The Evolution from Ads to AI
My last post introduced my 10-80-10 model for scaling teams. Did you notice how closely this mirrors the four patterns of AI agents?
- •Reflection: Just like your best team members review their own work
- •Tool Use: Like experienced staff knowing when to use which resources
- •Planning: Breaking down complex tasks, just as skilled managers do
- •Multi-Agent Collaboration: The digital version of cross-functional teams
My first experiment with this was the AI Whisperer. Not perfect, but useful. It uses multiple agents working together:
- •An analyst agent creates the initial report
- •A critique agent examines the work and suggests improvements
- •A prompt engineering agent refines the process
- •The analyst then rewrites, but better
- •And everything gets stored and learned from
Cost? About 25¢ instead of 7¢ for a basic report. Quality? About 80% client-ready. But more importantly, it keeps getting better.
The Next Step? An AI "Chief of Staff"
Imagine something that can:
- •Coordinate between specialist agents
- •Choose between competing recommendations
- •Learn from what works (and what doesn't) & remember it!
- •Adapt to different client needs and goals - one agent each?
Remember: For this first version, I did all the planning. I used my years of agency experience to design the system, to break down the tasks, to decide which agent does what. The AI didn't figure this out - I did.
In the future, agents will get better at this kind of planning. Breaking down your goal into sub-tasks, designing the workflow, coordinating the specialists.
Quick note: Even the experts debate what constitutes an "agent". Some say it's just chains of prompts. I want us to think about what will be possible in 6-12 months!
The Gap is Growing
I urge you to consider this carefully: The gap between agencies using AI effectively and those falling behind is growing every week.
By late 2025, it might be unbridgeable. The slow won't be able to catch up - they'll be out of business.
But here's the good news: You can start today. And it's not about learning to code or inventing new management techniques from scratch.
Start with scripts. You can literally copy and paste scripts from me, or Nils or Arjan & many others. They're proven, they work, and they're your first step into automation.
And if scripts seem scary? I have a challenge for you. Go to 8020agent.com/scary
I promise that in just 14 minutes, scripts won't be scary anymore.
Scripts are just the beginning of your journey from Ads to AI. They're how you practice thinking about automation, how you start breaking free from platform limitations, how you build systems that scale.