Branding and marketing are the primary languages organizations use to connect with their audiences and customer base. Like every other sector, AI is reshaping how messaging and strategy are developed and delivered.

This shift is already reflected in the widespread adoption of the technology. Reportedly, AI has become a central driver of branding strategies, with 63% of marketers using it to accelerate content creation, personalize customer experiences, and analyze real-time data to strengthen brand equity.

As adoption grows, so does confidence in AI’s creative and strategic capabilities. Research suggests that AI-generated advertising can match, and in some cases outperform, human-created content, particularly when it maintains a human tone. At the same time, AI is improving brand consistency, sharpening audience segmentation, and strengthening overall market positioning.

Recognizing this momentum, many global players are now integrating AI across their operations. One notable example is S4Capital plc, led by founder and executive chairman Sir Martin Sorrell.

THE REGION’S POTENTIAL

Sorrell spoke about integrating AI into branding strategies, the group’s expansion across the Middle East, and the region’s growing potential to become the world’s first AI-powered brand ecosystem.

“The MENA region, particularly the GCC, enjoys the advantage of being new and innovative,” he notes. “While Western markets are struggling to retrofit AI into old analog structures, this region is building its digital infrastructure for an AI-first world from the ground up.”

He added that the industry is moving beyond experimentation and into full-scale implementation, with MENA increasingly serving as the primary testing ground for this transition.

“Because the region is not protecting a decaying business model, it can adopt a unitary approach, flattening hierarchies and removing the silos that typically hoard information,” Sorrell says. “In cities like Riyadh, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, this speed of transformation is only possible when you are not carrying decades of legacy friction.”

This momentum, he explains, is also being driven by what he describes as “sovereign AI.” He points to the launch of HUMAIN, the first Arabic-native large language model, which allows the region to rely on technology designed to understand local culture, beliefs, and nuances rather than imported Western systems.

“We are seeing a compression of the marketing supply chain, with the time and cost of visualization and copywriting collapsing from days to hours,” he says. “Brands in the Middle East are leapfrogging straight to the core pillars of first-party data, automated content, and programmatic media.”

“By using these tools to deliver hyper-personalization at scale, what I’ve long called ‘the Netflix model on steroids’, the region is perfecting a brand ecosystem that is more agile and efficient than much in New York or London.”

Sorrell also addressed the group’s decision to establish a major Monks hub in Cairo, and what this signals about the future sources of AI talent and creative intelligence.

“For decades, the industry was tied to the legacy structures of London and New York, but that era of West-centric dominance is now being challenged by the rise of the Global South, BRICS, and the Next 11,” he says. Egypt, he adds, offers a significant demographic advantage, with a young, digitally native population that is not constrained by legacy systems. Combined with a strong STEM-focused education base, he believes the country provides fertile ground for developing AI-native specialists.

The new hub, led by Hoda El Nazer, brings together deep creative expertise with the group’s AI ecosystem, Monks.Flow.

“Our move into Egypt prioritizes agile talent and clients who understand how to operate within a technology-first model, rather than simply pursuing lower costs,” Sorrell added. “We are already seeing this office deliver high-impact, scalable content for the region’s most innovative brands, from NEOM and PIF to Etihad Airways. By establishing this major presence, we recognize that the next generation of creative intelligence is decentralized, and that the most innovative solutions will emerge from a truly global exchange of ideas.”

AI EXPANDING REACH

Sorrell also addressed how AI is increasingly extending beyond companies and into national systems. “We are seeing the emergence of multi-trillion-dollar technology companies that function almost like nation-states, spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year to build the energy, data, and AI infrastructure that will effectively become the new operating system of the global economy.”

In this context, he argues, marketing is likely to be the first function disrupted, given that it is the most data-intensive and time-sensitive part of the value chain. However, he notes that the deeper shift lies in the democratization of knowledge itself.

“Until now, power within large organizations was maintained by controlling information through silos and layers of middle management. AI flattens that hierarchy almost instantly. It enables a unitary structure in which information is shared in real time across every department, from sales and HR to finance,” he says. Applied at the national level, particularly in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE that are developing sovereign AI systems, this approach points to a more efficient, algorithmic model of governance.

“We are moving toward a world where the speed of a nation’s operating system becomes its primary competitive advantage.”

Sorrell also spoke about AI’s emergence as a new form of soft power. Traditionally, he observes, influence was projected through culture, including film, music, and the global reach of Western consumer brands. Today, that influence is increasingly exercised through intelligent digital services that shape how people navigate everyday life.

“Influence has moved beyond the stories we tell from the outside to the algorithms that guide our decisions from the inside. When a platform or a nation provides the underlying systems that handle a population’s financial transactions, healthcare navigation, or cultural discovery, they have embedded their values directly into the fabric of that society.”

He added that the world is moving toward an era of technology-driven nation-states, where influence is defined by the sophistication of, and trust placed in, algorithmic systems. “When AI handles the heavy lifting of daily life, making it faster, more convenient, and more personalized, it creates a form of soft power that is far more durable than traditional advertising.”

TRANSFORMATION OF BRANDING

Sorrell said the growing integration of AI is bringing the traditional advertising campaign to an end. Where branding once relied on isolated, high-cost bursts of activity, he argues that AI is pushing brands toward a continuous, always-on presence that evolves in real time.

“Instead of static assets,” he said, brands are now creating “dynamic environments” shaped by recurring characters, clear personas, and shared cultural values. These elements, he explained, can be reused and adapted instantly, allowing brands to behave less like fixed messages and more like living systems.

AI, Sorrell adds, allows branding to be treated as a craft rather than a production process, embedding a company’s intuition and identity directly into its technology. This ensures that every interaction, whether delivered through a customer service bot or a personalized video, feels consistent and recognizably part of the same brand universe.

“This shift fundamentally changes a brand from a narrative you tell to a service you provide,” he said, noting that AI makes it possible to maintain a consistent “soul” across millions of touchpoints. As a result, he argued, success will no longer be defined by advertising spend, but by the ability to build responsive, trustworthy systems that deliver meaningful personalization at scale.