👋 Greetings earthlings,

Emma here, co-founder of Spark AI. I'm keeping this week's newsletter short because the 4th edition of the Spark Report is here – and there's a lot to get stuck into. It's called AI in Agencies: From Activity to Advantage, and it's the most comprehensive picture of where agencies actually are with AI that we've put together.

Through the Spark AI Maturity Model™ we track AI capability across people, process, data, tools, and strategy. The pattern that’s risen to the surface this time is very consistent and clear: individually, people are moving well beyond simply experimenting with AI. Organisationally, most agencies haven't kept up. They are leaving huge opportunity and huge value on the table and now’s the time to take it.

Here are the findings to sit with.

1. The productivity paradox

89% of staff are recovering time with AI - some up to 10 hours a week (after just half a day of AI training). That should be transformative – but in most agencies, that time is being reabsorbed into doing more of the same rather than reinvested into deeper capability, handling more clients, or higher value strategic work. Agencies are celebrating busyness instead of building capacity. Recovered hours remain the single biggest untapped asset in the business.

2. The governance gap

52% of AI activity in agencies is completely ungoverned. People are using AI confidently and independently – but without policies, guardrails, or any leadership-level framework around it. The workforce already knows this is a problem: interest in IP and data risk management has surged 50% in six months. They're waiting for leadership to catch up.

3. The confidence gap

83% of staff report themselves as capable AI users. But when we measured against what AI fluency actually looks like today – building shared projects with context, using structured workflows supported by AI assistants, automating repeatable tasks – only 15% are doing it. Confidence built on experimentation feels like progress. It isn't. And most agencies have no structure in place to help people cross that gap.

4. The commercial shift

AI use in content generation jumped from 20% to 47% in six months. Agencies that haven't rethought their commercial models – how they price, scope, and sell work – are already being undercut by those that have. This is no longer a future problem.

What the report gives you

The Spark Report doesn't stop at diagnosis. It maps every finding against our AI Maturity Model – from Experimentation through to Innovation – to help you find out exactly where your agency sits and plan your next move. We include a 90-day action plan with practical next steps for each stage, case studies and real use cases across strategy, creative, client services, and operations.

Whether you're trying to get from experimenting with AI to your agency being fully rewired, or you're already doing this and want to know what the next frontier looks like, it's all in there.

Coming up this week

Tomorrow Jules and I take to the airwaves with a podcast episode walking through the key findings and what they mean in practice. We'll share it on LinkedIn and Spotify – keep an eye out.

If any of this raises questions about where your agency sits, or what the move from activity to advantage actually looks like – reply to this email. I read every one.

See you in Miami next week? ☀️

I'm in Miami for the next couple of weeks. First up is Agency Hackers Miami Super Summit on 22–23 April – two days of agency leadership talks with Rory Sutherland, Blair Enns, Daniel Gilbert, and others. Then I'm heading to POSSIBLE on 27–29 April at the Fontainebleau.

If you're going to be at either, let me know – I'd love to grab a coffee. Ping me a note.

Now get stuck into the report! And please let me know what you think as ever.

Emma

Co-founder, Spark AI

About Spark AI

Spark AI helps you lead your team through the biggest shift since digital, with AI training, transformation and tools. We've worked with 60+ agencies, published the
#1 bestselling book on AI for Agencies, and teach at Oxford University.

👉 Find out more 

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