Category: In the News

Forget the standard job posting, Monks is auditioning its next AI leaders through an AI of its own creation: an AI recruiter personifying the agency’s co-founder.

The S4-owned agency recently debuted a new chatbot called “WesleyBot” that serves as both recruiter and marketer. The prototype is based on the mind and personality of MediaMonks co-founder Wesley ter Haar, who recently took on a new role as the chief AI officer.

Designed to attract top AI talent, WesleyBot operates as a conversational interface within ChatGPT for the AI-ambitious who feel like “lone wolves” in a traditional agency or consultancy. Part of the plans has meant creating a paid campaign on LinkedIn targeting mid- to senior-level talent who have media, data, or AI tooling skills across rival companies — especially in cities where Monks also has an office. So far, more than 600 people have chatted with WesleyBot, according to Monks.

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Is there such a thing as over-preparing? It certainly feels that way in the case of TikTok’s ban, which has been playing out in the U.S. for months since its initial January 2025 deadline following legislation signed by former President Joe Biden in April 2024 requiring the ByteDance app to sell to a U.S. owner or get shut down. After January, President Trump signed a 75-day extension for TikTok to work out a deal.

This time around, eight agencies and influencer marketing execs told Digiday that their general sentiment going into the April 5 deadline this weekend is more calm and confident. That’s because they’ve had months of practice and data gleaned from the temporary outage on Jan. 18, while some are more sure that a deal or extension is likely to go through by this deadline. Some advertisers like Coca-Cola and Comcast have even increased their spend on the platform this year, as Digiday previously reported this week.

“We’re worn down a little bit by the drama,” said Joanna Fowler, head of talent at Shine Talent Group. “We’re ready to just … move into the action phase, [which includes] building on another platform.”

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