[Interview] Eva Chapiteau: Head of Strategic Planning, Ogilvy Paris

As the role of strategic planning evolves in an AI-driven world, Eva Chapiteau explores what truly sets strategists apart: the human ability to create meaning.

In this interview, she discusses how empathy and intuition, when applied with precision, can transform data into insight, scale responsibly in a fast-moving landscape, and ensure brands make thoughtful decisions amid uncertainty.

Looking ahead to the next 2–3 years, what do you see as the biggest challenges for strategic planning?

I think we’re entering a real turning point. Over the next 2–3 years, scarcity won’t be access to information anymore, it will be the ability to create reliable meaning in an unstable world. Today, we all already have the same dashboards, the same social insights, the same trend reports… and soon, we’ll all have the same AI agents too. So, the value of strategic planning won’t be “knowing.” It will be “understanding.” And understanding isn’t an output. It’s a human capability.

What’s changing most in the day-to-day reality of strategists?

What’s changing is that we can’t afford to become simple information relays. There’s a real risk that planning turns into a “validation job.” A lot of strategists are slowly slipping into the role of a clerk: we compile, we repackage signals, we create polished summaries, we align stakeholders. But in an algorithmic world, summarizing becomes a commodity. AI summarizes better, faster, and cleaner.

But that’s not a threat. That’s actually an opportunity. Because if everyone has the same information and AI takes over the clerical part of strategy to free us to focus on the part that truly matters… the value of strategic planning remains judgment.

And what’s your answer to that question?

My answer is that planning must return to what it should be: a discipline of meaning.

And our competitive edge is a layer neither data nor AI can replace empathy and intuition.

But I’m not talking about “soft” empathy or vague gut feelings. I’m talking about two strategic capabilities that give credibility to our judgement.

I mean empathy as precision. Empathy that can understand human contradictions, sense what people don’t articulate, and distinguish between what people desire and what they feel socially allowed to admit.

And above all: empathy that can detect fatigue, doubt, and distrust. In a world where trust is declining and audiences are fragmented; empathy becomes a tool for accuracy.

If I had to summarize it: Data measures behaviors. Empathy measures tensions.

And intuition? That word can feel risky in a data-driven environment.

But intuition isn’t someone’s opinion. It’s not “I feel like it.” Strategic intuition is accelerated reading of human nature. It’s recognizing patterns, connecting weak signals, anticipating cultural reactions, sensing what’s “too early” or “too late.”

AI makes intuition even more valuable because it increases the volume of signals. When you have more information, the bottleneck becomes interpretation. That’s why we should reclaim the word: intuition isn’t irrational, it’s compressed experience.

What is the main challenge for strategic planning in the coming years?

The main challenge is building strategies that scale without losing responsibility.

AI will help brands move faster, test more, personalize more, and produce more variations and that’s incredibly powerful. But speed and scale are not strategy. They’re multipliers.

So the risk isn’t AI itself. The risk is scaling the wrong thing: scaling noise, scaling short-term optimization, scaling the lowest common denominator.

The role of planning is to make sure AI amplifies meaning, not mediocrity. It is to bring clarity, courage, and responsibility into a system that can otherwise optimize for what’s most clickable, most profitable, most repeatable, and less risky.

What does that mean for the role of planning inside agencies?

It means we must stop confusing “producing insights” with “producing meaning.”

A great strategist tomorrow won’t be the one with the best slide. It will be the one who helps brands make the right decisions in an unstable environment.

That requires a new posture: fewer certainties, more discernment. Fewer formulas, more responsibility.

In a way, strategists become translators of reality: between data, culture, and what people are living through.

Final thoughts?

In the coming years, competitive advantage won’t come from having more information. It will come from having more discernment. And that discernment relies on two deeply human capabilities: empathy and intuition. Not as “soft skills,” but as a strategic layer: the one that turns information into meaning and meaning into decisions.

www.ogilvy.com

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