Category Archives: Branding

Creatives can lead a humanistic approach to AI . . . Here’s how.

Canadian graphic designer Jean-Pierre Lacroix explains how creative agencies and brands can make better use of generative AI by using it to expand team creativity.

As in the past I came across this article on the Web and thought it both interesting and inspiring. Given our challenging times, I think you will too. Enjoy!

The concept of generative AI technology creating content from user prompts using advanced algorithms. Adobe Stock

Every brand and agency is trying to tap into the promise of generative AI. So far, the results don’t always meet expectations. Is that so surprising? AI is brand new technology that no one fully understands, including its creators. Right now, we’re in an era that calls for experimentation. Results will come, but maybe not how we imagine. In the meantime, we must adopt a human-centered approach to AI, enabling creative teams to use AI as a platform for thinking differently and learning. 

So far, the best AI brand activations aren’t AI-generated ads or design. Successful examples of creatives using AI have a distinctly human perspective. For example, Heinz created an ad showing the audience what happens when they prompt AI to create images of ketchup: it reproduces hundreds of variations of the iconic Heinz bottle design. No matter how they try, according to the ad, they can’t get AI to drop the Heinz label because it’s synonymous with ketchup. 

Although the ad shows AI-generated imagery, Heinz is cleverly using AI to make a point about their brand rather than to generate and execute a creative idea. 

On the other hand, when companies try to generate creative using AI, even the best work requires enormous human effort and it doesn’t always come off well with consumers. That may change, but today, AI-generated material just doesn’t look and feel right. The fear that AI will take jobs away from humans causes concern in some scenarios, for example with the use of AI-generated models.  

How should creative teams be using AI today? It’s about testing and learning to develop skills and confidence. No one can say for sure how AI models will evolve but being prepared means teams need to start experimenting now. 

Key considerations for AI experimentation

Create a cross-functional team assigned to explore AI tools relevant to their roles. Tracking and testing new models, staying informed about potential legal concerns and gathering case studies will ensure you have a strong foundational knowledge to guide decision-making. 

Establish guidelines for AI use at your company. You’ll need someone who’s on top of legal matters, keeping in mind that various legislation is pending in many regions. You also need to understand how your consumers or clients perceive AI. Although there are some who hate AI no matter the circumstances, for most people, context matters. Conduct research with your stakeholders to make sure your intended uses align with their preferences. Provide your team with an approved list of licensed tools to use and establish a process for testing new ones. 

Try, fail, try again. At our company, we created an AI self-assessment platform that allows brands to evaluate their design against a competitor through the lens of our branding philosophy. This was a test-and-learn scenario that resulted in numerous unsatisfactory iterations, ultimately leading to a beta model that runs well, albeit with some caveats. (You can test it for yourself.) As we continue to improve the tool, our team continues to learn. Don’t expect perfection because you won’t get it. Building confidence, knowledge and skills should be the goal.  

Be transparent. If you work with clients, gauge their comfort level with AI and give them the option to opt out if you intend to make it part of your workflow. Something as simple as AI notetaking may run counter to privacy policies, for example. 

Protect your privacy and the privacy of clients. Before using any AI platform, ensure your IT team reviews their data policies. This brings us back to establishing guidelines. Ensure that everyone at your company is aware of which platforms they’re permitted to use, and that the appropriate people have licensed accounts where data will be kept confidential. 

Better, faster creative? Not yet

The hype around AI may lead some to think creative work can be completed faster and at a lower cost. At this stage, efficiency-finding with AI is only possible if you significantly lower your standards. Most creative agencies and brands would likely agree that AI can be useful in ideation but isn’t as helpful in execution. 

For example, we’ve found that even when given clear design guidelines, it’s very difficult for AI to create final art for packaging that works in real life. We’ve found it useful for editing images, brainstorming a hundred ways to depict a watermelon and general ideation. But so far, human creatives are still significantly better at everything else. 

AI does a decent job writing emails and copy for social media, but that too is bumping up against some limitations. Consumers are starting to recognize the tone of AI-generated copy and they find it grating.

AI is best suited to help structure content, create headlines and keywords and clean up copy. Marketers shouldn’t let their writing skills decline! AI can decipher what makes a clickable headline, but it doesn’t have any fresh ideas – it’s a solid Beatles cover band, but it’s no Lennon or McCartney. 

Where we’ve found it most useful is with coding, where it helps us do more in a shorter time frame. However, teams still need to be proficient enough to know how to prompt for the right code and how to correct mistakes.  

