The report the industry feared: AI in Advertising Production 2026

Joanna Koc

Actor · Presenter · Poland

An actress and a doctor of arts, on the permanent company of the Stefan Jaracz Theatre in Lodz and previously of the Lubuski Theatre in Zielona Gora, where she still appears as a guest. A graduate of the acting faculty of the Lodz Film School, she has played over twenty stage roles, from Kitty in Anna Karenina to Teresa Salieri in Amadeus, and taken the critics' award for best actress three times. She teaches at the Lodz Film School and at the Music Academy there, and runs Shakespeare and management workshops for managers.

Joanna Uniwersal

Strategy · Poland

Chief strategy officer at Keino Group, where she is responsible for growing the strategy practice across Keino Creative, Mido and Joho, for the day-to-day work on client projects, and for giving strategy a stronger part in how brands are built.

She built her experience in Poland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Singapore, working at Ogilvy Amsterdam, Ogilvy Poland and Ogilvy UK among others, and as a strategy consultant and freelance strategy director. For seven years she has worked with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where she co-writes the briefs for the Young Lions competition.

Her practice puts an analytical approach next to creative thinking, turning complex strategic problems into answers that matter to consumers and to the business. She has worked for brands including Samsung, Allegro, LEGO, Mondelez, Orange, Unilever, Philips, Vodafone, the Financial Times, Swarovski and Uniqlo.

Mike Wolniak

CEO · Founder · Poland

CEO of TasteRay and former president of VML Poland, with two decades spent where marketing, technology and storytelling meet. He built VML Poland into the country's number one digital agency, a run crowned with eight Cannes Lions and a 23 million dollar exit to the WPP group, and the industry named him IAB Poland Person of the Year. Today he leads TasteRay, a company rethinking how audiences discover entertainment and matching viewers with films and series that genuinely fit their taste, wherever they choose to watch.

Mariusz Polec

CEO · Founder · Poland

CEO and founder of casting.studio, a next-generation app for the creative industry that pairs agents' work with AI and gathers a community of over twenty thousand actors, influencers and content creators. For years he has been joining casting with technology: building tools for data-driven casting, likeness licensing and generative acting techniques, from live action to motion control, opening a new way for creators and brands to work with talent. He has run castings for global brands such as Netflix, Disney, HBO, Mercedes, McDonald's, Apple and BMW.

Michal Kornacki

CEO · Founder · Poland

Co-founder and CEO of Closer Music, which licenses music and sound effects to creators, brands and agencies, with studios in Poland and in Las Vegas. Its catalogue goes into television commercials, branded content, films and social media, and is curated by the Grammy-winning producer Luca Pretolesi. The search runs on AI, alongside a tool that matches music to video. He is an EY Entrepreneur of the Year innovation award winner. From 1994 to 1999 he was a sales manager for Mars Inc. in central Poland, and he is a certified track and field coach.