“Agentic AI Will Change The PR Game This Year”: Brands2life Launches AI Hub

(MENAFN- PRovoke) LONDON - Brands2Life has introduced an AI Hub to deliver AI consulting and services for its clients and accelerate the development of its own AI capabilities.

Led by André Labadie, executive chair of business and technology (pictured, left), and Kate Smith, deputy MD of business and Technology (right), the new hub will be a home for the agency's internal and external AI developments, enabling clients to evolve their communications functions and speed up AI deployments. It will also drive the ongoing rollout of new AI tools and services within Brands2Life.

Labadie said the agency had been heavily investing in AI for some time, including experimenting with and defining use cases for dozens of tools for employees and clients, from processes, to creative elements such as video, audio and image generation, to improving efficiency across research and reporting.

The agency – which was acquired by Scandinavian holding group Paritee in 2023 – has already been delivering successful AI projects for clients and has been working in conjunction with its sister agency, Geelmuyden Kiese (GK), to develop an in-depth AI strategy for the Paritee network.

New services under the AI hub will include AI strategy (including client workshops and sprints); AI feasibility studies and business case development; training; AI service development support and AI-powered process optimisation.

Labadie told PRovoke Media:“It's the right time to introduce the hub. We've been working with a few clients on AI projects, and there is demand for more. We're working more closely with the Paritee network – GK in the Nordics is working on some really cool AI stuff – and the hub will harness the excitement and innovation within the business and pull it together.”

On AI developments and their adoption by the PR industry, Labadie said:“Lots of PR and comms leaders really need a handle on AI, they've started experimenting with a few tools, but we're seeing a lot of experimentation and not lot of action. To date, the pace of AI-driven change has been slow, and no-one seems to have quite cracked it by revolutionising account processes or bringing out tools that have changed the game.

“I feel that will change this year. The rise of agentic AI is coming, where AI can carry out tasks for you and systems can talk to each other. The best example so far is probably Salesforce's new Agentforce product, and we're already at the stage where AI can see your screen and you can have a voice conversation with Google's Gemini and send it off to do tasks for you. That will definitely start driving things.”

Labardie said market conditions had probably contributed to the relatively slow adoption of AI within agencies, but this was also likely to change this year:“Because the industry has been having a challenging time, I think that's slowed the pace of change – most agencies have just had to keep the wheels turning, but as the market picks up a little bit I think we will see agencies turning experimentation into action.

“For example, agencies have been building customer GPTs to fill in briefing documents, take meeting notes etc, but they are starting to embed those kinds of tools right across the agency. My mantra at the moment is that when you are given a task, think AI first – you can make progress very quickly.”

Labardie also recognised the limits of AI currently:“ChatGPT's Canvas could be really powerful, but I'm still a bit disappointed by it. I think that's because we work in an industry where content is so important. And I saw the CEO of Goldman Sachs was talking about working on filings for IPOs, and how AI can now write 95% of a prospectus , but for me the more interesting and relevant bit is the 5%. You could probably get a semi-decent response to a new business briefing out of AI, but you're not going to win a pitch with that; that's where you need the expertise and creativity of the team.”

Brands2Life has over 180 staff based at its offices in London, Minneapolis, New York and San Francisco and had revenues of £22 million in FY2023/24. Its client list across technology, business services, energy, financial services, health & wellbeing and retail & leisure includes Adyen, Hologic, LinkedIn, Qlik, Tetra Pak, Vodafone and Xero.

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