Automation vs Cogitation – What do you need from your agency partners in 2026?

Hello,

As 2026 comes into view, technology is moving faster than planning cycles. The pressure for marketers to prove value remains constant, even as the ground underneath us keeps changing.

What is the role of agency partners in providing value in this context? Does the answer lie in artificial or human intelligence? Here’s our perspective. 

Automation in the spotlight 

In a Business Insider interview following Omnicom’s recent acquisition of IPG, CEO John Wren described how scale and generative AI sit at the centre of the group’s future strategy.

It’s hard to ignore one of the biggest companies in the world going all-in on AI and automation, with a stated aim of taking on ‘big tech’. But it also highlights a tension many businesses are navigating. Not every decision benefits from automation taking the lead. 

So how can consultancies like With help clients navigate complexity and make better decisions? 

For us, it is a combination of innovation in collaboration with our clients, as well as a commitment to high-level human thinking.  This year, we have developed AI tools for our clients from synthetic audiences for message testing to crisis scenario roll-out platforms and, of course, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

Mastering GEO visibility

As generative AI is the new weathervane for how businesses are discovered and evaluated, marketing leaders need to understand how their companies show up on AI-generated platforms, how they compare to competitors and whether AI systems recognise them as trusted sources.

GEO sits at the intersection of search, reputation and communications. Measuring it requires both quantitative and qualitative lenses. Quantitative metrics such as ‘share of model’ can be useful data points, but on their own, they don’t provide decision-grade insight, as the LLMs do not (currently) provide any depth of prompt data.

That’s why qualitative analysis matters. Understanding what is being said, the tone and context in which a brand appears, and which sources AI systems draw from is critical. In practice, stronger GEO visibility isn’t about technical shortcuts. It comes from consistency, high-quality content in the right formats and credible third-party validation. 

Following some initial strong success, we are rolling out our GEO programme with clients from January, focused on practical measurement, clear guardrails and sustainable gains in AI-driven visibility.

Critical Thinking: The Yin to AI’s Yang 

On the other side of that coin, the rise of AI is actually driving a greater requirement for critical thinking, as recently reported by Alistair Barr from Business Insider.  Critical thinking starts with listening, judgement and understanding context, the human skills that help leaders make sense of complexity rather than simply react to it. At With, we train critical thinking across the business, at every level.

This recent article from Harvard professors, asking if AI is dulling our minds, emphasises the point, saying that ‘the assignment is not the ultimate goal’. So, asking ‘what if?’ and ‘what next?’ becomes vital, as businesses still need to interpret nuance, understand risk and decide what actually matters.

So while, as our name suggests, we are a little biased about collaboration, we believe the best agency partnerships in 2026 will be founded on combining AI bots and human brains in a way that is customised to achieve the commercial goals of each client.

The With Editor

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