Page 107 - AdNews magazine Mar-Apr-May 2023

Investigation
“I believe one of the key issues will be how agencies and clients transition to a post-pandemic way of doing business. Productivity and efficiency become very important when the economy is squeezed.
“A boss once told me: ‘Hard work is really the only metric that matters.’ Agencies that find the sweet spot of inspiring and rewarding hard work, without employee burnout will win.”
Social responsibility. “Come on, does anyone honestly think every agency in the world will collectively refuse to work on fossil fuel brands all at the same time? It’s not about refusing to work on fossil fuel cli- ents; it’s about partnering with cli- ents to find sustainable solutions, that look after our planet, align with the brand values and drive commercial outcomes.
Culture. “I’ve been around a while, and I think I’ve seen every form of culture. I’ve seen cultures that I’m envious of and ones that I’ll do anything to avoid. It’s our indus- try’s biggest asset when we get it right and I fear it is sometimes put too low on the priority list.”
Irene Joshy, Kantar Australia’s head of creative, identifies four essential elements to being crea- tive and effective:
• Creating for culture by knowing
the pulse of the consumer and executing in a manner that is progressive and inclusive.
• Creating for distinction by break- ing formulas that have become advertising codes especially for established categories.
• Creating identification and res- onance through human stories that are inspiring and relatable in a tone and manner that is uplifting and not negative.
• Creating for intuitive emotive connect – making people feel something for the brand. Sadvertising is detrimental to brand health.
“The dichotomy between art versus commerce is an artificial one – as in movies, so in commerce - a good story that is told with panache and authenticity wins on both counts,” says Joshy.
“It delivers artistic delight and brings in the dollars. Advertising that delivers impacts manages to do both successfully. Hence, at Kantar we look at advertising
“You can slow art down, you can even censor it, but you can never really beat it.”
Luke Simkins
from the lenses of grabbing attention, selling the proposition and building the brand.
“Sustainable living is not a choice, it is a necessity. Consumers expect brands to lead the charge on sustainable practices – environmental and social. Our Brand Z Sustainability Index has shown that brands that consumers perceive to be more sustainable grew total brand value by 31% in 2022 vs. 2021. This is higher than the average Top 100 most valuable brands which grew at 23%. So, there is merit even from a commercial perspective to deliver on sustainability.
“Any culture that does not evolve, stagnates. So, it is good to see the emer- gence of hybrid working culture, a lot more flexibility, the need for agility.
AI and the chatbot
Alex Derwin at BMF: “When you start digging into it, the whole world of creativity and AI it’s fascinating, and scary.
“AI generated photography won an Australian art prize recently, there’s a Beatles song and a Nirvana song composed and ‘performed’ entirely by AI which sound (to the untrained ear) almost indistinguishable from the original artist. What AI is doing for film and video game production is incredible and that’s trickling into what we do too.”
Micah Walker at Bear Meets Eagle On Fire: “Predictions aren’t really a strength of mine, but I’d be willing to bet we’ll continue to see endless articles pondering if AI will be the end of creative departments and fewer questioning a financial model that might just make it inevitable.”
Andy Fergusson at Leo Burnett: “There is a thought experiment called ‘Roko’s Basilisk’, which proposes that once an AI becomes all-pow- erful in the future, it will retroactively punish anyone who was against it in the past. So with that in mind, I’m a huge fan of AI!
“But in truth, I’m both optimistic and terrified about AI. In the short term I think it’s an incredible tool that will help us concept faster and reduce some of the more mundane and repetitive tasks. However, I think some people are underplaying its future potential for ‘creativity’. It may not be there yet, but the rate at which AI has evolved in just a few months is unbelievable, and I don’t really see a limit. We all need to embrace it and learn how to use it to our advantage, or be left behind.”
Chris Dodds at Icon Agency: “Get ready. A.I. will fundamentally change the what, how and why of work faster than almost anyone pre- dicted. There are 100s of A.I.s hitting the market which heats up compe- tition and accelerates change. And by change, I mean Gutenberg Press and the Digital Revolution on steroids kind of disruption.”
Creative consultant Michael Skarbek: “Soon, the ad industry – in fact, all industries – will look back and divide things into two eras: pre-AI and post-AI.
“I’m not saying AI will change everything overnight. The truth is, even the biggest innovations in history – electricity, cars, the internet – changed the world slowly. But AI will change things, a lot.
“In advertising, we’ll start using it incrementally. Art directors will start using it instead of Photoshop, to create mockups and moodboards. Film directors will use it for treatment references. Copywriters will use it to write eDMs, brochures and content pieces. Nothing ‘idea based’ just yet.
“But over time, AI will become the norm, and it won’t just be used for the smaller stuff. As it evolves, it will become as good as an employee – starting off as an intern, then with each new update, becoming a junior and so on, until it becomes smart enough to be really, really useful. For planners, it will provide useful research, and then offer conclusions that help planners find an insight. For creatives, while it might not be able to make an original creative leap (yet), it will get pretty good at rolling out ideas once they’ve been cracked.
“We’ll probably even see a new line on agency rate cards for AI ‘employees’ and the prompt writing that creates their work.
“Of course, as this saves us time, deadlines will then get shorter. And in doing so, a lot of mediocre work will be created. The less time we have, the more we’ll fall back on AI and the more familiar and unoriginal ideas become. In the short term at least, AI will create work based on previous work.”