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A ~50-person Nordic creative agency with high AI adoption, no shared strategy - and a sprint to change that.
A Nordic creative agency - around 50 people, strong client roster including global brands - was stuck in a familiar position. AI was already active in their creative team. Beyond that, uptake was patchy. Strategy, client service, and operations were still working the old way.
The CEO wasn't looking for a lecture on AI trends. She wanted a structured process: surface what was actually getting in the way, align her leadership team, and produce concrete next steps - not a report that got filed.
We designed the sprint around a single principle: goals first, not AI first. Before convening the leadership team, we surveyed the full organisation - 80% response rate. That number matters. It meant the subsequent conversation was grounded in what people actually thought and felt, not leadership assumptions.
Three things stood out from the data:
87% of the organisation was using AI at least weekly - double the national average. But usage concentrated on safe, low-risk tasks. The biggest gaps between current use and perceived potential were in research, analysis, and quality assurance.
The top barriers weren't policy or access. They were lack of time to learn and uncertainty about output quality. People weren't waiting for permission. They were waiting for confidence - and confidence is a human problem, not a technical one.
When asked what would help most: training, dedicated time to experiment, and hands-on setup. Only 8% wanted clearer policies.
The working session generated 19 concrete opportunities across four business domains. A second session refined and sequenced them - consolidating into nine active initiatives and scoping the top three fully. The richest opportunities came from unexpected places: not creative (already active), but research, strategy, and quality assurance.
The real output isn't a document. It's alignment. And alignment is always human.
The leadership team left with a shared basis for action rather than a shared set of concerns.
A structured AI workflow monitoring industries, competitors, and market signals — surfacing intelligence to account teams on a regular cadence.
An AI workflow producing a sharp, structured creative brief from a long strategy deck. If a section can't be answered from the source material, it says so rather than guessing.
A custom AI assistant per key account, answering brand and client questions in real time. The knowledge that currently lives in people's heads, made accessible to everyone.
"We use AI to be more proactive for our clients and more consistent in our craft. It does not change what we stand for."
That's not a slogan. It's a decision framework - and it was written by the leadership team, not handed to them.
This agency isn't unusual. They're ahead of most on AI adoption, but early in the journey from experimentation to integration. The pattern repeats across organisations: pockets of activity, leadership curiosity, scattered concerns, no system.
What breaks this pattern isn't more education or a better AI tool. It's a structured process - and a room of people who've thought it through together and chosen what to do first.
Let's start with a 20-minute call. We talk about what you're facing, what you've already tried, and whether there's a fit. No pitch, no agenda.
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