The Agency of the Future: Humanised Cyborgs
Now that you have your click-baity opening, let's shift gears from panic to perspective.
For the last few months, every forum, boardroom, chai break eventually leads to that question. Wide-eyed, slightly conspiratorial, as if discussing alien sightings:
'So… what's your AI game plan?'
'Are you replacing creatives with robots?'
'Is this... the end of agencies?'
Calm down, Rakesh.
Every new tech wave is greeted with toddler-like enthusiasm. Everyone wants to toss out the old toy grab the new shiny object. But if you've babysat kids—or ad professionals—you know this: eventually, they go back to what's useful, not just what's new.
That said, you can't be an Advertising Ostrich, neck-deep in CorelDraw and hoping the AI storm passes.
So, here's my version of the origin story of the utopian ad agency of the future: The Big Bang Theory was when the AI comet crashed into creative humans in a caffeine-fuelled ecosystem—and boom—one prompt engineer started replacing every two designers. Thus emerged the Neanderthal Androids (N-androids, if you're cool): part creative genius, part prompt-whisperer, fully evolved for the algorithm age. Evolution skipped apposable thumbs and gave us opposable prompts.
So Why did
Prompt Engineers
succeed to take over the Agency?
1. They ask better questions- They are Paresh Rawal in a cult comedy of advertising
They didn't just ask, 'What's the one big idea?'
Prompt engineers asked, 'Should it be funny, Gen Z-coded, emotional, meme-able, or feature a cat on a scooter?'
And they don't do it cos they are naturally curious, it makes their job of chat-bot whispering easy, very very easy.
Prompts are an art form. You don't get gold unless you ask the right questions. Sure, asking questions makes you look like Paresh Rawal in a cult comedy, but that's exactly the level of curiosity needed to get great AI output.
2. They are curious... and they are not cats!
Those who adopted AI first didn't do it in search of a new identity. They did it because they wanted to know what happens when you 'hit this button'. Because people could say, 'Hey GPT', they're already experimenting with voice-based prompting, video inpainting, and brand-trained GPTs.
Then they become the nerds we all mocked—until our phone crashed.
3. They Have Creative Brains with Process Wiring
I am not against creative freedom and need for mental bandwidth to be truly creative, but that added to units that lift than tell, don't help anyone. It's 'mood' vs structure, and that's where the world will move.
N.Androids
, build systems, because that is the only way to work with AI-tools. They build reusable design frameworks while you're still choosing between Aptos and Calibri.
Traditional creatives deliver.
Prompt engineers scale with process.
4. They are lazy… good lazy
They realise that AI tools are slaves on subscription, who can do things at speed that one can't imagine. They push most of their work to AI, build models once they see patterns, create blocks for auto generation, all of it for that extra chai break. Lazy people make the best inventors, they want things to be done better. Prompt engineers are Edison-lite.
So hence the N.Androids took over. A story straight out of a Spielberg script - AI-wired humans zipping across the agency floor, churning out quantum-level campaigns at lightning speed and laughably low cost. But amidst the silicon chaos, a rare breed emerges: the select few who didn't just survive the AI carnage-but joined hands with it. The ones smart enough to bend AI to their creative will, yet irreplaceably human in their instinct. Not outpaced by machines, but amplified by them. A super-brain collective of the future—part artist, part cyborg, full genius.
Hire your N.Androids today! Don't wait for the big bang.
(The author is the CEO and Co-Founder of TheSmallBigIdea. Views expressed are personal.)
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