Dollar Shave Club’s recent approach highlights a shifting balance between internal creative teams and external partners. According to Digiday, the brand now creates roughly 90 percent of its advertising materials internally, reserving the remaining 10 percent for AI‑assisted work. This split suggests that while human talent remains central to the creative process, artificial intelligence is being tapped to handle portions of the workload that previously required agency support.

For content creators, the model offers a concrete example of how to reduce reliance on outside agencies without eliminating them entirely. By building strong in‑house capabilities—such as copywriting, design, and video production—creators can maintain tighter control over brand voice and timelines. AI tools can then be employed to fill gaps, accelerate repetitive tasks, or experiment with new formats, allowing the core team to focus on strategy and high‑impact storytelling.

The implication is not that agencies will disappear, but that their role may become more selective. Creators can treat agencies as optional partners for specialized projects or overflow periods, while day‑to‑day output stays under their own direction. This approach can lead to cost savings, faster turnaround, and greater agility in responding to trends or audience feedback.

As AI technology continues to mature, the line between what is produced in‑house and what is outsourced may keep shifting. Dollar Shave Club’s experiment illustrates a practical middle path: leveraging internal talent for the bulk of creative work and using AI to handle the fringe, making agencies optional rather than obsolete. Creators watching this trend can consider how similar blends of human skill and machine assistance might fit their own production workflows.