We are Family: How a communications agency for the next generation uses nuwacom to make AI efficient, secure and creative in everyday agency work

Insight-driven for a demanding audience

Question: We are Family is a full-service communications agency specializing in young target groups and the people who accompany them, such as parents and teachers – a demanding environment in which you take an insight-driven approach. Why is that so important to you?

Jessica Mezger, Head of Audience Insights: The next generation is not easy to pin down. Their opinions, behaviors and perspectives are diverse and fast-moving. They are used to being addressed in a way that is fully tailored to their needs, they demand authenticity and they notice immediately when something doesn't feel right. That's why it isn't enough to base decisions on experience and gut feeling. Brands need to understand what lies behind behavioral patterns, how ways of thinking develop and what the next generation and the people around them really need, in order to position messaging and products in a relevant, value-creating way. Only then can budgets be used in a targeted way and measures have an impact.

“For this target group, conceptual clarity is therefore not a mark of quality, but the ticket to being heard at all.”

For this target group, conceptual clarity is therefore not a mark of quality, but the ticket to being heard at all. That's why it's so important to us not to start a project on gut feeling, but with data. Every idea has to stand up to real life, and we even go so far as to challenge our concepts, strategies and content in co-creations with the target group. Understanding and dialogue come first for us.

AI amplifies insights instead of replacing them

Question: How do you make sure that AI amplifies these insights instead of replacing them? Do you have a concrete example of where AI has moved you forward – and one where you deliberately said: not here?

Jessica Mezger, Head of Audience Insights: We don't just work for people, we work with people – and that will stay that way. But we can use AI to bring relevant audience knowledge into programs and processes more efficiently, more often and faster. The insights we need are so specific and project-related that there are often no answers to our questions that an AI already knows. That's why we have built our own audience panels through which we can gather precise answers.

AI plays an important role in all our departments and processes – including our market research. The possibilities that AI offers in research open new doors for us almost every day. With AI support, we can now reach more young people in less time, structure large amounts of data faster and derive overarching patterns from existing findings. In the field phase, for example, AI is used in online surveys via chatbot.

But for us, this is not about replacing human perspectives with AI. AI helps us make connections visible faster, develop hypotheses and make research findings more accessible. What always remains decisive, though, is the research question. Some answers require trust, dialogue and a feel for nuance – especially in research with children and young people. That's when a person sits in the room, not an AI.

When it comes to making our insights accessible and usable within the agency after the field phase, AI is indispensable, because our research findings flow in a structured, contextualized way into living knowledge bases within our nuwacom workspaces. Instead of a PDF graveyard, we bundle our research in a next-gen knowledge base that thinks along with us and can be evaluated and used by our communication experts. Our learning: AI is only as good as the structure we give it. Raw data in, raw data out.

AI in everyday agency work: from Head of Operations to AI roadmap

Question: If you take an honest look at your everyday agency work: where and how do you use AI today, specifically – in conception, in content production, in project management? And was there a moment when you realized: we need to approach this in a more structured way?

Rebecca Duden, CEO & Co-Founder: When AI first really became a topic, I immediately advertised a Head of Operations role. It was clear to me: this is bigger than a new tool. It needs a mindset shift and consistent follow-through. We then hired Christian: tool-savvy, a strong presenter, experienced in change management and communication. He is largely responsible for our AI roadmap and is the point of contact for nuwacom and the creative AI tools.

“When AI first really became a topic, I immediately advertised a Head of Operations role. It was clear to me: this is bigger than a new tool.”

Today we work with AI vertically and horizontally, and therefore in every department of the company – administrative and value-creating alike. We sharpen processes within disciplines and across teams, and we have gone so far as to link our AI roadmap to the individual goals of our employees. In other words: anyone who wants to carry the company and grow within it has to engage with the latest creative tools or with efficiency gains through AI. It starts with each individual and ends with initiating and implementing company-wide use cases, processes and workflows.

We are now so well established that we integrate AI products into our client projects. In lead generation, for example, we work with AI-powered workflows, and in education marketing and communication our clients now have the option of having their programs and offerings reviewed and optimized by data-based AI teacher avatars. The four avatars are based on our in-house research series on teachers and cover different facets of the teaching staff and their different needs.

