More than 50 senior marketing leaders from across Ireland gathered in Dublin this week to discuss “The New Media Playbook”, an invitation-only event hosted by Deloitte Digital in collaboration with Buymedia, that examined how brands can move beyond the hype surrounding artificial intelligence and deploy the technology to deliver measurable business results.
The event brought together marketers from financial services, FMCG, healthcare, tourism, education, the public sector and charities at a time when organisations face increasing pressure to embrace AI despite uncertainty over its commercial impact. According to Supermetrics’ 2026 Marketing Data Report, 80% of marketers feel under pressure to adopt AI, while only 6% have fully integrated it into their day-to-day workflows. Separate research from Gartner suggests that one-third of organisations have yet to realise measurable returns on their AI investments.
Opening the event, Dylan Cotter, managing director, ACNE, a Deloitte Digital agency argued that generative AI is fundamentally changing how brands create relevance rather than simply reducing production costs. He said marketers were moving away from broad, one-size-fits-all advertising towards always-on creative systems capable of adapting content around audience segments, consumer moments and behavioural mindsets.
Fergal O’Connor, founder and CEO of Buymedia, said AI had become a competitive necessity rather than a technology discussion. He argued that AI-powered media planning enables marketers to analyse thousands of data points across multiple channels simultaneously, reducing reliance on human bias and allowing investment decisions to be driven by evidence rather than convention.
Meanwhile, Stephen Barnes of ENTIRE EDIH and the Walton Institute highlighted how extended reality technologies are already delivering measurable commercial benefits, showcasing case studies spanning healthcare, tourism, hospitality and retail.
The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring senior marketers alongside representatives from CeADAR Ireland, the national centre for applied AI. The discussion focused on practical implementation strategies rather than experimentation.
Among the panellists, Stephen Williams, group director of sales, marketing and IT at Windward Management, outlined how the hospitality group has incorporated AI across media planning, customer engagement and revenue generation. Using Buymedia’s AI-powered media planning platform alongside other AI tools, the company has reduced digital advertising expenditure by 20% while increasing revenue through more personalised guest communications and marketing.
Lynda Vance, group creative manager at Stena Line, discussed the company’s collaboration with ACNE in using generative AI to develop and localise creative campaigns across multiple international markets. While AI had accelerated creative production and adaptation, she said experienced marketers remained essential to ensuring quality, strategic direction and commercial effectiveness.
The session was chaired by seasoned advertising and marketing veteran and co-founder of AI platform MarkGo, Peter McPartlin, who said marketers needed practical guidance rather than further discussion about AI.
“Every CMO in Ireland is under pressure to make a move on AI. But pressure without direction is just noise. That’s what this event is about: cutting through the noise. The tools are changing faster than the thinking,” he said.
O’Connor added: “The marketers who win will not be the ones who adopted AI earliest, but the ones who put it to work most intelligently. For us that means powering the precision behind every media decision, while keeping human judgement in charge of the strategy.”
