This story was originally published in the Fall issue of Strategy Magazine

A midst the rapid proliferation of AI, Initiative is adopting a thoughtful and measured approach to the integration of the technology, according to CEO Helen Galanis, who believes industry adoption of AI tools will soon level the playing field.

“[The technology is] going to become quite undifferentiated across the agency landscape,” says Galanis. “We will all be equipped with very similar tools, because technology is democratized and we’re all going to have to figure out how to use it effectively, eventually.”

So how does Initiative plan to get ahead? Galanis believes the agency will need to rely on the “people who are activating those tools” and that her mission now is to build out its “human advantage.”

The best example of this, she says, is when Initiative partnered with McCann on the “See You There” AI-driven campaign for Black & Abroad.

Using Gen AI, the brand and agency teams created customized landing pages, placing visitors in images of travel destinations such as Senegal, Ghana or France. The aim was to have travellers imagine themselves in new destinations. However, the team discovered that AI had some biases – the generative models tended to depict Black travellers in poverty-stricken areas of Africa.

In response, the teams collaborated with Shutterstock and asked millions of photographers to capture Black travellers in tourist spots and create a more diverse data set for future AI. The campaign produced the highest number of impressions in Black & Abroad’s history to date, says Initiative’s chief strategy officer Sammy Rifai.

“We are very proud of the team, but also of the iteration of the project, as we learned more by playing with AI and found a real human solution for something that started as an AI-driven initiative,” Rifai notes.

For Galanis, the case is an example of where AI falls short and human intuition takes over, delivering better results. “That’s the big lesson and the message we reinforce to our people: learn how to use AI, but also learn how to interrogate it, to question the source and dig into what it is telling you… But we don’t want to discourage experimentation, because that is also fundamental.”

To encourage employees to keep exploring, the agency created a dedicated AI team responsible for upskilling team members, as well as an AI literacy and general knowledge program. Initiative also conducts monthly meetings and hands-on team training across all disciplines, and has developed an AI-based virtual assistant, My Bot, to help staff with day-to-day tasks.

While deploying AI is not a top priority, the agency does intend to leverage the technology to improve its work, predict the effectiveness of media plans, as well as measure reach, frequency and impact on both short- and long-term sales. “[But] we don’t rush to use AI at all costs. We rush to learn and use our critical thinking and experience to make sure we use [AI] in the best, most appropriate and useful way,” Galanis says.

Beyond AI, the agency has also developed programs that foster inclusion. It established a culture club to celebrate diverse cultural heritage and conducts monthly employee surveys to measure job satisfaction. Additionally, Initiative is aiming to address industry talent gaps through a high school program, inspiring students to pursue media careers. And finally, plans to build out more specialized areas – such as a new video games unit – will allow its members to strengthen their understanding of emerging media channels.

The agency’s commitment to training and development has paid off in terms of retention, one of Initiative’s priorities. So far, its turnover rate for 2024 is 5% – which is impressive given that the average media industry turnover rate is 22%, according to the IAB. She emphasizes that by investing in its employees, the agency has created a positive work culture that encourages its members to stay.

“The trick is to create space for [our] people to keep specializing and going deeper and deeper into their knowledge base,” says Galanis. “It’s really important to us that we bring in the best talent and we retain them by keeping them motivated and giving them the best learning and development.”

New business
Canada Goose, FSRA, Government of Ontario Cabinet Office Communications MACS, Jamieson Laboratories, Intuit Quickbooks, Destination Toronto, Air Canada

New Hires
Chaman Sandhu, Kyla Ames, Emily Johnston, Katlynn Gwalchmai

Office
Toronto

Staff
297

Cases

“See You There” for Black & Abroad initially used Gen AI to create personalized travel emails for guests who had previously travelled to a region, but then the agency ran into AI bias. So, they struck a partnership with Shutterstock to create a bias reporting system, reaching 2.1 million photographers who contribute to the site.

For “Return to the Wild” for Destination Canada, Initiative created a series on Disney+ to showcase remote Canadian locations that had yet to be shared on social media en masse. The film was given a red carpet premiere and drove global interest and engagement, making it Disney+’s largest branded series launch.

Initiative’s “Blackberry Museum” for the CBC tapped into nostalgia by creating a physical museum that showcased Blackberry’s history and helped promote a new film that was funded by the broadcaster. It used traditional media, like radio and mall ads, and also recreated the Brickbreaker game, with the campaign achieving a 33% increase in CBC Gem app downloads.