The human connection gap

One of the most common consumer-facing uses of AI is chatbots. They give us insight into the human connection gap that can occur with AI. Although serviceable and polite, AI chatbots annoy people. We know they’re not human and this changes the way we treat them. 

Consider the Taco Bell drive-through incidentwhere a customer derailed an AI chatbot by ordering thousands of glasses of water. In cities with fleets of self-driving cars, they often get stuck and cause traffic jams because drivers won’t let them in the way they would a human driver. 

Then there are the many incidents of people assaulting robots, especially humanoids. As much as we love a fun tool to play with, creatives can’t ignore the dehumanizing potential of AI.

How do we deal with this?  The answer isn’t ignoring AI but learning how to use it to support human ideas and interactions. If what the utopia tech companies are selling is achievable, it will be because users engage with it thoughtfully. Creative teams are in a great position to lead this kind of conscientious, intelligent use of AI.  

Jean-Pierre Lacroix is president of Shikatani Lacroix Design

Jean-Pierre Lacroix is president of Shikatani Lacroix Design, a global branding firm specializing in transforming customer experiences for consumer packaged goods companies, financial institutions and retailers. He is a member of the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, and has sat on the board of the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers, Packaging Association of Canada and the Association of Professional Futurists.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Ideas, not AI, will decide who survives in 2030

In a world where everything can be personalized and optimized, there’s only one true differentiator left: ideas. (Adobe Stock)

AI will undoubtedly shrink the marketing services industry. Or so that’s the opinion of industry paper Ad Age via author Barry Lowenthal in a recent piece a few weeks back. Thought it worthwhile to share again especially to those of you who may not have seen it yet.

Many of the functions agencies are paid for today—targeting, media planning, asset versioning — are already being handled faster and cheaper by machines.

Yet the most successful agencies in 2030 won’t be those with the biggest AI budgets; they’ll be the ones still capable of original thought.

Since the explosion of generative AI, holding companies have raced to future-proof themselves, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the technology. They’ve hired engineers, signed vendor deals and built proprietary tools. The logic is that automation improves margins by enabling more work to be produced with less overhead, and it’s attractive to clients.

But here’s the problem: Everyone is doing the same thing.

AI platforms might look different, but they’re powered by the same foundation—similar models, trained on similar data, offering similar outputs.

AI is a great equalizer. While early investment and enterprise deals offer short-term advantages, the tools are ultimately accessible to all. As technology becomes commodified, there’s only one true differentiator left: ideas.

In a world where everything can be personalized and optimized—where every ad element, from celebrity to color palette to music cue, is engineered for conversion—what cuts through is the unexpected.

Zany, emotional, human ideas. The kinds that make people laugh out loud, tear up or text a friend because it hit a nerve. The kind no algorithm can predict because they come from life experience, not data.

Those ideas aren’t born from prompts or dashboards, but from humans living messy, interesting lives—wandering museums, walking unfamiliar streets, swapping stories at a dive bar.

The agencies that stay relevant in an AI era will be the ones that protect this kind of cultural immersion. They’ll hire for life experience, not just technical literacy. They’ll measure inspiration like they do performance, instead of grinding their teams into creative exhaustion. They’ll reward originality over speed and efficiency. 

If the goal is to survive the next five years, curiosity and creative instinct must be treated as core competencies.

That means rethinking workflows to allow time for discovery, not just delivery. It means protecting those unproductive long walks and deep rabbit holes.

The payoff won’t always show up neatly in a dashboard, so it will be a challenging pitch to the CFO. But in a world where AI devours everything else agencies in once thought made them valuable, it’s the only bet worth making.

That’s the future. And no, you can’t buy it; you have to nurture it.

********

I agree with Mr. Lowenthal, original thought leading to creatively inspired ideas will and must lead the way. I’ve been involved in this business for several decades and I realize that the industry has turned into a young person’s game. Most have grown up with AI and consider it the “standard.” That is unfortunate. It still must be considered a tool in the work belt of the creative person who’s developing the idea. It can’t be used as the end-all. That is unless sameness is one’s idea of creative thought.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Brands should align data and creative from the start

Adobe Stock

An unlikely pairing some would surmise but they’re actually made for each other. In another of various selected articles from AdAge, this article I read recently by Matt Kaupa discusses how best for brands to align data with creative and do so from the beginning. Developing and studying one or the other separately won’t do any good.

