AI Is Rewriting The Agency Model, Monks India MD Ketan Desai Sees Creativity & Marketing Shifting To Outcomes

Monks India MD Ketan Desai on how AI is changing agency models, accelerating creativity, reshaping storytelling and forcing brands to rethink marketing

The agency business is entering another structural shift. After moving from full-service to digital, integrated and data-led models, agencies are now confronting a bigger disruption: AI is changing not just how advertising is produced, but how marketing value is created and delivered.

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In a conversation with Kalpana Ravi, Ketan Desai, Managing Director, Monks India, discusses why AI is central to the company's operating model and what it means for the future of agencies and brands.

The agency model is being rewritten

Desai believes Monks is fundamentally different because it operates as a unified model rather than a collection of separate creative, media and technology businesses. More importantly, he says, AI is embedded in its DNA rather than being an additional capability added to the organisation.

For clients, however, the transition will not happen overnight. Different businesses are at different stages of AI adoption, with sectors such as automotive and finance already integrating AI deeply into how they operate and sell.

AI is shifting agencies from inputs to outcomes

One of the biggest changes AI could bring is to agency economics. Traditional models are largely built around people, time and resources allocated to an account. AI creates the possibility of a fundamentally different equation, where agencies can increasingly price around outcomes rather than inputs.

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But faster production does not mean removing people from the creative process.

AI can accelerate creativity without replacing creative judgement

Desai argues that AI is making the process faster and enabling teams to create things that would previously have taken considerably more time. But human judgement remains critical.

Someone still needs to recognise whether the lighting is right, whether the emotion works, whether the movement feels authentic or whether the idea itself has creative merit.

For Desai, the real question is therefore not creativity versus technology. Great creatives, he believes, will embrace technology because it expands the possibilities of what they can create.

India does not need Western validation

Desai is equally confident about India's creative opportunity. He argues that Indian advertising has already demonstrated its maturity and does not need external validation to establish its credentials.

India's enormous cultural, linguistic and demographic diversity also creates a unique testing ground. AI can amplify that advantage by allowing brands to create and adapt content across multiple languages and consumer groups at a scale that was previously difficult to achieve.

Performance must ultimately translate into business

The growing importance of performance marketing is another consequence of an increasingly data-driven ecosystem. While digital platforms allow brands to track immediate results, Desai believes the real question is whether those results translate into business impact.

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Different categories, he points out, require different approaches. Automotive, BFSI and travel can have highly trackable consumer journeys, while FMCG increasingly operates across e-commerce and quick-commerce ecosystems.

Gen Z is changing the language of brand storytelling

For Gen Z, simply repurposing legacy brand communication is unlikely to work. Desai believes brands need different languages, formats and approaches.

The growth of creators demonstrates why. Creators connect because they understand their audience and communicate in their own voice. Brands therefore need systems that protect the core message without micromanaging the creator.

“If you alter the way they speak, you lose the audience that you had them to talk.”

For Desai, that balance between technology and humanity, scale and relevance, control and authenticity could define the agency of the future.

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