AI Transformation That Gets Marketers Home for Dinner

When I sit down with CEO Andrew Swinand to discuss ITG’s framework for adopting a new tech-driven content model, I ask him what he hopes AI can achieve for people in marketing. And honestly, I expect him to answer in business language. Instead he says he hopes people will be able to say more frequently, “I made it home for dinner with my family.”

It’s a human yardstick for a chaotic industry – more channels, more formations, more personalisation demands – and fewer people with less time. The aim of AI, he argues, isn’t to flood the world with more ‘stuff’; it’s to “reduce the overwhelm”, connect the work, engage the personal, and make better decisions faster.

ITG’s framework for transformation, which they call Knowing, Flowing and Growing, is the connective tissue turning ambition into an actual way of working smarter. Andrew took me through each of them.

Knowing: Turning Data into Direction

“Most marketers are asking for AI without Knowing what exactly they want it to do,” explains Andrew. “The opportunity isn’t just to generate; it’s to understand what to make and why.”

So Knowing is about using AI to organise and interpret the mountain of unstructured data that marketing produces. It connects signals from campaigns, channels, and creative assets into something actionable. But ITG’s framework always begins with discovery – stakeholder interviews, data analysis, and operational mapping to expose friction points. “You have to know where the time goes before you can win it back,” says Andrew.

ITG couples data ingestion with decision support – automating creative briefs, surfacing content suggestions, and informing media choices. The point isn’t a “magic button”; but rather repeatable, evidence-based planning that shortens cycles and lifts hit rates. Knowing prevents waste before production even starts.

Andrew says the importance is in helping to answer the questions that matter – who should I target? What should I say? How should I spend?

Beginning here means you end up with better foresight as well as output. Knowing brings confidence to creative and media decisions, which makes the difference between chasing noise and building a plan that compounds.

Flowing: Making Operations the Engine of ROI

“If Knowing is about deciding the right thing to do,” says Andrew, “then Flowing is how you make sure it actually happens.”

Many AI-related conversations start and end with the shiny bit of generative outputs. Andrew draws a line between that and operational AI, the less glamorous, systems-level use of AI to organise information, streamline workflow, and scale execution. “You can’t spell ROI without boring,” he says. “But the operational layer is where the returns really show up.”

Flowing means connecting the entire content ecosystem from digital asset management, to workflow, automation, and approvals – all in one place. ITG’s Content Marketing Platform (Storyteq) serves as that central hub. API-first and tightly integrated with generative tools, it enables assets to be managed at the object level rather than by campaign.

That detail matters because “Unless you can change a red shirt to a blue shirt instantly across every market,” Andrew says, “the promises of AI-driven personalisation will never come true.”

Storyteq, coupled with ITG’s automation layer, allows content to flow seamlessly across channels and formats – adapting, localising, and versioning without manual rework. It’s operational AI that saves hours, reduces errors, and gets campaigns live faster.

Growing: Change How People Work, Not Just the Tools They Use

The third stage, Growing, recognises that no technology delivers value without people who know how to use it. “The hardest part of transformation”, Andrew says, “isn’t the software. It’s helping people do familiar things in new ways.”

ITG’s approach to growth is grounded in capability building. That means training teams, rethinking workflows, and reshaping roles so AI becomes a natural part of how work gets done.

Their work with John Lewis Partnership illustrates the point. Its in-house agency of more than 260 people was re-engineered into a more efficient and effective hybrid content studio, structured to deliver more for less and drive significant savings, all supported by ITG’s engineers and platforms. The shift consolidated seven legacy tools into a single system – a transformation that both simplifies and future-proofs JLP’s approach to content.

But Andrew’s barometer for success isn’t a dashboard. He says it’s whether “Mary,” the long-time studio manager, stops walking physical sign-offs between floors because approvals, rights, and variants now live in one connected system. Growing, Andrew asserts, is culture change made tangible.

You can read our more in-depth feature on Growing in conversation with ITG’s chief production officer Ian Hudson and growth operations director Lucy Pollard here.

The Outcome to Optimise For

We're always quick to say that change is hard, but it doesn't have to be. ITG positions this framework – Knowing, Flowing, and Growing – as a way to turn content into a competitive advantage that is insight-driven, contextually relevant, cheaper to produce, and faster to adapt. 

The stack includes decision intelligence, a central content platform, and the workflows that bind them. But the differentiator is discipline; it’s about starting with the decisions, investing in the people, and connecting the pipes.

Do that, and the benefits are practical and human, meaning better work, less waste, and fewer late nights. And more marketers making it home for what really matters – the moments they reclaim when the work finally works for them.