Creativity can now hit the ground running, go all guns blazing and almost always look stunning!
The changing face of creativity as AI integration strengthens
By Sagar Mehta
Nothing is off limits, no one is left behind and all our imaginations are now fueled by a supercar-like engine with the reliability of a safe family car. AI brings massive power to the table. Its ability to capture and comprehend data, create finished products based on that information and measure performance to tweak the next result has empowered and accelerated creative efforts across the marketing ecosystem. As a young agency, we are seeing the might AI can add to our research, ideation, content creation and design abilities already and the best is yet to come.
AI has played a bunch of roles across functions and empowered us to deliver better, faster, and more efficient results for our clients. Here are all the roles AI plays in adding more muscle to creativity for us at WHAT ARE YOU SAYING (W.A.Y.S.):
Brainstorm Sessions:
The first bencher who has read about everything!
Before AI, brainstorming sessions featured a doodle-mess of a whiteboard, endless cups of chai, unhinged blabbering, and frantic searches of the internet for a glimmer of inspiration. While all of these continue to exist fortunately but with the addition of a tireless research assistant in AI. No research report, no data source and no insight platform is beyond the realms of a thorough AI-led search. Combining multiple filters like audience behaviour, product use case, location nuances, sales history with the end goal like awareness, traffic, trials, etc. strategists have a solid foundation to build stories with emotional nuances.
Content Studio:
Van Gogh, Shakespeare, Hitchcock, and Beethoven, all came to jam!
The largest gap in the content creation process for most agencies lies between the vision and the execution. AI has helped in eliminating that gap immensely. You know how the 4th script in a 5-part video series is almost always the weakest? AI can help prevent that. You can use your two best scripts and recreate the plot, tone, and message for multiple more stories without losing any zing. You know how storyboarding takes forever and you are relying on a good illustrator to bring your vision to life? How the mood board isn’t truly reflected in the final designs? How you never have enough budgets for certain locations and props? Generative AI imaging tools are helping solve all these problems. Imagination is no longer bound by execution ability. If you can think it, you can in all probability create it.
We executed some AI-generated art for brands like JACK&JONES, JACK&JONES Junior & CoinDCX, which has been highly engaging and driven attention and awareness for the brand.
Business Growth:
The game has changed and we’re all at the start line.
AI has levelled the playing field to a large extent in the highly competitive marketing service agency business. Research teams aren’t dependent on access to expensive gated research reports. Design team size doesn’t matter when building creatives for pitches. The ability to help the client visualise the campaign better with multiple content pieces isn’t restricted by the size of the content team or the time available to create the pitch. One doesn’t have to rely on boring stock images, videos or music as references for ideas. Ideas can now be presented using the closest reference for your vision in a matter of a few hours, with hardly any monetary investment. IBM’s Watson analyzed thousands of iconic Cannes Lions-winning ads to identify patterns and trends, proving that creativity can indeed be quantified. Great ideas aren’t lost in translation anymore and aren’t denied their true potential for lack of good presentation.
The key is to embrace AI as a collaborator. Let it handle the data crunching and trend analysis while you bring the human touch – the emotions, the cultural nuances and the humour that transcends algorithms. AI may be the algorithmic genius, but we humans, with our quirks, wit, and cultural insights, are the true auteurs of the marketing masterpiece.
As agency leaders, Radhika, Aditya and I have witnessed firsthand how AI enhances our creative endeavours. It’s like having a team of tireless workers, crunching data, analyzing trends, generating art and providing insights faster than you can say “data-driven decision-making.” With AI as their trusty sidekick, the team can focus on what we do best—crafting compelling stories that resonate with the audience and deliver bottom-line value for the brand while making the world go WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?
(The author is Sagar Mehta, Co-Founder and Creative Chief, What Are You Saying (W.A.Y.S.), and the views expressed in this article are his own)
