Intelligence Orchestration: A Smarter Way for Agencies to Use AI

Beyond the Hype, Towards a New Strategic Reality

As AI has exploded into the mainstream, becoming the face of the technological revolution, initial enthusiasm has shifted to rapid experimentation. In fact, AI is now embedded in the everyday operations of marketers, with 70% of marketing professionals already leveraging generative AI, according to McKinsey.

Based on what I’ve seen first-hand working with AI platforms, engineers and strategy teams for the last few years, AI’s true value lies not in autonomous outputs, but in how we orchestrate its power in concert with human intelligence.

In the rush to harness AI, it’s crucial to take a step back and realize: the future of strategy isn’t a machine working in isolation, but a deliberate partnership between human ingenuity and artificial intelligence. As the industry navigates integrating AI into their workflows, keep in mind the following learnings we found throughout our experimentation with AI agents.

Uncovering AI's Dual Nature: Power and Pitfalls

Many view AI as a flawless problem solver capable of autonomously generating elegant solutions to any challenge. But, as we quickly learned, eloquent AI-generated text does not equate to strategic brilliance. We know that while AI can generate outputs, these outputs often lack the crucial human attributes of judgment, taste and nuanced understanding.

For instance, when we applied AI to help address growth challenges in the women’s plus-size fashion category, one of our AI agents provided a compelling first draft, but it missed the mark on business context and strategic depth. The text felt disconnected from today’s consumer realities and ignored the importance of brand tone, which today’s shoppers demand. AI can spark ideas and help us organize thoughts, but it cannot replace the deep strategic thinking and market acumen human strategists bring to the table.

A New Standard for Strategic Output

Tasks that once required deep expertise such as high-level analysis and initial strategic frameworks are now within reach of anyone with access to AI tools. This shift has reset expectations: the bar for "good enough" is now much lower, and it’s available to everyone.

However, the real value lies not in producing generic outputs, but in curating and refining them. It’s no longer about simply delivering what’s “good enough,” but about building on AI’s strengths with human creativity and experience.

AI Should be Harnessed, Not Handed Off

Handing off strategy work entirely to AI will only result in the repetition of benchmarks. For AI to deliver real value, strategists must play an active role, guiding its outputs and exploring all options through an iterative process. This goes beyond simply giving the AI instructions and instead requires a conversation-like interaction, where strategists feed in data and hypothesis as breakthroughs are explored and made. The magic of AI emerges in partnership, not in delegation.

Divide and Conquer: Human Creativity Meets AI’s Power

Marketers must recognize the complementary strengths of AI and human strategists. AI excels in linear tasks, such as processing vast data sets and providing benchmark answers. But strategy requires lateral thinking, which is the ability to think beyond established norms, to break free from benchmarks and create innovative solutions. We must use our human minds to use this output as a starting point, rather than a finishing point.

The Power of a Thoughtful Prompt

Marketers must invest time in creating nuanced, strategic prompts that are signature to their agencies’ unique approach. Anyone can go to ChatGPT and ask it to provide new brand positioning for a client, but a skilled strategist would first explore the entire media canvas a brand has at its disposal and the codes that make that brand a shared belief. The unique prompts that guide that process are what make us, us in the generative AI era. The strategic clarity of our questions will shape the quality of the strategic output. The real value is no longer in the tool, but in how we ask the right questions of that tool.

The Core of Intelligence Orchestration

Intelligence orchestration is about combining the computational power of AI with human lateral thinking, strategic acuity, and a curator's eye. By taking this approach, we can guide AI to generate new starting points that we can then weave together into unexpected and effective strategic pathways.

As we move forward, it is vital to understand that intelligence orchestration represents a fundamental shift in how strategic thinking is deployed. By using AI effectively, we have and will continue to raise the baseline for quality, but we will also create more opportunities for human ingenuity. In the age of AI, the real question isn’t whether machines can replace us—it’s how we can leverage their power to amplify our own. When we view AI as a partner, not a tool, we unlock new potential and elevate the art of strategy.