Bringing Tech Hype ‘Back To Earth,’ With Digitas Innovation Lead Morgan Pomish

The phrase “just because we can doesn’t mean we should” holds true at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the potential of so many new products and gadgets (not to mention all those flashing slot machines).

But for Morgan Pomish, head of innovation at Publicis-owned digital agency Digitas, finding the difference between “can” and “should” for clients is a must – especially when it comes to technology.

About three years ago, when Pomish was director of creative strategy at Digitas, she began having regular conversations with Keith Soljacich, now head of innovation at Publicis.

They found that the way they thought about technology at Digitas was too reactive. Emerging technologies – such as NFTs, blockchain and the metaverse – were only incorporated into their work as an afterthought when a client showed interest or a vendor presented them with an opportunity.

“It wasn’t really organically built into the creative process,” Pomish said.

Those chats inspired her to move into an innovation-focused role that she says helps clients navigate new technologies, but also develops internal products and best practices for people at Digitas.

AdExchanger spoke with Pomish about what brand leaders and advertisers should consider before jumping on the tech bandwagon.

AdExchanger: How does Digitas approach AI internally?

MORGAN POMISH: We have some amazing platforms that give our employees access to almost any artificial intelligence you can think of, and we have it all housed in an internal hub. Education is a big thing there – getting people to use and explore.

We also have very prescriptive guidelines that take data back from them to train their model. For example, if you need to use proprietary client information, there are some tools you can’t mess around with, but here are Digitas-approved things you can use to do that.

With all that access, what is the employee reception like?

We’ve seen significant adoption as team leaders task their teams with finding new and innovative ways to use AI for some of their more common needs.

Ability by ability is really where we see it starting to spread. And then there are obviously people who are early adopters than others. But by giving people access to it, I think we’re doing a really good job.

How do you yourself use generative artificial intelligence in your own workflow?

A lot of people use it to get specific answers, but I use it to get smarter by expanding my world, right? I like to ask generative AI to ask me questions back and forth until it comes up with something new. For example, “I’m trying to do X, Y, or Z. Can you keep asking me questions until you feel like we can get the best answer?”

Then I won’t push the AI ​​anymore; it encourages me.

What technology-related challenges and opportunities do you see in 2025 for agencies and the industry as a whole?

For advertising, gaming is a big nut. They all did the same thing. “Oh Roblox is open to brands?” We’re going to make a game in Roblox.” This model has worked – ish. But we’re moving into the next version of what that will be. We’ve started to take a more integration-focused approach with our clients.

Another ongoing challenge for clients is getting them to focus on not thinking about the technology first. Right now the tendency is to jump on the latest thing rather than start with the problem we are trying to solve. Sometimes the best solution to your problem can be a really old thing, right? And that’s okay.

How do you manage the hype cycles whenever the next big thing comes out?

Clients need help navigating the hype versus substance. I can’t tell you how many clients say, “We want to do this really cool thing because this vendor came to us.” That’s amazing, but of course this vendor thinks it’s great—that’s how they make their money.

But I see my role more as advisory. Our job is to have the hard conversations and say, “Why is this or isn’t right for your brand.” That comes from them knowing the brand, knowing their consumers, what they want, and knowing if between those three connection will be needed. Then finally it comes down to what this or that technology offers.

Sometimes I find myself being the person to bring us back down to earth. It’s hard to say no, but I think it’s important because it builds trust. If you always say yes, you won’t have a relationship with the client at the end of the day.

This interview has been slightly edited and condensed.