At first glance, “data” and “creative” feel like opposites. One loves structure, the other color. One obsesses over decimal points, the other ellipses. But when they team up, the results can be surprising. And the best work happens when they collaborate from the start—not when data shows up at the end to judge. Here’s how to get there.

Don’t wait until after launch

Too often, data gets invited to the party only after a campaign is out in the world. At that point, it’s just there to grade the work, not shape it. Data and creative are two ingredients in the same dish. If you taste the soup only after it’s served, you can complain about the flavor—but you missed your shot to add the seasoning.

Strategy: Bring analysts into the creative kickoff. Audience insights—demographics, psychographics, behaviors, even reactions to past campaigns—can shape tone, format and story direction from day one. If you want to measure success, then why wouldn’t measurement help guide the strategy?

Example: Want to talk to busy moms in Charlotte? Don’t guess. See what they actually engage with at 10 p.m. Trying to position a brand as “premium” but still “relatable”? Let sentiment data show the words they use—not the words you wish they used.

Speak in the audience’s words

Every brand has its own vocabulary, but if your audience doesn’t speak that language, you’re basically shouting into the void. It doesn’t matter how clever your copy is if no one understands it—or worse, if it feels out of touch.

Strategy: Pull top organic search terms and social comments into the copy deck. Use their words, not yours.

Example: In industries like health care or finance, expert language doesn’t always translate. Otolaryngology? That’s just an ENT.

Don’t ignore A/B test losers

Everyone loves a winner, but the losing versions of a campaign are often way more interesting. They show you where instincts clashed with reality—and that tension is where new ideas live.

Strategy: Treat every test as a learning lab, not just a scoreboard. Every version has a story to tell—whether it’s what to do, or what to avoid.

Example: Sometimes insights come from a single weird data blip. Why did that version spike in Wisconsin? It didn’t have anything to do with cheese—or overrated football teams (skol!).

Let dashboards tell a story

Dashboards don’t have to be painful. But let’s be honest: They usually are. They’re dense, ugly and built for people who already live and breathe numbers. For everyone else? They’re more like a punishment than a resource.

Strategy: Co-build reporting visuals with designers so your dashboards are as compelling as your campaigns. When data looks like a story, people actually use it. Also, dummy-proof your insights: structure data and visuals in a way that reduces the number of assumptions—especially wrong ones—that your audience has to make.

Example: Imagine if your media dashboard looked less like a spreadsheet exploded and more like an infographic—highlighting trends, telling a narrative, and pulling out the “so what” at a glance. One client stopped ignoring their reports entirely once we reframed their monthly dashboard like a campaign storyboard. Suddenly, the CFO wasn’t just tolerating the data—he was quoting it in meetings.

Flip feedback into fuel

Brands collect mountains of feedback but rarely use it for anything more than “good job” or “try again.” What if, instead of treating it like a report card, you treated it like raw material? Customers are basically writing copy for you every day.

Strategy: Use real-time listening tools to turn survey responses or social reactions into iterative campaign content.

Example: Imagine a spot stitched together directly from customer feedback. Or a campaign whose copy comes entirely from what people are saying online.

Wrap smarter

When the campaign’s over, most people move on to the next thing. But the wrap-up is where the hidden treasure lives. Go beyond “what performed” and dig into why—because those answers set you up for the next win.

Strategy: Cluster analysis can reveal new audience segments. Performance patterns can challenge assumptions. Maybe Gen Z does like long-form after all—just not when you lead with product shots.

Data shouldn’t chase creative, and creative shouldn’t wait for data. The smartest work happens when both teams co-own the problem from day one. Remember that data isn’t just numbers. Just as we need to speak our audience’s language, we also need to speak the creatives’ language. Incorporate qualitative data—social comments, organic searches, reviews, surveys—to make sure we don’t lose the forest for the numbers.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Creative ideas—not spreadsheets—drive long-term brand growth

In a recent edition of Ad Age I caught an interesting article posted by Jon Gibbs having to do with the importance of creative ideas to brand growth. I thought it appropriate enough to share it with you. So here goes . . . enjoy!

In today’s climate of shrinking budgets, AI automation and relentless pressure to prove ROI fast, marketers are increasingly forced to make creative decisions based on what’s measurable rather than what’s meaningful. Dashboards and spreadsheets dominate boardroom conversations. But metrics tell you only what has worked. Creativity shows you what could work.

That difference is critical. The most powerful growth doesn’t come from simply following the data; it comes from ideas bold enough to break new ground. Ideas that capture attention, stir emotion and become memorable. Safe decisions may feel efficient, but safe doesn’t build distinctiveness. Safe builds sameness. And sameness is a dangerous place for brands to be in a hyper-competitive, three-second-attention world.

