For over thirty years, digital advertising has thrived on optimization.

It started with a creative intuition—often built on sensitivity, experience, and brand culture—and then measured, tested, and refined it. The data intervened later: it improved performance, corrected course, and suggested micro-adjustments.

Something different is happening today. We're not simply witnessing the entry of artificial intelligence into the production of advertising content, nor are we just talking about image or video generators. We're entering a phase that we might call “agentic advertising”: a model in which artificial intelligence does not simply execute, but leads the creative process, dialogues, proposes, explains, integrates data, and takes initiative.

It's a paradigm shift.

In traditional advertising, the sequence was clear: the idea was born, the assets were produced, the campaign was launched, and only then were the results analyzed. Generative AI has already changed this pattern, drastically reducing costs and production times. However, the logic remained similar: create quickly and then test. Agentic advertising, however, introduces a new and deeper element. Creativity is no longer optimized afterward, but is born within a data ecosystem.

It's incorrect to speak of purely probabilistic advertising, but it's clear that creativity develops from concrete signals: real audiences, observed behaviors, purchasing insights, and the context of use. In other words, it no longer starts simply from the idea, but from the relationship between brand, audience, and data.

This shift is particularly important for SMEs. For years, access to sophisticated production capabilities was the prerogative of large brands, capable of investing in research, structured creative agencies, and large-scale multi-format campaigns. Today, the combination of artificial intelligence and data is dramatically reducing barriers to entry. The ability to develop complex concepts, multi-scene storyboards, language adaptations, and localized versions quickly and cost-effectively isn't just a matter of operational efficiency: it's a strategic democratization.

Amazon Ads' launch of Creative Agent fits into this evolving landscape. It was officially presented today in Italy after its debut in the United States last year. We had the opportunity to preview it in the days leading up to the European launch and to speak directly with the Amazon team. The impression is that of a tool that doesn't simply automate creative production, but truly seeks to redefine the way a campaign is created.

Creative Agent represents a concrete example of how the agentic approach is taking shape in the advertising world. Integrated within Creative Studio, it is activated through a conversational interface: the advertiser clicks "chat" and initiates a dialogue with an AI-powered creative partner. From that moment, the system begins collecting strategic information—product pages, Amazon listings, brand store, website, target audience, creative guidelines—and uses it to develop proposals consistent with the brand's identity.

The platform analyzes retail signals and purchasing behaviors, combines these insights with the brand's existing content, and develops structured concepts, explaining the rationale behind each proposal. It builds multi-scene storyboards, writes detailed scripts, suggests alternative taglines, and allows for real-time creative iteration. The entire process is supported by an ongoing dialogue that allows the advertiser to intervene, modify, and refine.

The shift from intuition to data, in this case, isn't just theoretical. The initial tests shared by the company reveal indicators that help understand the scope of the change for those who need to optimize every euro invested in advertising. The Bird Buddy case study is emblematic: the first video ad was produced in less than 48 hours, drastically reducing traditional production times. Performance-wise, the campaign recorded a 338% increase in CTR and a 121% increase in ROAS. Even more interesting, from a strategic perspective, is the 89% increase in orders from new customers, an indicator that goes beyond short-term performance and touches on the topic of brand growth.

Beyond the individual case, these numbers suggest a clear direction. When creativity is born already integrated with real purchasing insights, the cycle between ideation, production, and performance is significantly shortened. It's not simply a matter of doing what was done before faster, but of rethinking the entire creative process as part of a system in which data and content are no longer separate.

Here the true meaning of the agentic dimension emerges. We're not dealing with a simple content generator, but with a system that participates in the creative decision-making process. Control remains human, but the initiative is shared. It's a structured collaboration between brand and machine.

However, it would be reductive to consider this launch an isolated incident. When a platform born as a marketplace evolves into a data infrastructure, media environment, and integrated creative space, it means the advertising supply chain is reshaping itself. Data, production, and distribution are no longer separate phases, but components of a single ecosystem. This changes the way companies must think about communication.

The trajectory is clear. If today artificial intelligence proposes concepts, develops scripts, and adapts creative to different markets, tomorrow it could increasingly intervene in dynamic campaign management, large-scale personalization, and the continuous optimization of creative choices. We're not yet faced with a completely autonomous system, but the first signs are clear.

For companies, the question isn't whether or not to adopt these tools. The real question is positioning. In an agentic ecosystem, the quality of brand identity becomes even more crucial. Artificial intelligence can amplify, organize, and scale a strategy. But it can't replace a vision. It can't create distinctiveness where none exists.

Agentic advertising doesn't eliminate human creativity. It pushes it to the next level, forcing companies to clarify who they are, what they want to communicate, and the relationship they intend to build with their audience. It reduces barriers to entry, accelerates experimentation cycles, and integrates data from the very beginning of the process. But precisely for this reason, it further highlights the difference between those with a strategy and those simply producing content.

Creative Agent is one of the first concrete examples of this shift. The paradigm is broader and affects the entire communications system. Advertising isn't just becoming faster or more automated. It's becoming relational, conversational, and data-integrated.

The final question isn't technological, but strategic. In a world where creativity can be co-produced by intelligent systems, what will be the role of business? Should it govern the agentic ecosystem or be guided by it?

The new paradigm has already begun.