Turn surface-level AI into real profit.
Your team has the tools, but they're barely scratching the surface. The spend goes out and the return never comes back. We close the AI Profitability Gap, so your team uses AI to move the numbers.
All that AI spend. None of the profit.
You were told to get on AI. You bought the tools. Your people use them. But the gains never showed up. That's the AI Profitability Gap, and closing it is all we do.
74%
of frontline workers now use AI regularly. Most companies still can't turn that use into profit.
SOURCE: BCG AI AT WORK, JUNE 2026
The gap compounds. Every quarter of leaking spend is money you don't get back, and the teams getting past the surface now are building a lead the others can't easily close.
The experts leave before the change reaches your people.
Most companies have already had the big presentation: the slick deck, the vision of the AI future. Then the experts leave, and nothing changes for the person actually doing the work. The tools sit unused and the spend keeps running. Closing the gap means going all the way through to the individual, which is the part everyone else skips.
We've led people through a technology upheaval before. We wrote the book on this one.
The profitability gap is a human problem, and the human side of change is our whole career.
Matt Perry
Co-founder & CEO
Matt has spent thirty years in marketing and creative, at M&C Saatchi, WPP, Omnicom, and Genero, where he launched and led the North American business. He has run this change with companies including Google, Meta, Hilton, and PG&E, and studied AI for business application at Kellogg. He co-authored The Elephant in the Algorithm and hosts the podcast.
Rob Cannon, PhD
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer
Rob is an organizational psychologist who studied at Cambridge and earned his PhD at Sydney, with eighteen years guiding people through change, including six years inside Sony Music and BMG as technology remade the music industry. He co-authored The Elephant in the Algorithm and hosts the podcast.
The future belongs to the humans who make AI pay.
Not humans replaced by robots. Humans working with their average robots and getting the most out of them. That's what turns AI from a cost into a profit, and it's showing up first in marketing and creative.
We turn your AI into profit.
We take your team from surface-level AI to real mastery, so the same people produce more and the numbers finally move.
Three moves: Empowered People, Efficient Process, Profitable Platform. Unlike most, we start with people, where the depth comes from.
25 points
A clear AI strategy lifts business impact by 25 percentage points. Better tools alone deliver about 5.
SOURCE: BCG AI AT WORK, JUNE 2026
This is what our work delivers.
A clear read.
You see where your AI spend is leaking and where the profit is, with the plan and the numbers to show the board.
Spend that returns.
You stop paying for activity that goes nowhere and back the work that moves the numbers.
Teams that deliver.
The same team produces more and wins more, because they've gone past the surface.
Everyone's got the oars. Few teams are moving.
Buying AI is like handing every rower an oar. It doesn't move the boat. The speed comes from the crew: the right people, pulling in time, on a course that's set. We work three things at once so your AI actually pulls its weight.
Empowered People.
Your team stops working around AI and starts doing its best work with it, faster and with less fear. This is where the depth comes from, so it's where we start.
Efficient Process.
We redesign how the work gets done so the gains land in the workflow, not just in a demo.
Profitable Platform.
We make the tools you've already paid for earn their keep, and add more only when they'll pay for themselves.
Get the three moving together, and the same team turns more of your AI spend into profit. That's how the gap closes.
The sequence is critical.
People before process before platform. Nine steps, three dimensions, three stages of maturity.
Get the order wrong, and the spend rarely delivers a return. The sequence is how we build alignment, step by step, from your people to your process to your platform. Leading with platform is the trap many organizations have fallen into.
The conversation about AI and the people who actually use it.
Every episode, Matt and Rob sit down with someone living the AI transition for real. No predictions, no hype. What is actually happening inside teams, and what leaders can do about it.
You do not need another AI prediction. You need a plan.
We wrote The Elephant in the Algorithm for leaders who are smart enough to see that something significant is happening, and wise enough to want a plan rather than a prophecy.
It is the playbook for marketing, creative, and talent leaders who want better decisions, more engaged teams, and a real return on what they spend on AI.
By Matt Perry and Rob Cannon, PhD.
How we have helped clients to define the role of AI inside their organizations.
Each case study starts from the ground truth of the business and ends with a clearer answer about where AI belongs.
We're not a technology company. We're the reason your technology pays off.
We own the human side of the work: the strategy, the research, and the playbook that decide whether AI ever returns. When it gets deeply technical, we bring in the right build partner for your setup and run them as part of the team. We don't sell a tool of our own, so we pick what actually pays off for you, not what someone needs to shift. You get one team, accountable for the result.
Four ways we close the AI Profitability Gap.
Each one takes your team a step deeper, from a free read to a full partnership, and a step closer to AI that pays. The AI Profit Sprint is the flagship; most engagements start there.
01 / FREE
AI Profit Readiness Assessment
A fast read on how far past the surface your marketing team's AI use goes, and where the profit is leaking. Answer a short survey, get your Assessment.
Get your free AI Profit Readiness Assessment02 / FROM $2,999
AI Workshop for Marketing Teams
A half-day that turns your Assessment into your team's first real moves toward AI that pays. A live read-back, a facilitated team workshop, and a short report. Credited toward the AI Profit Sprint if you go further.
Explore the AI Workshop for Marketing Teams03 / FROM $19,999
The AI Profit Sprint
The flagship. A 90-day engagement that closes the gap: research where your team is stuck at the surface, the strategy to get past it, and quick wins landing along the way. You finish with a 2027 plan and momentum already behind it.
Explore the AI Profit Sprint04 / ADVISORY: LET'S TALK
AI Transformation Advisory
A senior partner in the room until AI is paying off across every team. We stay through the months after the plan, as the change survives contact with your people. Scoped to the engagement.
Discuss an AI Transformation AdvisoryLeaders on the hook for what AI actually returns.
CMO / VP MARKETING
The board wants to know what AI is doing for the numbers. The tools are there; the return isn't. We find where the spend is leaking and build the change that makes it pay.
CREATIVE / AGENCY LEADER
You're carrying the cost of AI across every account. We turn it into margin and better client work, so the same team wins more and delivers more.
CEO / OWNER
You approved the AI spend. We make sure it shows up in the P&L, not just the tool stack.
This is for you if
- You believe AI should make your people more powerful, not obsolete.
- You want AI spend that finally shows up in the numbers.
- You want an honest read, not another vendor pitch.
- You are ready to hear what is actually blocking the return, even when it is uncomfortable.
What you need to know before we talk.
The big firms tell you where to go. We get your people there.
Without people, AI is just average.