What we learned at AdWeek Europe 2026

Rubina
1 month ago・5 min read

AdWeek Europe 2026 felt like a moment of arrival. Not the tentative, speculative conversations about what AI might do to the industry, but a clear-eyed reckoning with what it’s already doing, and what that means for brands, agencies and the people who work between them. Here are our biggest takeaways.

AI isn’t coming. It’s already running the show.

If there was one theme running through virtually every panel this year, it was AI. Not as a topic, but as the underlying infrastructure of modern brand-agency relationships.

WPP’s approach offers perhaps the most telling window into how the industry is adapting at scale. Amelia Gandar, who leads AI agent strategy at WPP, described an internal ecosystem where commercial teams are actively encouraged to build AI agents to serve their clients and manage their accounts. Those agents are then listed on an internal WPP platform where they can be adopted and redeployed across multiple client and delivery teams.

On the brand side, Diageo’s Jim Wolff described a world where all creative is reviewed by AI agents built to analyse customer personas, buying habits and behavioural data before production is approved. If the creative doesn’t pass the check, it doesn’t get made.

The 90 Seconds platform is already operating this way. AI agents manage the workflow end to end: constructing briefs, matching the right production professionals to the right job, and keeping projects moving from order through to delivery. The architecture WPP is now building toward is one we recognise.

The harder question the industry is still working through: as AI-generated content floods every channel, what does authenticity actually mean? That tension didn’t resolve itself at AdWeek. But it did sharpen the argument for real-world content — shot by real crews, in real locations, with real people. AI enhances the craft. It does not replace what makes content worth watching.

People over polish: storytelling as the new differentiator

The LinkedIn and Adobe panel was one of the most quotable of the week. LinkedIn’s headline: they now describe themselves as a video-first platform, with video the number one format for engagement. According to their team on the day, creator partner content outperforms Adobe’s own brand content by a factor of ten.

That figure speaks to something broader. Audiences are choosing people over polish. Authenticity is outperforming produced content, and the role of the third-party creator is no longer peripheral. As the panel put it plainly: people buy from people.

It’s a philosophy that sits at the heart of what 90 Seconds has always done. Long before authenticity became a marketing buzzword, we were sending professional crews into the real world to capture real people and real stories. Not sanitised, studio-bound productions, but work that reflects life as it actually looks and sounds.

In-housing is maturing, but it needs agency support to scale

Gymshark and Allwyn (National Lottery) shared their experiences on a panel hosted by The Creative Engineers, a new consultancy advising brands on AI production solutions. Allwyn recently launched Studio 59, a fully in-house creative and production operation. But the story isn’t one of agencies being replaced. Both brands were clear: there will always be a need for third-party support. The difference is that the need is increasingly for specialists, not generalists. Media buying, scale and niche expertise are where agency partners earn their place.

That picture was echoed in conversations with in-house teams from Channel 4, ITV, British Airways and Skyscanner. British Airways now briefs social videographers directly and edits content in-house, outsourcing only TV and above-the-line work.

It’s a model we recognise well at 90 Seconds. The most effective in-house teams aren’t trying to do everything themselves; they’re building smart relationships with production partners who can extend their reach, plug specialist gaps and scale up when the brief demands it.

The influencer economy and what it means for brands

Two further trends worth flagging. Brand integration into entertainment content is accelerating, particularly in podcasting and vodcasting, where products are woven into the content itself rather than sitting alongside it.

And influencers have become the new media. Brands tapping into influencer networks aren’t just buying reach; they’re borrowing trust and community that no production budget can manufacture. Live streaming is also growing fast and deserves serious attention as a channel for real-time brand engagement.

What we’re taking back

AdWeek Europe 2026 confirmed that the industry is in genuine transition. AI is structurally embedded in how the biggest players operate. Authenticity is outperforming production value. The in-house model is maturing. And the brands finding audiences are the ones telling real stories through real people.

The question for us is which of these shifts we’re getting ahead of, and which we risk being late to. We think we’re already in the right place. If you’re working through any of these challenges and want to talk about how 90 Seconds can help, get in touch.