Saatchi & Saatchi weaponises AI to chase ‘unseen growth’As the industry focuses on automation and efficiency, the Publicis-owned creative agency is evolving its iconic philosophy to prove that data-backed creativity is the ultimate growth engine.Danielle LongEditor, The Growth AgendaThe Saatchi & Saatchi leadership team of co-chief creative officers Avish Gordhan and Mandie van der Merwe, chief executive Patrick Rowe and chief strategy officer Leif StromnesGift this article4 min read2 hours ago.Updated 3 minutes agoSaatchi & Saatchi is doubling down on its iconic “Impossible is Nothing” philosophy as the ad agency targets clients’ “unseen growth” while it prepares to supercharge its next chapter. The Publicis Groupe-owned creative agency, which boasts a client roster of household names such as Arnotts, Toyota and ­Nestle, is framing its future around helping companies to identify and unlock opportunities they don’t yet know exist.It marks a deliberate shift in how the agency positions itself in an increasingly uncertain market. At a time when many organisations are focused on efficiency gains from AI, Saatchi & Saatchi is focusing on the combination of tech, data and creativity to create growth. “We’re an advertising agency. We’re not cost accountants,” chief executive Patrick Rowe told The Australian. “Our job is to find growth. That’s what we’re here to do. That’s new markets, new customers, new products, new ways of finding opportunity.”The agency is coming from a position of strength – Publicis Groupe continues to hold a leadership role globally and at a time when rival agencies are cutting staff and costs, Saatchi & Saatchi is moving in the opposite direction.“We are growing, not shrinking. We are hiring people in Melbourne and Sydney,” Rowe said. It’s a point of difference for the agency and one it is leveraging to push its evolved positioning, which builds on the agency’s longstanding Impossible is Nothing tagline, which Rowe describes as the agency’s “spiritual and historical core”. However, he said, the agency was now evolving that ethos for the AI era.“Creativity alone is not enough,” he said. “We need to build things around it to supercharge its impact. That’s a role for technology, data and AI. Creativity is still extremely important, and obviously the core of what we do, but it’s the environment we unleash it in that we’ve really started to focus on.”As businesses leap on the AI bandwagon, Saatchi & Saatchi’s leadership team is focused on the outputs from the technology, not the tech itself. Chief strategy officer Leif Stromnes says this approach is crucial for the agency, and the broader industry. “The big thing we’re jumping on is the ­coalition of this optimistic mindset meeting the unlimited potential of AI. Rather than AI defining our business, we’re defining what we want to use AI for.“Efficiency is important and we’re all playing an efficiency game. But we think the other side of the equation is the real unlock for AI. Marketing isn’t in the business of cutting its way to growth. It’s finding new growth where none is apparent.“The growth that’s apparent is easy, anyone can do that. We’re interested in growth that is not ­apparent. That’s this promise of unseen growth.” Saatchi & Saatchi’s strategy is underpinned by the data and tech capabilities of its parent company. A history of big tech investment has seen Publicis create a strong data and tech platform and the agency can leverage these services to move upstream within client businesses to help define the areas where value is trapped. “If we sit back and wait until the client’s clear about what they want, we’ve kind of lost the battle,” Rowe said. “The opportunity for us is to partner with clients. We’re coming to them saying ‘We see an opportunity here. Have you thought about doing this?’ ”“The world is so disrupted right now,” Stromnes said. “I don’t think our clients are confident that they’ve got the right business problem to solve.”Saatchi & Saatchi’s view is that the combination of data, tech and creativity is the key to unseen growth, but the layer of differentiation for the agency is the human capability interpreting the insights, driving the creativity and doing the work. Stromnes said: “Selling ideas is a human business. Understanding the right idea to solve a problem is a human business. We will never be a synthetic company.”That emphasis on humanity extends to the creative process, said chief creative officer Mandie van der Merwe, who argues that data-backed certainty can embolden more ambitious ideas.“It’s liberating walking into a room and not saying ‘Trust me, I’m a creative. This is a fun idea,’ ” she said. “It’s a smart idea that’s going to unlock growth for you.”The challenge for the agency is that this approach requires a different kind of client relationship than the traditional agency client mould. These relationships need to build on deeper access, greater transparency and increased collaboration, Rowe said. “We’re asking for data and we’re asking clients to share a lot more of their business to unlock that growth than they’re typically used to.”Stromnes added: “We think that’s a much bigger remit for a creative business – not to be waiting for a passive brief, but to be helping them find the brief.” More CoverageM+C Saatchi shifts focus to reducing complexityDanielle LongM+C Saatchi appoints Dani Bassil as Justin Graham steps downDanielle LongDanielle LongEditor, The Growth AgendaDanielle Long is the editor of The Growth Agenda. 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