Smartly is bringing its ADVANCE industry event back to New York City on September 29, with music producer Timbaland set to join Smartly CEO Laura Desmond for a mainstage discussion on creativity, originality and artificial intelligence in advertising.

The event at Spring Studios is expected to bring together more than 750 senior leaders from brands, agencies and technology platforms, according to Smartly. The agenda spans creative AI, commerce AI, media, agency transformation and the convergence of performance and brand marketing.

Timbaland's participation puts the creative implications of generative AI at the center of the event. His discussion with Desmond is expected to examine how marketers can preserve distinctive creative perspectives as AI makes content production and experimentation more accessible.

The broader agenda reflects a significant shift underway across advertising technology. Smartly's platform combines creative production, media management and intelligence, positioning AI as an orchestration layer across campaign workflows rather than simply a tool for generating advertising assets.

Speakers listed for ADVANCE include executives from Accenture Song, DoorDash, Google, Horizon Media, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, The New York Times, WPP, Wpromote and YouTube. Their participation highlights how AI-driven advertising is becoming a cross-platform issue involving creative development, media buying, commerce and consumer discovery.

The timing also aligns with broader industry investment in AI. The Interactive Advertising Bureau's 2026 outlook forecasts U.S. advertising spending to grow 9.5% year over year, while five of the six top buyer priorities identified in its research are centered on AI. Two-thirds of surveyed buyers are specifically focused on agentic AI for advertising buying and campaign execution.

That transition creates a more complicated challenge for marketers. Greater automation can accelerate production and optimization, but it also raises questions about creative differentiation, brand consistency, measurement and consumer trust.

IAB research published in January found that 82% of advertising executives believed Gen Z and millennial consumers feel positive about AI-generated advertising, compared with 45% of consumers who actually reported positive sentiment. The gap suggests that increasing AI adoption does not necessarily translate into greater consumer acceptance.

ADVANCE's emphasis on human creativity alongside AI therefore reflects a broader industry debate: whether advertising organizations should use AI primarily to increase production efficiency or as a way to redesign how creative, media and commerce decisions are made.

Market Landscape

AI is moving from experimentation toward operational infrastructure across advertising. IAB's 2026 research shows buyers increasingly prioritizing agentic AI, cross-platform measurement and performance optimization.

At the same time, the industry's growing dependence on automated creative systems introduces new challenges around quality and authenticity. IAB has developed an AI transparency and disclosure framework as marketers increasingly use generative AI in advertising production.

Strategic Outlook

Smartly's ADVANCE reflects the convergence of creative technology, advertising media and commerce infrastructure. The event's agenda suggests that the next phase of AI adoption will focus less on isolated content-generation tools and more on integrated systems capable of connecting creative decisions with media performance.

For agencies and brands, the strategic question will be how to scale AI-enabled production without making advertising less distinctive. Human judgment, brand voice and measurement are likely to remain important differentiators as automated campaign execution expands.

Top Insights

• Smartly's ADVANCE takes place September 29 at Spring Studios in New York City.
• Timbaland will discuss creativity and originality in the AI era with Smartly CEO Laura Desmond.
• More than 750 industry leaders are expected, according to Smartly.
• IAB forecasts 9.5% U.S. ad-spend growth in 2026.
• Two-thirds of surveyed buyers are focused on agentic AI for ad buying and campaign execution.
• Consumer attitudes toward AI-generated advertising remain less positive than advertiser expectations.

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