In the face of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and budget tension, marketers are relatively aligned on AI’s potential to solve modern marketing problems, the real challenge is implementing the technology effectively.
The latest IPA Bellwether report painted a pessimistic picture for the future of adland, with the usual boost from the Golden Quarter marred by 0.0% growth in UK adspend.
Cost pressures, muted economic activity, budget constraints and another Autumn Budget all contributed to the spending slowdown.
However, despite the troubling figures, the future is not without opportunity – headlined by technological innovation, specifically Al.
PMW spoke to a myriad of thought leaders about how advertisers can harness the power of Al to help them wade through the increasingly murky economic landscape and succeed long into the future.
Chris Pearce, Managing Director, EMEA & US at Greenpark:
“2025 saw millions of consumers worldwide adopting large-language models (LLMs) and Al tools in their day to day lives, influencing their decisions, helping them to discover, evaluate and often purchase. As brands now seek to ensure they show up in Al answers, we know that digital PR is a major driver of LLM citations. So, we believe that PR spend will continue to grow despite the enormous political and economic uncertainty we all face.
Quite simply, LLM’s recognise top tier media publications as the most reliable source of relevance and trust as far as brands are concerned. It’s the fastest way for a brand to influence credibility and positive sentiment. And with the of ChatGPT paid ads hotly predicted for summer 2026, it’s a reasonable bet that more of that declining outdoor, and main media money will flow into beta testing of new conversational Al ad formats.”
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