AI Readiness in Practice

AI adoption has accelerated rapidly across the marketing and creative industries, shifting from isolated experimentation to broader operational use. As momentum builds, a widening gap has emerged between how agencies assess their AI readiness and how buyers evaluate it in practice.

To understand where the market stands, Evros Group conducted parallel surveys of independent agency leaders alongside private equity investors and strategic buyers. The result is a dual-lens view of AI readiness, capturing both operator intent and buyer expectations as AI moves from experimentation to execution.

The findings reveal a clear pattern: motivation is high, but execution remains uneven. Many agencies remain at mid-maturity, where AI capability is fragmented and difficult to measure. Buyers, by contrast, assume baseline adoption and focus on institutionalization — clear ownership, repeatable workflows, measurable outcomes, and client-facing commercialization.

This report outlines five themes defining today’s AI maturity gap, clarifying where the buyer bar now sits and how agency leaders can respond with focus and urgency.

We hope this analysis provides a useful lens as you navigate AI adoption, growth, and long-term positioning. If you have questions or would like to discuss specific observations in more detail, we welcome the conversation.