📣 Please note, these events are for Agency Hackers’ members only.

If your agency isn’t a member yet, get in touch with Anne.

“Can you do AI?”

If your clients aren’t already asking you this question, they soon will be.

Right now, most agencies are receiving vague requests about AI. Clients want innovation – but don’t actually know what that looks like. In the ever-changing digital landscape, you’ve got to be prepared to adapt to clients’ evolving needs, and right now they’re AI-curious.

So when clients ask about your potential AI offerings, what should you say, and more importantly, what should you show them?

For Andy Nicol, managing director of Sputnik Digital, these questions proved to be a turning point for his agency.

“Clients were asking if we could personalise video for things like insurance renewals… but no one wanted to pay to test it.”

Despite there being no guaranteed return, Andy decided to take the plunge and build AI prototypes – without a brief or a budget. 

In response to their speculative client requests, Sputnik created:

• Hollr: A personalised AI video platform using avatars and dynamic scripts.
• Invntry: A tool that scans a room photo and generates an itemised insurance inventory.
• They’ve even expanded on this, to create AI-powered chatbot interfaces designed for internal platforms like banking dashboards.

“We knew it was possible, and we wanted to be able to show clients what we could do – not just talk about it,” he says. “Sometimes the best way to move things forward is to just build something and see where it takes you.”

This decision had a real impact:

• Sputnik now has ready-to-go demos for when future clients enquire.
• They’ve re-engaged past clients.
• Doors have been opened to new opportunities.
• The team has a new space for learning and experimentation.
• And most surprisingly – there’s even potential for the tools to become fully-fledged independent businesses.

“AI is here to stay,” says Andy. “When we’re designing anything now, we always think about where AI can fit in.”

In this session, Andy will share how his team tackled the “Do you do AI?” question by jumping in feet first.