Protecting brand voice with brand guardrails

Question: You look after brands with very clear identities – from toy manufacturers to health insurers. How do you make sure that stance and brand voice don't get lost when AI is involved in the execution? Do you have something like brand guardrails or no-go lists that also apply to AI-supported processes?

Christian Imhof, Head of Operations: AI actually makes life easier for us here, because we work with client-specific workspaces where we store all guidelines, brand guardrails and relevant knowledge and insights. AI agents access them, while skills and review agents ensure compliance. So AI has even given us an additional layer of review.

“AI agents access them, while skills and review agents ensure compliance. So AI has even given us an additional layer of review.”

At the same time, our policy is pretty clear: everything we create with AI always comes from the relevant department and, before client approval, is always reviewed by a human with the corresponding expertise. That's how we make sure that stances and brand voices are maintained across concepts, strategies and content – following the AI-human four-eyes principle.

Sharing AI knowledge across the team

Question: Your team is spread across several locations and continents, with different disciplines – from research, strategy and concept to design, activation and social media. How do you share AI knowledge within the team? Do you have shared templates, shared prompts or best practices – or does knowledge tend to develop individually?

Christian Imhof, Head of Operations: When choosing our in-house AI tool, besides security and data protection, the ability to work collaboratively was especially important to us. nuwacom gives us these capabilities, but our internal processes make sure they are actually lived within the team. Every team lead has developed their own roadmap with team-specific AI use cases together with their team. My job is to make sure that we solve hurdles globally, apply best practices across the agency and that the teams stay in dialogue.

Responsibility in education communication

Question: You create communication, experiences and education programs for and with children, young people and their families – target groups for whom responsibility matters especially. Which special rules or principles apply when AI is involved in content for these target groups? And how has your view of AI ethics changed through your work in education communication?

Rebecca Duden, CEO & Co-Founder: Our project for BARMER, the prevention program BARMER DURCHBLICKT!, is a good example of our standard. We support almost 10,000 schools in digital health literacy, so responsibility is not an option, it's a requirement. Our principles are clear:

1. Labeling obligation: When AI is involved, we say so transparently and in plain language.

2. Data guardrails: Especially with children and young people, we are particularly careful with personal data and images.

3. Quality over speed: AI delivers drafts, we review. Sensitive topics are always checked for content by the relevant experts. Publication only happens after the four-eyes principle and professional and educational approval.

4. Fairness and accessibility: We check for bias, language, readability and the diversity of examples. Content has to work in an inclusive and accessible way.

By taking a stance and taking responsibility, we protect children, young people and families – and with them the brands that want to reach them through us. But we also see that deepfakes are a real risk. Social media is full of them, and studies show that they can hardly be recognized as such anymore. That leaves the question: is a labeling obligation enough?

Outlook: How AI is changing agency work

Question: If you look two or three years ahead: how will AI change the way you work – as an agency, as a team, in your relationship with your clients? And what is the core of your work that you deliberately protect from automation?

Rebecca Duden, CEO & Co-Founder: We are not a classic communications agency. Not even today. We have integrated market research and live communication, which is becoming important again – and we are currently building an AI consulting hub for agencies, marketing departments and industrial companies in collaboration with you (nuwacom). The aim of the AI consulting hub will be to support other agencies and companies with our best practices and experience in AI implementation and change management – a completely new field that we might not have opened up this way without AI.

AI has an impact everywhere. Our ambition: to stay top of mind and not just keep up, but lead the way. And: data first, which specifically means that we gather our own insights efficiently and prepare them quickly so they can be put to use. Full stop. How will we work in two or three years? AI will become an integral part of our work process – from trend analysis and conception to scaling content for different target groups. That changes not only the speed but also the quality of our work. We consistently automate routine tasks – transcripts, snippets, adaptations, Q&A. But: human in the loop remains mandatory for us. Especially for problem definition, ethics and final approval. In our work with clients, this means more direct co-creation, faster iterations and transparent decision-making. What remains non-negotiable? Stance, context and responsibility. Especially in our work with children, young people and the people who accompany them. AI delivers options – we make the decision.

About We are Family

We are Family is the leading communications agency for the next generation and the people who accompany them in the DACH region, and the initiator of the global agency network of the same name. With its own market research unit, We are Family gathers data-based insights to help brands, educational organizations and institutions better understand and reach young target groups and their environments. Clients include brands such as BARMER, BMW Group, Kneipp, mkk - meine krankenkasse and STABILO.