Flock and Screendragon recently hosted a roundtable on Marketing Automation and AI for leading brands from pharma, travel, financial services, CPG, entertainment, and beverages. The event was held in the opulent surroundings of the private dining room Fortnum & Mason.
A wide ranging discussion centred on the need for use and business case planning, spanning people, processes, technology, agencies and culture. Here are the key themes:
Playing, Piloting or Progressing?
When asked to choose their current status between “playing”, “proper piloting” and “progressing with plans” most are just playing, or have limited pilots. A recurring theme emerged: there was a universal sense of feeling left behind, where leaders constantly find themselves racing to keep pace with their peers. In reality, the “status” varies wildly even within a single organisation; one department may be innovating while another remains cautious, creating a fragmented internal landscape.
The Integrators, The Specialists and The Accelerators
Some advertisers are using core enterprise AI technology (like Copilot) and adapting it for marketing use. Others are adding specialist technologies, especially for creative work, while others have bought in pre-built marketing agents and bots to accelerate impact versus time. All agreed that “sorting out our data” is not widely understood by leadership, but remains essential to scaling AI effectively.
Beyond the Hype: The Future of “Connected” Agents
There was a healthy dose of scepticism regarding agency “overclaim and oversell,” but no one denied the transformative impact automation is already having on agency business models.
Looking ahead, the group recognised that the next evolution isn’t just “more AI,” but a joined-up, end-to-end operational ecosystem. As organisations deploy more specialised agents and AI tools, the challenge increasingly becomes orchestration – connecting workflows, governance, business context, and execution in a structured way across the enterprise.
We are moving toward a world where different Agents and GPTs aren’t just siloed tools, but active collaborators that can talk to one another and learn from dynamic, real-time data.
The quote of the day was: “Why is it all c-suite leaders think that AI is a button that can be pressed to do just about anything, it’s not magic, it takes years!”
The discussion repeatedly returned to one core challenge: AI is advancing faster than the operational systems, workflows, and governance structures needed to scale it effectively across the enterprise.
The Orchestration Model illustrates a key theme: scaling AI successfully requires more than powerful models and isolated agents — it depends on the operational layer connecting workflows, governance, business context, and execution.
If you would like more information about how to automate your marketing, and use AI effectively contact hello@flock-associates.com or sales@screendragon.com, or fill in the form below.
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