OLIVER Ireland and Jellyfish, both of which are part of The Brandtech Group, hosted a joint client event last week called “AI: From Chaos to Clarity,” bringing together partners, clients and industry leaders to explore how organisations can navigate AI through the lenses of governance, data and martech, and creativity.
The morning session opened with a focus on governance, led by Laura Myles, IP Partner at Flynn O’Driscoll. She outlined the legal and intellectual-property issues arising from AI-generated content while she also discussed the steps brands can take to reduce risk, how IP offices are responding to evolving ownership and infringement questions, and the wider regulatory trends emerging around AI.
The discussion moved on to brand governance and content production with Sam Yates, chief solutions officer, AI Studios at Jellyfish, who examined how generative AI tools such as Pencil enable brands to scale content creation — and why governance and consistency matter even more in this environment.
Yates also explored how agentic workflows can embed brand guidelines directly into content teams. In addition, Paul McBride, MD and Founder of Peroptyx, contributed insights on cultural governance and the importance of managing the inputs that train and influence AI systems.
A second panel, chaired by Brendan Hayes, senior analytics Director at Jellyfish, examined the evolving role of data and martech. Hayes said the main challenge today is no longer about data availability but about whether organisations have context for that data.
Panelists explored how agentic workflows differ from conventional automation by connecting multiple steps- pulling data, interpreting context, making decisions and executing actions. Speakers Rhiannon Davies, VP of creative strategy at Jellyfish, and Reggie Lyons, head of data at Ding.com, agreed that the objective remains the same: becoming more data-driven, solving real business problems and reducing the time from data to decision to action.
The final panel focused on creativity and AI and was moderated by Lee Douglas, executive director of OLIVER Ireland, with contributions from Lena Opara, associate creative director & AI lead at OLIVER Ireland, and Sam Broster, global managing director at OLIVER (Diageo lead). The group reviewed findings from The Drum’s Pulse Survey, which shows that 58% of CMOs now cite “speed to market” as the main driver of AI investment. The panel questioned whether speed alone is enough, discussing how brands can ensure AI enhance-rather than dilutes-connection, engagement and creative quality.
Speaking after the event, Mark McCann, CEO of OLIVER Ireland, said the companies wanted to demonstrate how AI is already reshaping marketing and creative workflows.
“OLIVER has been using AI for several years now and we were delighted to co-host this event with Jellyfish to show our capabilities and expertise in this area,” McCann said.
“Ensuring your business has a robust AI policy, engaging your teams in AI, and discussing your interesting business or marketing challenges to figure out which ones you could test with AI tools is key.
He added: “At OLIVER we’re working with our brand partners to ensure we’re deploying AI in the right areas and for the right reasons. AI requires human input- from ideation, storyboarding and design- which is no different from what we’ve always done. Yes, AI is moving at pace, but creative experience and curiosity are as relevant as ever. AI within the creative process requires skilled personnel to ensure best practice and creative outcomes. Worth noting is that we will always overestimate the change we’ll see in two years and underestimate the change we will see in ten.”
Aislinn O’Toole, managing director at Jellyfish, said the company’s approach combines generative and agentic AI to strengthen media, creative and measurement capabilities.
“Jellyfish uniquely combines generative and agentic AI across media, content, creative and measurement, enabling brands to solve business challenges faster and smarter,” O’Toole said.
“From Pencil to proprietary capabilities like Share of Model and Social Agents, we deliver integrated, end-to-end transformation. As part of The Brandtech Group, and like our colleagues at OLIVER, we believe these tools offer a significant advantage to brands, and when used by experienced, trained practitioners, they help deliver faster and smarter outcomes for our clients.”