Creativity is what gives brands an edge. It’s how you move from being seen to being remembered. In other words, when creativity leads, the numbers follow.

The problem is that creative ambition is often cut short by over-measurement. Distinctive ideas can feel unfamiliar at first, and unfamiliarity makes people uncomfortable in a test group. Measure too early, and you’re often just testing comfort levels, not long-term effectiveness. As a result, bold work gets diluted or dropped before it has the chance to breathe.

So how can leaders, whether running an agency or leading marketing inside a brand, protect creativity in a world ruled by metrics?

Trust your instincts

We often turn to measurement when we’re unsure about trusting our instincts. But instinct isn’t guesswork: it’s built on years of experience, consumer understanding and category knowledge. Leaders who know their brand and market well should feel confident backing that expertise when making decisions.

That doesn’t mean being reckless. It means recognising that the best creative decisions often come from people who understand the brand and its audience most deeply, not from what a spreadsheet says.

Protect the process

Great ideas take time to evolve. They need space to be explored, debated and refined. Forcing ideas through rapid testing cycles or rushed approval rounds is more likely to drown out the creative ideas in favor of safer ideas proven by metrics. Agency leaders should create an environment where their teams can push boundaries without the constant fear of metrics-based rejection early on. Brand leaders must give their agencies the space to explore, not demand instant metrics.

The world’s obsession with efficiency often makes this worse. Too many global brand decisions happen in 15-minute Teams calls with a yes or no verdict. That’s not enough time for the deeper conversations that sharpen ideas. Feedback loops matter; every time work is put on the table, the team learn more about each other’s insights and instincts. Cutting those discussions out cuts out a lot of that depth that drives strong creative ideas. 

Protecting the process also means resisting the urge to test too soon. The point of iterative feedback is to build confidence before the work goes in front of consumers; otherwise, you end up evaluating unfinished thinking.

Know when to hold your nerve

Almost every bold idea meets a moment of doubt. They’re supposed to feel novel or different. Leaders earn their value by having the conviction to back the work. If the strategy is sound, the team is experienced and the creative instinct is strong, that’s the time to stand by it. 

Brand campaigns that hold their nerve are usually the ones that people remember. Nike did this with its “So Win” Super Bowl return this year (after 27 years), which highlighted the rise of female athletes. Rather than celebrity cameos or quick laughs, it backed a cinematic, purpose-driven film, and the risk paid off with one of the most celebrated ads of the night.

Use metrics wisely

Metrics are essential for informing insight, for sense-checking later in the process and for guiding optimization once work is in market. But they shouldn’t dictate the earliest imaginative ideas, because those ideas need space to breathe. 

And not all research is equal. Too often, multimillion-dollar brand decisions hinge on the cheapest possible online focus group. Thirty people in a £500 panel should not determine the fate of a £25 million brand. Poor-quality research is worse than no research at all. Whether you’re commissioning research on the brand side or interpreting it on the agency side, resist the temptation to reduce decisions to the cheapest possible test.

Telstra’s recent stop-motion campaign, which scooped the Cannes Lions Film Craft Grand Prix, is a good example: 26 playful shorts that probably wouldn’t have survived an early focus group, but once in market, they resonated widely. It proves the value of creative originality.

Champion distinctiveness over novelty

Bold does not mean weird for weird’s sake. Distinctive ideas are rooted in what makes a brand unique. It amplifies personality, sharpens positioning and makes the brand easier to recall in buying moments. Leaders should push teams to be distinctive, not just different, by allowing space for imaginative thinking, while asking the right questions: what does the brand want to be known for? What makes it meaningfully different? How can creativity make that difference visible and memorable?

Too many people today have become conditioned to believe that what can be measured is what matters most, but agency and brand leaders need to show that the truth is the opposite. What matters most often can’t be fully measured in advance. 

The campaigns that thrive will be the ones with leaders who defend creativity against premature measurement, holding their nerve when bold ideas feel risky, and treating creativity as the most important driver of growth.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Will branded experiences outperform ads by 2030?

Some say yes but CMOs are still chasing ads while consumers crave something beyond a screen. I recently ran across an article in AdAge about this and thought it worthwhile to pass on. Seems like the industry is changing right before our eyes. It’s difficult to keep up let alone try to figure out where it’s headed years from now. Hopefully this article will clarify some of the mystery.

