APAC Brands Build AI Production Systems as Access Becomes Commodity

Everyone has access to AI tools. But access is not the same as knowing how to run an AI-powered campaign properly.

That gap is exactly what a new breed of production companies is building around. And based on what's happening in Asia Pacific right now, the window to get ahead of it is closing fast.

The New Question Brands Are Actually Asking

In February 2026, Marie-Céline Merret Wirström and Vinne Schifferstein Vidal, both former leaders at Clemenger BBDO and Monks Australia and New Zealand, launched MC&V. It is an AI-native production company, but not one built around tools. It is built around workflow design, creative direction, and production systems.

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Within months, the company added Canva and Canteen to a client list that already included Adidas, Uniqlo, KFC, and Afterpay. That range of clients across tech, nonprofit, apparel, and fast food tells you something important: this is no longer a niche experiment.

As Vinne Schifferstein Vidal put it: "Right now, almost everyone has access to the same AI tools, but what's becoming more valuable is knowing how to turn those tools into work that holds up creatively and commercially."

From Experimentation to Infrastructure

The rest of the market is moving in the same direction, just through different entry points.

S4Capital's Monks launched its AI production ecosystem across APAC in May 2026, using AI agents to refine briefs, generate visuals, and automate the process of adapting content for different markets. TEAM LEWIS opened a new Singapore creative studio specifically designed for AI-driven campaign production, complete with a dedicated LED stage wall. WPP and Adobe deepened their partnership to connect Adobe's AI content tools with WPP's production network.

These are not isolated investments. They are all saying the same thing: AI production is infrastructure now, not a feature.

The Governance Gap Brands Are Ignoring

Here is the uncomfortable reality. 82% of marketing teams are already using AI without formal governance frameworks, even as 71% of legal departments have active concerns about AI-generated content. More than 70% of marketers have already run into an AI-related incident of some kind. Yet fewer than 35% plan to increase investment in AI governance.

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That mismatch is a liability, not just a process problem. Under US copyright law, purely AI-generated content without documented human creative input may not be protected by copyright at all. Brands publishing AI-heavy campaigns without clear authorship records risk losing competitive protection over their own creative assets.

Marie-Céline Merret Wirström described the shift in client conversations this way: "Clients are asking different questions now. Not just what AI can do, but how it fits into their process, their approvals and how it scales. That's where production thinking becomes critical."

What Marcomms Leaders Need in Place Now

McKinsey's analysis of agentic AI found it can accelerate campaign creation and execution by 10 to 15 times, and that up to 22% of a typical brand marketer's work could be automated within five years. Teams using AI automation for creative approvals are already saving an average of 3.6 hours per week and reporting 66% higher productivity compared to manual processes.

But those gains only materialize when the underlying systems are designed properly. That means defining who approves AI-generated outputs, how IP ownership is documented, how the workflow connects from brief to delivery, and what happens when something goes wrong.

The companies winning early are not the ones with the best AI tools. They are the ones who figured out how to run a production system around those tools. That distinction is what turns AI access into a durable competitive skill.