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Adaptable International: From Studio to Scalable

AI strategy for a creative business on the rise

Use case

Adaptable International is a hybrid creative organisation based in Japan, operating as a boutique studio, global talent incubator, and accommodation provider. With ambitions to scale digitally and globally, they needed an AI strategy that could support growth without compromising creativity.

The goal: uncover automation opportunities, reduce time-consuming manual work, and create a plan for sustainable, AI-supported scaling across their portfolio of services.

The challenge

Scaling ambitions without internal AI expertise

Complex, multi-functional operations (studio, property, talent, content)

High manual effort in lead intake, project briefs, and service queries

Limited bandwidth to prototype or evaluate AI tools internally

Desire to remain creative-led while introducing scalable automation

The solution

The consultant assignment

Embedded as strategic AI advisor for a 2-week engagement

Ran cross-functional interviews and workflow mapping

Delivered a comprehensive AI opportunity map with tech suggestions

Designed technical strategy and curated a 6 month holistic vision

Onboarded the first digital skills of photography and marketing

The Work

Conducted an AI audit across creative ops, onboarding, and marketing

Ran ideation workshops to surface team pain points and inefficiencies

Built a prioritised roadmap of high-impact automation projects

Designed a content workflow strategy based on realistic production cadence

Led key events for community engagement both at conference and onsite

Delivered a rollout playbook with implementation sequencing

Timeline

Engagement: 2 weeks (Strategic AI Sprint)

Milestones: Audit → Workshops → Opportunity Mapping → Presented 8 Deliverables

Results and impact

Strategic Clarity for AI-Driven Growth

Provided the leadership team with a clear, actionable roadmap for integrating AI across creative operations, without losing brand voice or team alignment.

AI Opportunity Map Delivered

Outlined agent-led and workflow-based automations tailored to a creative agency’s needs, from project brief intake to talent matching and internal operations.

Strategic Clarity with Actionable Next Steps

Client left with a practical plan for AI implementation, grounded in their team structure, ambitions, and creative values.

Why this matters

This engagement showed that AI strategy isn’t just for enterprise tech firms. Even creative, globally-minded independents can harness automation, using it to scale smartly, reduce admin fatigue, and unlock new digital service layers.

With minimal engineering effort, AI agents and LLM-powered workflows can offer scalable leverage, boost customer experience, and enhance brand perception.