also highlights how strategists are increasingly called on to view AI as a thought partner as well as a tool.

Current job descriptions include knowledge of AI tools, the ability to analyse synthetic data at pace and test hypotheses is real time. Where strategists were once stereotyped as intellectuals who guided the agency with wisdom and theory, they are now no longer judged solely on their argument but on whether it survives speed and scrutiny. 

But what does this mean for the role and the agency model and what is it likely to look like in the future? (if it even exists...)

A 'super soldier' or a hinderance?

Speed is more paramount than ever before especially in an era in which digital advertising makes up 69 to 74 per cent of global ad spend.

"The word I use around AI is 'prolific'...for any bit of the agency, AI should help us be more prolific because the demands of what's out there are exponentially higher than they've ever been before" says Iris global chief strategy officer (CSO) Ben Essen.

However, it is also challenging for junior strategists to learn how to riff off one another in the same way

"One of the benefits of having AI is that my juniors have something which is there 24 hours a day whenever they need it, to test thinking ," explains AMV BBDO CSO Jo Arden.

But she also feels that AI cannot impede on the importance of leaning on colleagues.

"One of the things I wish we could always give to our juniors is somebody who can sit next to them and just be a sounding board," Arden says, adding that in-person discussions are still a priority at the agency.

The technological impact of AI includes its ability to create 'synthetic users' - including a whole profile of a person including demographics and likes. "Basically it can answer questions through the lens of that person and gives about 85 per cent correlation to what you actually get out of a survey" Essen says. "AI is really helpful to point the way, then when you do go and talk to people. You can go much deeper with the real world insight because you've used AI to get in the right direction."

Where strategists previously had to commission research or use small focus groups to get results - now strategists can use AI to become a sort of 'super soldier' according to Gravity Road's CSO Ruari Curran.

"Advertising isn't always as complicated as we make it out to be, and AI can help you go from strategy to execution faster while maintaining quality," Curran admits.

Meanwhile, VCCP's group CSO, Claire Hutchison is less convinced by the tech's benefits. "If you ask AI how much time it could save a CSO it calculates 30-50 per cent. But if I’m honest, this feels a bit like fake news. Whilst AI will be able to provide huge efficiencies on some strategic jobs (data processing, trend scanning, deck formatting, and research) these aren’t the kinds of jobs a CSO should be doing."

As strategists adapt to these needs - alongside the hybrid model - many agencies are operating under post-Covid-19, training has changed, and arguably it is nothing like it used to be. 

This is certainly not unique to the strategist role but it does shape how and when junior strategists can learn. And it seems to quickly show up the skills they haven't learnt.

"Younger people are much more efficient at getting to grips with the tools quickly, but what they're really lacking is the ability to judge and discern the output from AI," says Curran. "It's all too easy to go 'AI says so, and that's right'."

Curran also adds that the 'apprenticeship model', as it was, has been eroded. "If you’re denied the ability to learn by osmosis - just by being in the room with people - it’s really hard to rely on experience alone to figure out what strategy is," he adds.

And Arden agrees: "There is a worrying trend in our industry where people aren’t being trained in the way they used to be... Those foundational parts of the job that helped people learn how to think are disappearing, and that should concern us."

As Curran puts it: "AI shouldn't hold fear for anyone who's anchored in what good strategy is - but if you haven't got that yet, you need to get that before you're too busy on the tools."

Essen believes that "the core strategy skills remain". "It's a creative task...you have to be able to empathise, to make sense of things, but also make leaps," he says.

He also warns about thinking too deterministically: "We don't actually know what's going to happen if we do something...and that means you need to react based on what's happening in the real world."

Quantum strategy and navigating complexity

Navigating complexity is part and parcel of modern agency life, but for Essen marketers and strategists will need to do away with old methods of thinking. He proposes "quantum strategy" - a mindset which eschews linear thinking and favours infinite possibility (like quantum physics in real life).

"In quantum theory, any particle can be in two places at once...in marketing someone may react one way or another depending on context...the role of strategy is orchestrator of chaos," he says.

"You still need to understand memory structures and how brands work...but whatever you create will be rebuilt in ways you can't fully control...generations are influenced by external factors...people are fluid, adapt to contexts, everything is social and collective," he continues.

Meanwhile Arden emphasises that her most used question is "is that true?".

"Strategists love people…we’re obsessed with how weird, wonderful and diverse people are…strategy is part anthropological, part journalistic…curiosity, nosiness, and asking why…" she explains.

Likewise, Curran is optimistic that younger strategists are "emboldened" to challenge old ways of advertising and understand that culture is "fast-moving" - and arguably it is indeed reactivity that will help strategists respond to the challenges of the next ten to thirty years.

Will the role still be called the CSO in the future?

If strategy used to be a one-man spoken word act, everyone in the role now agrees that it is far more like a dance.

For Arden, this means spending time with the CEO one week, and then with the CCO another week for a client challenge, and then the CFO to reshape the team.

"In the future, I'd imagine CSO's spending as much time with a CTO as the CEO...perennial problems like how we make money, look after people, think about clients remain but the way we get to answers and the people around the table may look different" she says. "The CSO focuses on outward strategic output... head of planning looks after team, standards, excellence."

“The CSO is still a relatively new title in agencies. It hasn’t been around in the way creative director roles have, so people are still working out what it actually means and where the responsibility really sits," Arden adds.

As the role evolves over time, Curran imagines a future where strategists are guardians of an idea.

"I think the role of CSO will likely evolve into an 'arbiter' or guardian of the idea... You need oversight across fragmented specialist teams... Strategy will grow to become the owner of the idea, shepherding and guiding it," he says, "There will be overlap between CSO, CCO and CMO, but the strategist will be responsible for ensuring the idea is executed consistently."

Meanwhile, Claire Hutchison still believes that hiring a range of thinkers is still vital for agencies to deliver campaigns that break through.

"If we want different-shaped thinking, we need different-shaped people — hiring less from the humanities and more from the worlds of data and tech. We need to be better as an industry at appealing to greater diversity of thought. That's why our work with the Challenger Academy in Stoke is so important: we are right at the coalface of the education challenge for young adults - teachers and course leaders ask us all the time, 'What skills should we be telling students to invest in? What courses are most likely to  give them a better chance of getting set up for the creative industry?'  There's very little industry guidance out there."

Ultimately, AI hasn't replaced the strategist but it has forced CSOs to protect the essence of what the role is really about.

The power of discernment has always mattered, but now it matters more than ever.

Strategists must now curate at speed, but craft and discernment are still vital parts of the problem-solving dance.