Sunny Ray sits down with Mike Denmore, CEO of Quirk Creative, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping advertising without replacing the human core of great campaigns. Denmore traces his path from account service roles at agencies like Wieden and Kennedy, BBH, Droga5, and Forsman and Bodenfors to leading Quirk, a leaner agency built by founders Merrill and Gaen Draper. He explains how AI now supports storyboarding, post production, and research, freeing creatives to focus on strategy and ideation, which he insists remains a distinctly human strength. The conversation covers the fears teams feel adopting new tools, why brand storytelling is resurging after years of performance marketing dominance, and how AI might eventually repurpose old footage into new stories. Denmore emphasizes that empathy for cultural context and human truth still drives advertising that resonates. He closes by pointing listeners to Quirk Creative's website and his LinkedIn for anyone interested in learning more or exploring a project together.
Quirk Creative's CEO explains why AI speeds up ad production but human creativity still wins the big ideas.
Tell us about your background before entrepreneurship and AI.
I was born in Chicago but grew up in Rhode Island, and I have been in New York for 22 years. I mostly worked at creative advertising agencies and joined Quirk about a year ago. The founders and team are amazing, and over the last year AI has become a regular part of our process, which helps us in a lot of ways but also brings watchouts.
Do you believe there is still a huge opportunity for humans in marketing despite AI?
I do. I don't think we're going extinct in marketing anytime soon. AI helps with mundane tasks like managing schedules, freeing marketers to focus where they have real impact. I think ideation is the place AI will not replace, because human thought and creativity trump AI right now, and human truths are what really capture people's hearts and minds.
What do most entrepreneurs or tech people miss when it comes to marketing?
A lot of work has to happen upfront before creating any content. It comes down to strategy, looking at culture, politics, and what's really influencing people's needs, and figuring out what role a brand can play in answering those needs. That empathy paired with a great creative idea and strong strategy is what separates good advertising from bad advertising.
When was your AI aha moment?
Like everybody else, it was ChatGPT. I started using it almost like a search engine, but now it lets me dig deeper into research and strategy. At Quirk we use a platform called Springboard to build strategy starting points from client data, helping us explore white spaces that haven't been examined before. It's fast and gives me a lot to digest quickly.
How are newer AI video tools fitting into your process?
We never use AI for ideation, that stays with our creative directors. But once a client buys an idea, we use AI to storyboard everything frame by frame so they can see how we'll shoot it, and it lets us make client revisions quickly. We also use it in post production for editing experiments and effects that can elevate a limited budget.
How do you deal with fear and apprehension around AI adoption on your team?
We all need to feel we serve a purpose, and there is real fear around AI taking that away. We don't want to replace people, we want to free them up to focus on their biggest strengths while AI handles mundane work. We gave the team subscriptions to experiment on their own time, and comfort grows the more people flex those muscles.
What problem is Quirk Creative solving in the industry?
Founders Merrill and Gaen Draper started Quirk 11 years ago after seeing inefficiency at big holding company agencies. We're structured differently, with commercial directors who see an idea through from ideation to production to post, avoiding the telephone game. That lets us deliver a brand campaign in about 12 weeks versus the typical 16 to 24 weeks.
What key trends are you seeing in digital advertising right now?
The last three to five years were dominated by performance marketing, but I'm seeing a shift back to brand marketing. Conversations at the end of 2025 and into 2026 are about getting back to brand values and pillars to resonate with audiences. It feels like brand and response are merging rather than competing, which is the biggest shift I'm seeing.
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