What’s your take? Human insights still matter.

One of my favorite aspects of strategic planning is finding ‘white space’ opportunities for brands to stand out as distinct and relevant—envisioning new ways for brands to engage target audiences and create new (and impactful) meaning. Not only is it a great challenge to find the ‘white space’ (especially in crowded categories), but coming up with fresh, relevant ideas requires another level of creative dreaming and scheming—all within the parameters of strategy.

Can AI achieve all this? Sure—and the agents will undoubtedly only become more advanced. But can they find the opportunities to zig when everyone else is zagging in the same way a strong brief and a roomful of weird, wild, and wonderful creatives might?

I suppose that depends on the brief and the brains in the room.

Across the sixteen years I spent as a brand strategist in marketing agencies, I developed a brand planning framework called “The Six C’s,” which I use to guide my research, whether I’m positioning a new brand or launching a campaign for an established one. While exhaustive, this framework ensures that planners explore all avenues for aggressive positioning—going beyond a simple competitive analysis to ensure marketers understand the culture a brand exists within, its category, consumer trends, competitive headwinds, and channel trends a brand might capitalize on. The breadth and depth this framework requires in terms of research is guaranteed to product a strong go-to-market strategy, but also endless messaging and/or campaign ideas.

Pre-Ai, I would spend two weeks hustling to conduct and analyze all the research. Of note: the best insights came from the intensive analysis … but in 2026, thanks to the power of Ai, I’ve flipped my framework into a simple online experience that brand strategists can use to expedite their research, kickstart their analysis, and get to stronger briefs, faster.

But here’s the thing: this Ai tool may turn your research time from weeks into days, but I believe the best strategies require critical analysis, a few chats over coffee with a smart creative director, a phone call with your paid media lead, and an exciting albeit spiraling conversation with your in-house social media producer. Ai can push these conversations farther, faster, but I still believe the best creative, smartest campaigns, and most impactful marketing programs are a culmination of sharp insights, inspired brains, and seasoned practitioners. Human insights still matter.