Ottawa's advertising industry is grappling with what artificial intelligence means for the people who make the ads, and several local agency leaders say the creative side of the business isn't going anywhere.
"The machine is not creative"
Tony Lyons, owner, president and chief creative officer of Alphabet Creative, put it bluntly: creative people are going to come out ahead in the AI era. "The creators are going to win," he said. "Creative people will win in this environment because the machine is not creative."
That confidence doesn't mean Ottawa agencies are ignoring the technology. Don Masters, president and creative director of Mediaplus Advertising, said his firm has already built AI into its early-stage workflow. "We are using AI in early-stage concept development for clients," he said, pointing to tasks like putting together storyboards for video ads and developing a visual approach for static creatives used in client presentations. In other words, AI is doing some of the rough sketching, while the agency's people are still shaping the ideas and making the final calls.
A tougher year for Ottawa agencies
The AI conversation is landing at a rocky moment for the city's ad business. McMillan, an Ottawa-based agency, filed for bankruptcy in July 2026, two years after being bought by New Jersey firm The S3 Agency in 2024. Longstanding Ottawa shop Blackiron also filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Two notable local names going under in the same year is a signal that the industry's pressures go beyond any one technology, even as AI adds a new variable to how agencies pitch, produce and staff their work.
Not every Ottawa agency is struggling. Acart Communications, which recently marked its 50th anniversary, expanded beyond the capital by acquiring a Toronto-based creative agency in 2024, a move that broadened its footprint and opened up more opportunities outside Ottawa. Andrew McWiggan is president and CEO of Acart Communications.
What it means for Ottawa's ad scene
For a city with a creative sector built around agencies like Alphabet Creative, Mediaplus and Acart, the stakes in this debate are local ones. Ottawa companies rely on these shops for branding, campaigns and the kind of creative work that's increasingly being tested against what AI tools can produce cheaply and quickly. The split emerging among local leaders, lean on AI for early concept work but trust people for the ideas that actually sell, could end up shaping which agencies survive the current shakeout and which don't.
Whether AI ends up being a tool that Ottawa agencies use to work faster, or a competitive threat that squeezes smaller shops further, is still playing out. For now, the city's ad executives are making the case that the thing clients are actually paying for, a good idea, is still a distinctly human product.
Sources: Ottawa Business Journal