The rules of attention have changed. Ads cost more than ever but work less than ever. People are paying to skip, block or scroll right past them. But experiences? They’re lining up for those and sometimes paying to get in.

Look at Lollapalooza, Coachella or the US Open, where the brands aren’t a backdrop, they’re part of the headline. Festivals and big cultural moments aren’t just about music or sports anymore; they’re about the branded experiences people talk about long after the event ends.

The disconnect is clear. Netflix has 247 million subscribers paying to avoid ads. Spotify Premium has 220 million doing the same. Every one of those subscriptions is a consumer saying: “My attention is valuable enough that I’ll pay to protect it.” Yet advertisers keep pouring money into channels people are actively opting out of. That’s not a strategy; that’s a slow leak.

Meanwhile, experiential is thriving. The category grew 10.5% last year to $128 billion. Why? Because instead of interrupting what people want, it is what people want. A great branded experience doubles as entertainment, content and memory. It creates emotion, builds loyalty and turns people into advocates.

Vibrant Urban Pop-Up Storefront Transforms Cityscape with Interactive Marketing and Philanthropy – Adobe Stock

Younger consumers are driving this shift fastest. They don’t just want to sit back and watch a brand throw messages at them. They want to take part, contribute, belong. Creator culture proves it, and experiential is the live version of that same energy.

Action above ads. Experience above everything. The brands that win are the ones that stop interrupting what people care about and become what people care about.

The shift is already happening. The only question is: Will you lead it, or watch it pass you by?

Well?

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Havas Puts Neurodivergent Creatives Center Stage at Cannes Lions

“Beyond the Brief” aims to redefine creative inclusion

This is another article I came across from the Cannes Festival last month that I wanted to share. It was written by AUDREY KEMP, a staff reporter for Adweek based in New York City. It has an interesting take on the creative industry and the players of today leading us into advertising’s future.

Havas is using Cannes Lions’ global stage to challenge the ad industry’s assumptions about what creative talent looks like—and who gets to be included.

On Monday, June 16, the French holding company debuted “Beyond the Brief,” a global campaign that positions neurodivergent minds as the future of the creative industry.

The effort builds on Havas’ Neuroverse initiative, launched in March, which supports the recruitment, retention, and development of neurodivergent talent through training, inclusive design, and partnerships. It’s also backed by new research from the agency, in partnership with nonprofit Understood.org and the 4A’s, that examines how neurodivergent creatives experience the workplace.

One stat that stood out to Donna Murphy, global CEO of Havas Creative and Health Networks, is that 40% of neurodivergent people are unemployed.

“The creative power they have is bar none,” Murphy told ADWEEK. “We saw a unique opportunity, not only for inclusion, but also for the market expansion of our clients.”

Inclusion as Innovation

Havas sees the lack of neurodiverse talent in advertising not just as an inclusion issue, but a source of untapped commercial potential. According to the agency’s study, over half of Gen Z identifies as neurodivergent—a demographic shift that’s forcing brands to reconsider how they design, market, and communicate.

“They think differently, they have sensory issues, and they see differently. If they go into a store and it’s not curated properly, and they’re overwhelmed, they leave,” said Murphy. “If you aren’t speaking to them, you’re going to miss that whole part of the market.”

The agency’s work around neurodivergence isn’t new. In 2023, Havas created a campaign for Reckitt-owned detergent brand, Vanish, that followed the daily life of a young autistic girl. During development, the team learned that autism and ADHD are often underdiagnosed in women and girls—a theme the campaign brought to light.

The spot sparked national conversation in the U.K., racking up 5 million TikTok views in 24 hours and, according to Murphy, leading to “the highest ever month of autism diagnosis.”

“Beyond the Brief” takes that advocacy global, with teaser ads along Cannes’ Croisette posing the question: “What if the future of creativity doesn’t look like the past—and never did?”

The campaign culminated in a main stage panel on Monday at the Lumière Theatre in the Palais, titled “Neurodivergent Minds: They Don’t Need Advertising—Advertising Needs Them.” Timed with Neurodiversity Pride Day, the session featured Murphy; global recording artist Lola Young; Renee Connolly, chief belonging and inclusion officer at Merck; and The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro as moderator.

The campaign title is also a deliberate nod to the awards culture of Cannes.

“We have to remind ourselves sometimes that Cannes is an award show,” said Loris Repellin, chief of staff, Havas Creative and Havas Health Networks. “The campaign that receives the most awards [is the one that] goes beyond the brief.”

