Does Zuckerberg Want to End Marketing Agencies?

Not us reacting to Mark Zuckerberg's "Infinite Creative".

Nothing induces an existential crisis for a video production and social media agency like the recent headlines about Mark Zuckerberg's new AI. Early in May he announced that Meta will use AI to completely produce ads for small businesses. Hi, we really like our job and clients, please don’t take them.

We wrote a blog post about AI taking video production and photography jobs only a year ago and since then, AI has been refining and ramping up. And advertising wasn’t even really on our list of jobs AI might replace, silly us.

In that same year, Bennett Creative saw an explosion of growth in our social media and ad agency in Austin, Texas. We hired Kayla Fitch, social media wizard and genius, and have watched the numbers climb. She’s really good at her job, y’all.

The logical part of us is sure our clients would never leave us for AI, yet there’s a small voice in the back of our heads that wonders. 

What is Zuckerberg’s AI’s “Infinite Creative”?

In a bold move, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled a plan to revolutionize the advertising industry by leveraging artificial intelligence to automate the entire ad creation process. This initiative, dubbed "infinite creative," aims to allow businesses to input their objectives and budget, leaving AI to handle everything from content creation to targeting and performance analysis.

Zuckerberg claims you can just tell AI what your business is and what you want to accomplish and it will generate an ad from scratch. “We’re going to get to a point where you’re a business, you come to us, you tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out,” Zuckerberg said in his latest interview.

While this approach promises efficiency and scalability, it has raised concerns among industry professionals. Critics argue that AI lacks the human touch necessary for crafting emotionally resonant campaigns that build lasting brand identities. Johnny Hornby, CEO of The & Partnership, emphasizes that iconic campaigns owe their success to human creativity, something AI cannot replicate.

Will Marketing and Social Media Agencies Be Replaced by AI?

To survive, it's crucial for marketing and social media agencies to adapt and find ways to integrate AI tools without compromising the essence of human creativity. The future of advertising may well depend on a harmonious collaboration between human ingenuity and artificial intelligence. We repeat: this is a tool, not a take-over. Yet.

We love reading comments, and here are a few comments that resonated with us on Matt Diamante’s instagram post about Zuckerberg’s announcement.

“The only marketers that will be out of work in 10 years are the ones who aren’t growing and adapting to the landscape!”  - @heytony.agency

“I don’t think our jobs will go away, but I do think they will evolve. Our communication will be strategy, copy editing, and prompt writing.” - @pat_timmons

Again, stay vigilant my marketing and social media friends, and keep adapting.

Hold Up: Humans Still Social Media Marketing Better

As mentioned, there has been some debate online about just giving AI your business and objectives and just waiting to see what it spits out. You’re basically relinquishing control over what it generates. What if you hate it and it’s not at all on brand? Could be a nightmare. We all know how AI occasionally gets things very wrong.

In our follow-up blog post about hedging against AI taking your video production or photography job, we did mention that AI still has a long way to go. Meta AI is getting better, but you still need someone to ‘drive the train’, a human to prompt it properly - especially if you care about branding.

Anyone who has used ChatGPT or Midjourney image generator has noticed many flaws, noticeably with branding. ChatGPT still can’t do specific fonts. You cannot just throw any font on an image. We know firsthand, brand kits - fonts included - matter deeply to a company. 

Again, entry level jobs are on the chopping block. However, creative directors with experience will use this AI development as another tool. Learn how it works and utilize the technology. Smart brands will know you still need a human to get the results you want when it comes to AI.

Will AI Replace Video Production?

While video production is still safe from AI, we have bad news for media buyers. Instead of relying on a human strategist to analyze performance and adjust placements, Meta’s AI takes a batch of ad creatives, say five video variations, and instantly tests them, optimizing in real time for what performs best. The algorithm essentially acts as a self-adjusting media strategist, learning what works, who responds, and where budgets should shift, all without human input.

In the context of social media marketing, this could mean the traditional media buyer role is becoming obsolete, especially at the entry level. Brands can now launch campaigns faster, with fewer steps between creative delivery and audience targeting. While experienced strategists still play a role in interpreting high-level insights and steering creative direction, much of the day-to-day optimization is increasingly handled by the algorithm.

So while the media buyer job will most likely cease to exist, we think marketing agencies are still going to be in demand. Everyone knows, Meta Ads are a pain to operate, and small companies will still probably be willing to pay someone to deal with that headache. On top of the aforementioned mistakes and lack of branding that AI comes with.

What is “Dead Internet” Theory?

Another comment on @heytony.agency’s Instagram post summed up the collective unease around Meta’s latest AI tools in five chilling words: “Ushering in the dead internet at warp speed.” It’s a sharp take on a growing concern that AI-generated content is flooding the web. That this will make the internet feel less human, less real, and increasingly hollow.

The “dead internet theory” isn’t just about bots or misinformation. It’s the idea that more and more of the content we scroll through is algorithmically generated or optimized, with minimal human input. And now, with Meta’s Infinite Creative and AI-powered ad engines, even the ads we see might be generated, tested, and launched with barely a person involved. What happens when the ads are AI, the copy is AI, the commenters are bots, and the media buyers are gone?

We’re already seeing a content monoculture emerge. Bland visuals, generic messaging, and templated campaigns that lack the quirks and imperfections of real human creativity are showing up. When every brand is using the same tools to generate content, it all starts to look and feel the same. That’s what the “dead internet” fears: a place where content feels automated, soulless, and disconnected from actual people.

For video production companies like Bennett Creative, this is a moment of truth. Do we lean into speed and automation? Or double down on creative storytelling and branded content that breaks the algorithmic mold? As AI eats up more corners of marketing, brands that want to stand out may need to re-embrace the human touch.

Bennett Creative: Where AI Ends and Human Creativity Begins

Meta’s new suite of AI ad tools may be revolutionary for streamlining the ad process, but they also signal a major shift in how digital campaigns are built, tested, and launched.

Media buyers, once essential to interpreting data and guiding strategy, are increasingly being replaced by algorithms that not only optimize in real time but select which creatives are likely to perform best—before a human ever intervenes. And now, with Meta's Infinite Creative encroaching on the role of designers and agencies, it’s clear that even creative professionals need to adapt quickly.

But here’s the truth: while AI can generate, test, and deploy, it still can’t replicate a brand’s soul. It doesn’t understand nuance, emotional tone, or long-term strategy. The internet might be changing fast—and yes, maybe even “dying” in some ways—but there’s still massive value in human-led, high-quality storytelling.

At Bennett Creative, we believe this is where the future of marketing lives: at the intersection of automation and authentic, original content. If you’re ready to launch video campaigns that cut through the noise and reflect your brand’s true voice—get in touch. We’d love to help you ride the wave without losing what makes you stand out.