The 64,000 petaflop question

Brand Britain 2.0: Can UK marketing thrive as the government backs both AI and creative exports?

The UK government’s latest initiative to “unlock marketing exports” and position Britain as a global advertising and content-production hub has been met with cautious optimism across the creative industries. On paper, the move promises investment, growth, and international opportunity. But behind the headlines, a complex question looms: How will this ambition coexist with the government’s parallel goal of giving artificial intelligence free rein, a move that could radically reshape, or even destabilise, the very creative economy it wants to grow?

A global play for “Brand Britain”

According to the DCMS, the UK’s advertising and marketing services already contribute billions to the national economy. The new export push aims to help agencies and content producers sell British creativity to the world through support for international trade missions, digital-production infrastructure, and partnerships between public bodies and the private sector.

The logic is sound: The UK’s creative reputation, from London agencies to regional production houses and individual experts, has always punched above its weight. But in a world of shrinking attention spans, algorithmic feeds, and globalised competition, building “Brand Britain” abroad will take more than good intentions. It requires aligning investment with innovation—and that’s where AI complicates things.

When creativity meets automation

At the same time as the government is championing marketing exports, it is also signalling a desire to make the UK a leader in AI development, with relatively light regulation compared with the EU. That policy could attract global tech talent, but it also raises existential questions for human-driven industries such as advertising and content production.

Automation is already touching nearly every creative workflow: Copywriting, video editing, image generation, analytics, and campaign optimisation. If AI continues advancing unchecked, much of what is currently seen as a human creative advantage—insight, storytelling, emotional nuance—could be mimicked, mass-produced, or more likely, turn into total slop.

For agencies and production companies, this dual government stance creates both opportunity and risk. AI could supercharge productivity, enabling small teams to scale output and serve international clients. But it also threatens to commoditise creativity—undercutting the very “British originality” the government hopes to export.

Finding the balance: People + Machines

To make this export strategy succeed, policymakers and brands alike will need to embrace a hybrid model—one that sees AI not as a replacement for creativity, but as an amplifier of it. The UK can lead not just in AI-generated content, but in ethical, human-centred creative technology that combines craft with computation.

That means investing in skills, not just software. Training creative professionals to use AI responsibly and strategically will keep Britain’s marketing exports distinctive. After all, what global audiences still buy from the UK isn’t just production capability, it’s perspective, humour, design sensibility, and cultural storytelling. These intangibles are currently impossible to automate.

What’s needed to keep creators safe

To balance innovation with protection of the creative workforce, several steps are key:

• Upskill the industry: Fund AI literacy and ethics programs within marketing and creative training

• Champion human creativity in exports: Market the UK as the place where “AI meets artistry”

• Encourage ethical AI use: Develop mandatory codes for transparency in AI-assisted content

• Support SMEs and independents: Provide grants and tax relief for creative businesses adapting to AI tools

• Reframe success metrics: Focus on creative originality and cross-cultural resonance, not just output speed

Final word

The UK’s twin ambitions - to lead both in marketing exports and in AI innovation - don’t have to be in conflict, but they do need careful coordination.

If the government can back human creativity as robustly as it backs big tech, AI and machine intelligence, “Brand Britain” could become not just a slogan, but a sustainable global advantage.

However, please don’t hold your breath.

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