The Lab Report

For decades, the iron triangle has governed every agency pitch: Fast, Good, Cheap — pick two. But here’s the uncomfortable truth legacy agencies don’t want to admit: that constraint no longer exists. The most dangerous words in marketing today are ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it.

Andy Warhol didn’t paint Campbell’s Soup cans by hand—he used silk screening, a commercial technique that horrified critics. Today’s AI resistance sounds remarkably familiar. The tool doesn’t make the art. The creative director does.

When someone demands ‘real’ photography, they’re clinging to a romanticized fiction—commercial photography has never been authentic. At Ford Media Lab, we’re challenging the myth that’s holding creatives back from embracing AI as the future of visual intelligence.

Budgets are tighter, timelines are shorter, and ROI scrutiny is at an all-time high. Yet many brands are still paying for the old agency model—bloated teams, endless meetings, and outdated workflows that burn through budgets without delivering measurable results.