Everyone, especially brands, agencies and marketers, is so obsessed with and engrossed in the data dump that they have turned a blind eye to creatives and the power of creativity.
Let’s look at the industry that once championed creativity but has now succumbed to the data play and tactical methodology, rather than focusing on a big idea.
Everyone talks about AI, the new shiny tool, and what is possible. They forget AI is nothing but a tool—a powerful tool, but a tool, nonetheless. AI is like a pencil. A pencil in Picasso’s hand resulted in masterpieces, while in the hands of mere mortals, it amounts to nothing. In Ernest Hemingway’s hands, it produced a novel like The Old Man and The Sea.
I’m not downplaying the power of AI—it helps us complete mundane jobs faster, allowing us to focus on what we do best. I remember a post where an artist stated, “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes, so I can focus on my art.” But my worry is, if brands rely too much on AI and leave the thinking to it, they’ll all end up looking alike.
Let me cite an example to make my point clear: with all the data and AI capabilities, big brands still couldn’t think of a brand like Liquid Death. It emerged from Mike Cessario’s intuition, mischief, and creativity.
They have stayed true to their core brand by challenging the norm and bringing back the power of creative, entertaining advertising. This could not have been done through AI. Liquid Death still gets questions like this on the internet: “Is Liquid Death safe for children?”. Yes, and it’s highly recommended.
Fernando Machado, former CMO of Burger King, let agencies do crazy creative work, even putting his job on the line. Because, let me break it to you—there is no framework or secret sauce for coming up with a creative idea.
Julia Goldin, CMO of LEGO, phrases creativity as play at work. She challenges the conventional thinking that creativity is only about art, theatre, or performance. She states that it goes beyond that and is a much bigger set of skills with a broader application.
Seth Godin, the famous marketer, says, “The creative part, the surprising part, the breaking-the-rules part—that’s not AI. That’s us.”
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, says that creativity and innovation are things you can’t “flowchart” out. And nobody said it better than Steve Jobs, who stated, “Creativity is just connecting things.” AI might not be able to connect a cat, noodles, and rainfall—but humans can.
On the flip side, consultancies get this. They understand the power of creativity in business. McKinsey acquired Lunar, a celebrated product design firm, but let them run independently to keep the fluid frameworks of creativity alive and kicking, unbound by restrictive or logical business frameworks.
Accenture acquired Droga5, and like McKinsey, let it run independently to not restrict boundless creative thinking. In a similar move, Bain & Company acquired Enterprise Blueprints and Umbrage, while BCG acquired MAYA, a digital design and innovation lab.
You might be sitting in your chair reading this and thinking, “Okay, you gave me all this jazz, but how should we break the mould as an agency or brand?” For a second, forget everything. Think about it: since the advent of marketing, we’ve had posters, telegrams, billboards, trademarks, radio, television, telemarketing, guerrilla marketing, search, social, digital, and now AI.
But at the centre, it has always been about the customers. And customers aren’t interested in being sold to, but they are interested when they’re entertained, informed, challenged, inspired, etc.—which requires a bit of creativity, not a data dump.
Always start with a big and bold idea, and then use the AI jazz for measurement, adaptation, and stimulation. But never—repeating, never—start with AI or any shiny tool. Because you’ll end up with something mediocre at best. Let the creatives and creativity take centre stage, not sit on the sidelines waiting for AI to spew out data to drive the work.
By Vipul Vikash, Senior Management Consultant, Andarakis Advisory
