An interested advertiser can quickly become a missed opportunity when creative takes days to arrive. Mediaferry closes that gap for publishers, producing print, digital and video advertising automatically, with professional designers on hand when the work calls for judgement.
During E&P’s September 17 Solutions Series webinar, Mediaferry’s Robert Berkeley and Tariq Husain explained how that combination helps publishers move from an initial idea to finished campaign assets. The Mediaferry-sponsored discussion explored both the sales value of better creative and the production process needed to deliver it reliably.
E&P Publisher Mike Blinder opened with a lesson from his early radio career. After moving from broadcasting into sales, he began producing speculative commercials to play for prospective advertisers. Those recordings gave business owners something concrete to discuss, shifting attention from the price of airtime to the message and its potential.
Blinder urged sellers to move beyond rates, placements and impressions and give advertisers a tangible solution to a business problem. “Don’t just sell advertisers space. Show them a message that can solve their business problem,” he said. “The media delivers it—the message makes the sale.”
Berkeley sees creative as a way to help business owners envision what advertising could accomplish. Many local advertisers lack an agency or formal brand guidelines, making a polished concept especially valuable. “You’re trying to paint a picture of what the future could be like if they were to do business with you,” he said.
That picture must connect to a business objective. An advertiser may need more store visits, inquiries or reservations. The seller’s understanding of those needs provides direction for the creative.
Production delays can interrupt that process. Berkeley described publishers waiting two days for an initial ad, then discovering it needs revisions. By the time something is ready to present, the advertiser may have lost interest or spent the budget elsewhere.
Responding while the advertiser remains engaged gives local media sellers an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise. “They can take care of the client in a way I think many advertisers now realize big tech cannot,” Berkeley said.
Berkeley and Husain’s approach reflects careers spent inside media and production businesses. Berkeley began in radio before working with computer systems in local newspapers. Husain grew up around his father’s prepress company, studied computer science and graphic arts at Rochester Institute of Technology, and worked on workflow and asset-management systems for news organizations.
They started the business behind Mediaferry in 2004, Berkeley said. Their focus has been helping publishers reduce the time and effort between selling advertising and collecting revenue.
Mediaferry applies that experience to both speculative concepts and ongoing campaign production, with over 500 designers supporting the operation.
Husain explained that the process can begin with a brief instruction, rather than a lengthy creative document. Mediaferry interprets the request and gathers information from the advertiser’s website and other digital properties.
It uses that information to build a “brand memory” containing elements such as logos, colors, imagery and tone of voice. The system then develops copy, selects images and generates creative options.
A prerecorded walkthrough illustrated the process using a request to promote a hotel’s event facilities. Behind the scenes, the system assembled the brand information, expanded the brief and developed advertising concepts.
In an integrated deployment, Husain said, an opportunity created in a CRM or an order entered in a booking system can initiate the work. Approximately 10 minutes later, the seller can receive a link to three creative options.
The benefit extends beyond designing the ad. Tasks such as assembling assets, developing copy and interpreting instructions are handled within the same process.
Download slides used during the webinar
The speakers emphasized the distinction between generating an image and producing advertising that meets a client’s requirements. “ChatGPT is just a tool,” Berkeley said. “It needs guardrails.”
Those guardrails include the advertiser’s preferences, brand identity, channel requirements and market considerations. Mediaferry brings that context into a workflow designed for reviewing, editing and completing advertising.
Sellers can adjust headlines, colors and other elements in the browser. They can also mark up requested changes through proofing tools. AI can attempt those revisions, while more substantial work can be routed to a designer.
Human involvement can begin before the seller sees the first concept. Husain said the system evaluates brand memory and creative quality, directing work to designers when it falls below a threshold. “We do this proactively,” he said. “Even before we present an ad back to the seller, we’ve already rated that ad on how good it is creatively.” The objective is a dependable route to completion, including when automation alone is insufficient.
Mediaferry’s capabilities extend across digital display, social, print and video advertising. Berkeley also described converting print ads into digital formats, helping publishers offer broader campaigns without separately coordinating every production task.
Integration is central to making that practical. Husain said sellers can continue working in their existing CRM or booking systems, with Mediaferry operating behind the scenes. He also described connections with AI sales assistants in chat applications. “They don’t have to log in to yet another system,” he said.
For publishers, that approach can reduce repetitive work and help teams respond to changing production demands. For sellers, it means more creative options without requiring them to become designers.
Berkeley reported that uptake of the system had grown sixfold since the beginning of the year and that 80% of its AI-driven ads were approved on the first submission. He described those figures as company measurements used to improve the service.
But the larger opportunity, he said, is revenue: getting creative in front of advertisers sooner, completing campaigns faster and reaching the invoicing stage earlier. “More importantly is the opportunity for more sales,” Berkeley said.
Publishers interested in exploring the platform can discuss a pilot with Puneet Lamba, the company’s Director of Publishing Solutions.
Publishers interested in exploring the platform can discuss a pilot with Puneet Lamba, the company’s former head Director of Publishing Solutionsof production operations.
The practical lesson is straightforward: faster creative matters when it helps a seller advance a conversation and a production team deliver the campaign. Mediaferry combines AI and human expertise to turn an initial idea into creative an advertiser can actually use.
Puneet Lamba
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