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The evolution of strategy

Myers, who describes himself as a “pragmatic planner,” has witnessed firsthand how the role of strategists has evolved. “When I first started my career, strategy was much narrower,” he reflects. “You had your advertising planners, and we weren’t calling ourselves strategists then. As things have gone on, the work that we do has gone much broader than communications.”

Strategists now have to have a specialism in ideally two areas, because two areas will make you unique rather than just specialising in one thing

Nick Myers, Chief Strategy Officer, OLIVER UK

Solving the in-house dilemma

Traditional in-housing faces a critical challenge: clients want agency expertise without agency inefficiencies. OLIVER’s founder Simon Martin “was frustrated by the client agency pingpong, the time that it would take, the disconnect that sometimes occurred as a result of the agency being on the outside.”

OLIVER’s solution goes beyond embedded talent. “We put talent inside, but then it’s reinforced by outer layers. We have a model we call it the pizza slice,” Myers explains. This includes brand teams in OLIVER’s central hub, The Brand Tech Group access, and offshore capabilities.

OLIVER’s solution is constant evolution. “We constantly look at the model that we’ve built with that client. Is it right? How do we need to evolve it? How do we need to blow it up so that we don’t get blown up?”

“It’s not a direct comparison with a client’s in-house. I’d call it in-housing plus,” creating “inside outsiders” with intimate client knowledge backed by broader agency capabilities.

The human element in an AI world

Despite AI’s growing influence, Myers emphasises that human insight remains irreplaceable. This human curiosity drives innovative solutions, like OLIVER’s development of “semblance,” which generates synthetic personas for virtual focus groups, providing “probably like 80% the truth and also a set of hypotheses for further research and conversations with people.”

Advice for the next generation

For young marketers navigating this AI-transformed landscape, Myers offers clear guidance: “You have to be adaptable and committed to continually learning. I think those two skills are essential survival skills.”

He’s particularly passionate about opening up the industry to diverse talent through his work with the Marketing Skills Trust. “Our industry is still quite a closed, network-based industry to get into,” he observes, which is why he’s committed to “opening it up” and “finding ways to make our industry more open and accessible to people who wouldn’t otherwise find us.”

As the marketing world continues to evolve, Myers’ message is clear: embrace AI not as a replacement for human creativity and insight, but as a powerful tool to amplify both. The future belongs to those who can harness technology while never losing sight of the human truths that drive all great marketing.

“Nobody’s going to carve out the time in your day,” Myers reminds us. “You’re going to have to carve out the time in your day to improve yourself.”