☕ Hello

One morning, while sipping my coffee at our agency’s office in Akaretler, I caught myself thinking:

“Am I ready for this?”

It was 2022.

The pandemic had just ended, but the world was evolving fast.

During those long months at home, I spent almost every day exploring how blockchain, AI, and new technologies could change the world of marketing and advertising.

And what I kept feeling was this: Something new is coming.

I left my comfort zone and stepped into a future where everything was being rewritten.

That’s how Adin.AI was born.

I must admit, it was much harder than it sounds.

One day, I’ll share the full behind-the-scenes story of that journey.

What about you?

Have you ever thought about stepping out of your comfort zone?

Last week, I published the very first issue of AI for Marketing.

In just a few days, over 1,500+ marketing professionals subscribed. I am thinking of having a meeting in London when we reach 10,000 subscribers.

Thank you so much for your support.

🗺️ In This Issue:

This week:

• Research: What’s coming in marketing over the next 2 years?
• Trend: Are AI Agents really changing the game?
• Personal Brand: How to boost your brand with AI.
• Bonus: The story behind the Cannes Lions AI Award Calculator project.
• Quick Takes: What caught my attention this week.

Coffee ready? Let’s dive in. ☕

📊 Where Is Marketing Headed?

If you’ve noticed, AI’s biggest contribution today is efficiency. Less operational load, more strategic and intellectual contribution.

Now, thanks to AI, we can already delegate:

• Content creation
• Consumer research
• Reporting that eats up your days
• Media planning, launching, and optimization

So… how can you start taking action toward AI adoption?

You’ll find a quick action plan at the end of this section.

But first, let’s take a look at the numbers from the past year.

📈 According to a survey of over 800 Marketers, the top investment priorities over the next 2 years are:

• Strengthening data and insights capabilities
• Building tech and operational infrastructures
• Driving strategic transformation

This shows that marketing will no longer be managed just as a department, but as an ecosystem. Because tech integration alone is no longer a one-person job.

And what does this mean for marketing skills?

🧠 The New Marketing Skill Set

AI and data skills are becoming essential for every marketer. Marketing is evolving into a far more analytical discipline, and honestly, it was time.

Marketing is getting analytical

🌐 Where Are We in AI Adoption?

According to a McKinsey & Company study covering 14,000+ executives:

• 71% of companies use Generative AI in at least one business function
• The most common use case? Marketing and Sales

Even in traditionally slower sectors like finance and healthcare, adoption rates have reached 30–40%.

Good news:

Marketing and advertising are leading the way in AI adaptation!

✅ Day-1 Action Plan

Here’s how you can start TODAY:

1. Switch to ChatGPT Plus. Bring your team onboard (you should make this investment in yourself.)
2. Host weekly 20 mins AI learning sessions.
3. Think of marketing as an ecosystem, not a department. Reach out to AI startups, integrate them into your system, and evolve together.
4. Create AI projects that actually work. Measure the results and tell the world.
5. Be an example, not just an adaptor. Believe me, it’s easy now.

🤖 Trend: What Exactly Are AI Agents?

Not to replace us, but to work alongside us.

You’ve probably noticed:

The term “AI agent” is everywhere these days. But what exactly does it mean? And how is it different from a simple chatbot? https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/artificial-intelligence/ai-agents

More importantly:

Why should marketers care?

🤔 What Is an AI Agent?

An AI agent is not just about giving answers.

It’s about working toward a goal step by step, making its own decisions, taking action, and managing the process.

Imagine this: While you’re sipping your coffee in the morning, your AI assistant scans your emails, prioritizes the urgent ones, and schedules meetings for you without you lifting a finger.

It’s not just a tool. It’s a true teammate.

And soon, we’ll all have one.

There’s a great HBR article explaining how AI agents are being integrated into the customer journey too.

🌍 Where Do AI Agents Stand in the Big Picture?

1. Rule-Based Automation (2010–2020)
2. Generative AI (2021–2023)
3. Task-Oriented AI Agents (2024–2026)
4. Multi-Agent Ecosystems (2026–2028)
5. General AI / Self-Learning Systems (2028–2035)

💡 We’re currently at Stage 3.

