By Katie Herzog – Chief Client Officer
There’s a moment I’ve encountered more times than I can count. A new lead calls and says, “We need something live in the next 30 to 60 days.” Underneath that urgency? Pressure.
Maybe it’s investors or a new competitor who just launched something shiny. Maybe revenue softened, and the board is asking hard questions. Usually, it’s a leader staring at a new bar that’s been set — and they’re not entirely sure how to clear it.
What they’re really saying is, “We need help. And we need it now.” On the other side of the table, agencies often respond with a different truth: “We need four to six months to develop strategy and concepts.”
Neither side is wrong. But the solution to wanting short-term wins and long-term thinking isn’t compromise. It’s running on parallel paths.
Thoughtful strategy takes time because unique insights take time.
Insights come from research and tension: juxtaposing findings in ways that reveal something new. You have to let ideas marinate long enough to turn them into something original instead of something obvious.
We sometimes call this process “entering the maze.” After you are faced with a creative challenge, the first exit is always there. Without fail, there’s a safe, predictable idea that feels good because it’s familiar. To find a more compelling path, you have to stay in the maze a little longer. It naturally takes time to sift past the obvious and find the insight that actually moves behavior.
When we compress that process too much, the strategy often reflects what the client already knows, which means the work looks a lot like what’s already been done. That leaves everyone wondering why nothing really changed. So, if there’s no shortcut for strategic thinking, can AI help shorten the process?
New tools allow us to work faster…but they don’t solve the whole problem.
AI is making the process even more complicated since it is often billed as the solution to making things good, fast and cheap. Historically, you could only pick two of the three.
Now, the narrative goes like this: AI makes everything faster and cheaper. Therefore, timelines should shrink. Budgets should drop. Strategy should accelerate. Right?
Are we living in a post-triple constraint world? On the surface, it feels like we might be.
Tools like Nano Banana and a growing list of AI video creation platforms can spin up content in minutes. Copy generators can produce 50 headlines before your coffee cools. Visual tools can mock up campaigns in record time. Even Claude and Perplexity can expedite some initial research tasks. There’s no doubt, AI is powerful.
But here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: most things created in those tools are fine. Sometimes, they can even be surprisingly good. Often, however, they miss the mark with obvious evidence of AI involvement that reads as sloppy or unfinished.
Source: YouTube
Take Coca-Cola’s recent AI-assisted holiday campaign. It sparked A LOT of conversation, and it pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in AI production. The spot definitely wasn’t a “press a button and ship it” exercise (WSJ reported that more than 100 creatives were involved) and it was guided by a deeply embedded brand platform that’s been cultivated for decades. Even with all that support, the result was widely criticized for its feeling of being hollow, sloppy and disconnected (from itself and reality).
When something is good, it usually doesn’t happen by accident. It requires significant time, expertise and taste to get there. You need iteration, prompt refinement, strategic guardrails and creative direction. In other words: people and time.
Source: YouTube
Google, on the other hand, built a Thanksgiving-themed “AI-assisted” ad with much more success. But it was built with a very specific objective: educating the audience on how the tool can help them with everyday tasks, like planning travel. The messaging was clear; it connected to a cultural insight (or at least moment), and the result is an ad that doesn’t take itself too seriously while still getting the key message across. Not bad!
The truth is, AI absolutely can accelerate execution. It can help us explore more paths inside the maze. It can reduce certain production costs. But it does not eliminate the need for judgment, taste or strategic clarity. Speed without direction just gets you lost faster.
How to balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s vision.
When leaders are feeling business pressure, activity in the short term usually buys credibility. But you also need to create movement toward the goals of tomorrow.
Netflix is a masterclass in understanding this dynamic. In the short term, they optimize constantly — adjusting pricing tiers, introducing ad-supported models and discouraging password sharing. Those tactical responses are great for addressing immediate business pressures.
But zoom out, and you see a long-term arc from DVD-by-mail to streaming pioneer to global content creator and entertainment ecosystem. The short-term moves are not random acts of marketing; they’re part of a deliberate evolution.
Running short-term and long-term in parallel.
One thing we often suggest is a “quick wins” plan to run parallel to a larger strategic initiative. We begin by suggesting two or three smart, practical moves that create incremental value now, such as optimizing email for cross-selling, adjusting media to maximize retargeting or refining conversion paths. The goal is optimization, not reinvention.
At the same time, the deeper work continues. We research, develop insights and clarify the real business challenge. All of it helps shape a long-term vision for how marketing supports growth.
This approach works best when those paths run in parallel. We iterate upon the short-term solution while the long-term strategy is formed. Ideally, by month 12 or 18, what began as a quick start has seamlessly evolved into something more cohesive and defensible.
Success, then, isn’t measured by one launch. It’s measured by alignment around what needs to happen NOW and how much progress we’re making toward the broader business vision.
If we only look long-term, progress can feel slow and abstract. If we only chase short-term wins, we risk trading enduring value for temporary applause.
Whether we have six days or six months, there is no way to ensure a strategy is perfect. But if we can build our long-term vision while doing the next right thing today, we give ourselves the best chance of seeing it come to life. It’s all about learning how to move and think at the same time.