AI or Human Voice? Why Brands Choose Both, with Mark Graeme from OCX UK (Omnicom Production) and Mark Eaves from Gravity Road

This episode explores when and why a creative studio chooses AI over a human voice, and when it doesn't, from two vantage points in the advertising industry. Mark Graeme is Head of Studio at OCX UK (Omnicom Production, part of Omnicom Group, the world's leading marketing and sales company). Mark and his team produce work for creative agencies such as Adam & Eve/TBWA, AMVBBDO, and McCann, plus work directly with a mix of local and global brands. Mark Eaves is Founder of Gravity Road, part of The Brand Tech Group, working across brands including Unilever, Booking.com and TikTok. He led Gravity Road's build of 'Ode,' an AI poetry companion made in partnership with Microsoft AI and Poetry Pharmacy founder William Sieghart. 'Ode' is trained on Sieghart's own voice to listen and prescribe a poem. Every poem is read aloud by a real actor - Stephen Fry, Harriet Walter, Dominic West and Indira Varma among them - rather than a synthetic voice. Between them, we get the industry-wide picture and one deeply considered case study, both circling the same question creative directors are still grappling with: AI or human voice? Explore the conversation further in our companion article > OCX UK (Omnicom Production) Capability-production - Omnicom Rennie Wind Relief Campaign Rennie Wind Relief Calls Time on Britain’s Oldest Fart Cover-up | LBBOnline Rennie Baxters Story Advert TV ad: Rennie: Baxter's Story Forrester’s 2026 Technology & Security Predictions Forrester’s 2026 Technology & Security Predictions: As AI’s Hype Fades, Enterprises Will Defer 25% Of Planned AI Spend To 2027 MIT: The Gene Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 https://mlq.ai/media/quarterly_decks/v0.1_State_of_AI_in_Business_2025_Report.pdf Adobe Express: Voices of AI: Music, Speech, and the new marketing soundscape Voices of AI: Music, speech, and the new marketing soundscape | Adobe Gravity Road Gravity Road Reuters Pure News from the Source Brand Campaign https://www.reuters.com/media-center/reuters-expands-pure-news-straight-source-brand-campaign-with-two-new-video-2026-09-16/ Ode Ode - Find the poem that finds you - odepoetry.ai Bringing Ode Poetry to life with MAI’s audio models Bringing Ode Poetry to life with MAI’s audio models | Microsoft AI The Poetry Pharmacy Forever William Sieghart Books – The Poetry Pharmacy Live Sign up to the BRAVA newsletter: https://www.brava.uk.com/subscribe 00:00 Season Intro and Guests 01:58 Mark Graeme Background 02:54 Studio AI Tools 04:54 Voiceover Planning Process 06:36 Campaign Voice Wins 08:54 When AI Is a Mistake 10:19 Hype Versus ROI 12:46 Trust Gap Explained 15:30 BRAVA Sponsor Break 16:31 Consent and Corporate Use 18:31 Future of Human Voice 20:31 Mark Eaves and Gravity Road 23:07 Audio Culture Resurgence 27:13 Choosing AI Versus Human Voice 28:31 Reuters Authenticity Case 31:09 Ode Poetry Companion 36:11 Why Human Poem Readings 37:47 Wrap Up and Next Episode Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.