As we move into Stage 4, adoption will accelerate — and many operational tasks will be handled by AI agents.

Those who adapt early will be the ones leading tomorrow.

🌟 Real-World Examples

If you want to start using AI agents today, here are a few places to look:

• Customer Engagement: Insider — Agent One
• Customer Service Automation: Jotform
• Media Planning & Optimization: Adin.AI

🏆 The Cannes Lions AI Award Calculator

I’m not a developer, but I have so many ideas I want to bring to life.

One of them was an app that could predict the chances of winning prestigious awards.

Using Manus.ai, I built the Cannes Lions AI Award Calculator.

📊 It analyzes 71 years of festival history, processes 250,000+ entries across 30+ categories and 100+ countries, and estimates your chances of winning.

But then the Cannes Lions Global Festival Director reached out:

They loved the project but asked me to remove logos and links to avoid confusion with the official brand. Of course, I understood and appreciated their kind communication.

We’re setting up a meeting soon.

(Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll even see an AI jury member!)

Although I can’t share the live website anymore, here are some fun insights:

• Average winning probability is between 1.5% and 3%.
• US&UK, Big agencies with big budgets can push it up to 15%.
• Creative Commerce is one of the fastest-growing categories.
• Brazil ranks 3rd globally for most awards over the past decade.
• As far as I know, Turkey has 1 Grand Prix. It was won in the media category with a creative work, the brand was Vodafone. I was curious and entered the system. If that work had entered the competition in the same way in 2024, the probability of winning would have been 4.2%. As you can see, creativity can turn all numbers upside down. (Media category — Vodafone VMLY&R (MA) Arzu Unal Ayşe Aydın )

At the end of the day, it was a passion project to better empathize with our engineering team and it opened up new perspectives for me.

✨ Grow Your Personal Brand with AI

You already know how important your personal brand is. But with AI, you can level up faster than ever. There is even a nice article here, but it is paid (Confession: I sometimes buy screen shot and have it converted to text in chat gpt 🙂

Here’s how I’ve built my AI “team”:

• Right Hand: ChatGPT Pro for content creation
• Left Hand: Gemini Pro for deep research

We will not be among those who gather followers with personal emotional content on LinkedIn:)

📋 Your AI Prompt Starter Kit

Here are a few practical prompts to start right away:

🧭 Quick Takes

A few things that caught my eye this week:

🎙️ Demis Hassabis — What’s Next in AI?

The Nobel awarded Demis Hassabis says:

“We’re close to AGI technically, but not culturally.”

Watch the talk here.

🎬 Kling.AI — Text-to-Video Evolution

Kling.ai is one of my favorite text to video creators.

The new 2.0 version gives a very good idea about where the production business will evolve. (I even thought about it and let’s examine where the advertising production business will evolve in an issue.)

I uploaded a photo of my 9-year-old nephew Timur, who is a Fenerbahçe fan, to Kling.ai along with a photo of the Fenerbahçe stadium, and a great video came out in just 10 minutes.

⚽ Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham AC

Famous Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds achieved great success with the Welsh club he bought, Wrexham AC. In 3 years, the club became champions for the 3rd time and promoted to the next league. Ryan is not only a good actor but also a very good businessman.

As the presenter said, this is a great Underdog success story. Even though marketing changes, storytelling will always be important because we will continue to make decisions with our feelings.

Ryan knows this very well and turned his Wrexham experience into a series. I am starting to watch it right away: Welcome to Wrexham.

🏛️ McVitie’s London Mixed Reality Show

Blending tech with the magic of London’s skyline = pure brilliance.

Kudos to the brand and the team behind it! Aslı Özen Turhan pladis Global

✈️ Heading to VivaTech Paris!

I’ll be at VivaTech in June.

If you’ll be there too, feel free to DM me — would love to meet!

👋 Closing

That’s it for this issue!

If you found this article helpful, feel free to share it with your team or your network.

If you would like to join me on adin.ai’s journey https://www.instagram.com/serhatgurcu/

If you want to browse previous content: https://www.adin.ai/blog.html

And if you’d like to stay updated on how AI is reshaping marketing, follow me here for future posts! 🚀

Talk soon. Stay sharp, stay kind. 🔥