From Tools to Transformation: How Indy Agencies Can Think About AI in 2026

We sat down with David Lee, EVP at Samsung Electronics and Head of Samsung Next, for a conversation about AI transformation and what it really means for independent agencies.

The discussion between David and Frank Lee, Snap Inc.’s Global Head of Independent Agencies, focuses on the practical shifts indy agencies can consider to stay relevant and create long-term value for their clients this year.

Key takeaways:

1. Indy agencies need to have a deep understanding of their clients’ challenges, before they even know them, so AI tools add true value to their workflows by solving problems.

2. While we live in an AI-driven world, the agencies who will succeed will maintain their role as trusted advisors–institutional knowledge, foresight, and judgement can’t be replaced–and will figure out how to leverage AI to optimize their own profit margins.

3. Work needs to expand beyond creative and media placements. Agencies need to figure out how to make brands show up in AI-driven discovery in order to help them drive growth.

Check out the full conversation below:

Frank Lee (FL): David, you see AI from the lens of investors, operators, and platform builders. When you look at where AI actually is today versus how it’s being talked about, what feels real and what feels overstated?

David Lee (DL): The biggest disconnect is that we talk about AI as if it’s one thing, when in reality it shows up at very different levels, especially between individual and company applications. Without acknowledging how AI fits into these different levels, it’s easy to get distracted. Agencies who lean into these different levels and understand the reality of them will win in 2026.

To go deeper, at the individual level, AI tools are already real and useful, changing how people write, analyze, code, design, and move through daily workflows–the productivity gains are tangible and immediate, which is why adoption has been so fast. At the company level, true transformation is not about sprinkling tools on top of existing processes. Most companies underestimate how much work that takes. At the industry level, a lot of what you hear is still aspirational. The biggest changes will come when AI reshapes business models, not just tasks. That takes longer, and it requires organizations to let go of how they have historically created value.

FL: When agencies, or really any companies, launch an AI initiative, what works and what doesn’t work? Any advice to help agency leaders use AI to really drive change?

DL: The companies that succeed do the hard, unglamorous work to deeply understand their existing processes, storyboard workflows step-by-step, and ultimately identify where AI can meaningfully augment or automate steps. They train systems over time with real organizational context and data. They build feedback loops so the system learns from mistakes and improves over time.

The biggest pitfall I’ve seen leaders make is running pilots without committing to training and integration. AI does not magically understand your business, and it shouldn’t be treated as a vanity project. If you don’t invest in teaching it your context, challenges, and desired outcomes, it will always stay shallow and unreliable.

FL: Many indy agencies are using third-party AI tools, while others are building their own platforms. In a world where marketing automation keeps expanding, what value does the agency of tomorrow still bring to brands?

DL: The value is knowing your clients’ trajectories better than they do themselves. Do you know your industry and your clients–the challenges, the customer behaviors, the trends–like the back of your hand so you can anticipate needs and either build solutions or expand your tech stack to help them through those needs. As AI handles more execution, the real value of agencies moves toward institutional knowledge, judgment, and foresight.

FL: You’ve described AI as the next medium for advertising, similar to the shifts from TV to digital to mobile. What changes when AI becomes the interface between brands and consumers?

DL: Every major shift in advertising has been tied to a change in interface. TV created the commercial. The PC gave us display advertising. Mobile unlocked social. AI changes the interface again, and with it, the nature of discovery and influence. Agencies need to zero in on how brands show up inside AI-driven discovery.

When AI becomes the layer between a brand and a consumer, advertising moves closer to decision-making itself. Instead of persuading someone to click, brands are increasingly influencing how an AI agent searches, compares, and recommends on a consumer’s behalf. This is what I call agentic commerce.

Search also starts to look very different. Rather than scanning pages of results, consumers rely on AI to synthesize options and surface answers. That shifts the role of brands from simply being visible to being legible and trustworthy to machines as well as humans.

Agencies need to expand work beyond creative and media placement. The opportunity is not just new formats, but a new role in helping brands stay relevant when the interface itself is no longer a screen, but an intelligent system making choices for people.

FL: If you had to give one piece of advice to independent agencies thinking about AI transformation right now, what would it be?

DL: Don’t start with tools. Start with truth. Be honest about how work actually happens inside your organization today. Then decide where AI genuinely helps you deliver better outcomes for clients. The agencies that do that will not just survive this shift, they’ll redefine what partnership looks like in the next era.