Wellington-based digital media company founders, Antony Young and Matt McNeil today announced the launch of a specialist AI (artificial intelligence) advertising agency. 

A first in the NZ marketplace, the agency provides digital advertising, creative production and web development services powered by AI. 

AI is quickly disrupting the marketing industry internationally and thedigitalcafe.ai will cater to a core client base of small and medium sized (SME) clients, that will operate separately as a full-service digital marketing agency alongside their media planning and buying agency, The Media Lab.

“thedigitalcafe.ai will offer AI-enabled advertising recommendation engines; creative adaption and personalisation; and machine learning media with a human interface” says Antony Young, Managing Director. 

“The agency will be able to deliver intelligent marketing with substantial cost savings we can pass on to clients.” 

Matt McNeil, Partner, commented, “We are offering smarter and more efficient marketing solutions, by using AI enabled marketing systems to replace key tasks that costly agency staff spend hours working on. This means that marketing support is accessible for companies currently challenged with modest budgets, keeping advertise cost-efficient and effective so they can focus on their core business.”

Read more: Are we ready for an artificially informed future?

AI isn’t new in marketing. The company has been applying machine-based learning technology through its programmatic media platforms over the past 5 years. Generative AI technology has taken a leap with the launch of platforms like ChatGPT and Mid Journey only recently, which is allowing more personalisation at scale in advertising. “We feel the technology is ready and the market is ripe for a fully integrated AI advertising agency,” says Young.

The Digital Café was originally established in 2016 by McNeil and Young as a full-service digital marketing agency with a foundation of clients purely in the SME sector. The 2023 upgraded version has been re-purposed as a fully functioning AI advertising agency powered with AI tools across all its core services.

The Digital Café has been appointed by new Wellington’s Park Hotel to promote its opening. Commenting on the move, new client Park Hotel Wellington’s manager, Nitish Godna says, “To us, every marketing dollar is precious, and so we need our digital marketing to perform at a high level. The AI enabled systems that The Digital Café have developed is an exciting development that enables us to keep within our budget without having to sacrifice innovative marketing activity.”