Search is quietly becoming delegation
At WPP Media’s Auckland campus on 1 October, the Navigating Next panel put a number on a shift most marketers can feel: more than 60% of Kiwis already use AI tools to assist purchases. At the same time, high-ticket purchase decision windows have stretched from three months to six to nine months.
That combination changes the funnel. Instead of typing queries and comparing options themselves, shoppers are asking AI agents to do the looking and the shortlisting. AKQA global chief invention officer Tim Devine framed it as a move from searching to delegating.
“In that world, trust comes from the integrity of your data.”
Devine’s point is blunt: when an agent decides what gets shortlisted, the accuracy and completeness of your product data, reviews and brand information become the creative.
The unscrutinised output trap
The panel also warned that a flood of automated collateral can erode brand value fast. Devine’s bar is simple: explore with AI as much as you like, but never deliver work you cannot stand behind and defend. If it has not been scrutinised, it should not leave the building.
NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann floated a cultural shift that may start with creative credits. A line like “Prompted by” could become normal, and with it a sharper requirement: don’t deceive anyone about how you made the work.
WPP ANZ CEO Rose Herceg put it as a two-layer system. AI can power the base camp of speed, research and iteration. Taste, judgment, deductive reasoning and critical thinking remain human skills, honed over years of experience.
How to protect premium margins
Dann described chasing the value proposition downhill as a spiral with very few winners. Some premium spend survives, but only where brands hold an authentic emotional and personal connection. Herceg tied trust to operational delivery: ensure the product does what you say, repeatedly, under pressure. No paid media can hide poor service delivery.
What to change tomorrow
- Audit the structured data AI agents scrape: product feeds, pricing, FAQs and location facts.
- Treat AI as base camp, then add human judgment before anything ships.
- Build real utility and emotional connection instead of novelty stunts.
- Look for uncommon partnerships, like the Bunnings and Bluey collaboration, that boardrooms would never expect.
Devine closed the loop on community: frictionless automation is not human connection. Shared real-world moments and accidental collisions with other people are becoming a premium asset, not a cost to automate away.
Source: Campaign Brief