Tools for Change

Off the Croisette, Havas is building infrastructure to support neurodivergent talent. The agency has developed training programs and partnered with an architecture firm to design more inclusive spaces, complete with VR simulations to illustrate sensory processing differences in the workplace.

The agency is expanding these efforts across its network, including through Havas People—its talent communications and employer branding division—and a growing neurodiversity practice. Havas has also begun hiring neurodivergent talent, including Sydney, a former intern now working as a copywriter, and Catherine, a leading SEO expert—though the agency did not share their full names.

The network is planning an experiment at the festival following an influencer marketing shopping spree

But systemic change, Murphy said, takes more than hiring. “They work totally differently. Sometimes they need to work remotely. Sometimes they need quiet space. Sometimes they need extra time. Sometimes they need less time,” she said of neurodivergent people. “Traditional employees don’t always have the patience to deal with it… which is why the training is so important.”

Murphy admitted that while Havas has already begun its journey to include neurodiverse talent in its workforce, “we don’t have all the answers… we’re still learning as we go.”

But she maintained that agencies that don’t embrace this growing talent pool are “going to fall behind.”

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Viagra’s Emotional Rebrand Wins the Cannes Lions Pharma Grand Prix 

Vaseline and New Zealand Herpes Foundation also take top health honors

A bold herpes awareness campaign took home top honors in the Health categories at Cannes Lions 2025.

I know that Cannes has been over for a week or so but I read this and wanted to share it. Thanks toAUDREY KEMP, a staff reporter for Adweek based in New York City. Good advice and a good read, especially for those who may not be up on Cannes.

Pharma Lions

Viagra won the Grand Prix in the Pharma category.

The “Make Love Last” campaign by Ogilvy Shanghai and Viatris repositions Viagra with an emotional, cinematic narrative focused on intimacy and long-term relationships. The campaign marks a departure from more clinical or humor-driven approaches and was praised for its film craft and cultural sensitivity.

The sexual wellness brand’s cinematic campaign led the Health category winners at Cannes. Other Grand Prix honors went to Unilever’s Vaseline and a bold nonprofit awareness push for herpes education.

Health and Wellness Lions

Unilever’s Vaseline won the Grand Prix in Health and Wellness.

The “Vaseline Verified” campaign, led by Ogilvy Singapore, used social media creators to combat skincare misinformation online. The effort stood out for addressing health literacy in underserved communities and using platform-native storytelling to restore trust in science.

Health Grand Prix for Good

The New Zealand Herpes Foundation won the Grand Prix for Good.

“The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes,” developed by Finch and Motion Sickness, reframed stigma around sexually transmitted infections through bold humor and transparency. With help from real patients, the campaign used outdoor, digital and long-form content to drive destigmatization and raise awareness globally.

Review all the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners here.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

‘AI Will Not Save Advertising’ – Apple’s Tor Myhren

The marketing leader opened Cannes Lions by arguing for human craft as the industry’s superpower.


“There’s no AI more capable of making us feel than the human mind,” Myhren told Cannes Lions attendees. (Tim Nudd/Ad Age)

This is the week of the Cannes Creativity Festival in Cannes, France, which some of you are aware. As such, commentary and opinions on the global advertising and creative community are being espoused far and wide. This blog shares some of that with you like this piece from BRITTANEY KIEFER. Brittaney is Adweek’s creative editor based in London.

Like advertisers from Coca-Cola to Google, Apple has previously caught backlash for seemingly elevating technology’s power above human creativity. 

But on the first day of Cannes Lions, Apple marketing leader Tor Myhren made a case for human creativity as the industry’s savior and superpower.  

Like last year, AI will likely be a hot topic at Cannes Lions. There’s both good news and bad news when it comes to AI, according to Myhren, vice president of marketing communications at Apple, which is Cannes Lions’ 2025 Creative Marketer of the Year. 

“The good news is AI is not going to kill advertising,” Myhren said on stage Monday. “The bad news is AI is not going to save advertising. We’ve got to save ourselves, by believing in what’s always made this industry special: human creativity.”

Will Creators Be the Future of Cannes Creativity?

Apple has long been a creatively esteemed brand, so Myhren’s talk drew a large crowd. But his comments were also notable after the company drew backlash last year for its “Crush” ad, which depicted a hydraulic press flattening artistic objects such as musical instruments, paint cans, and a camera.

Some critics called the ad “soul-crushing” for its portrayal of the destruction of creative tools, and it tapped into creative people’s fear about how tech like AI could jeopardize their professions. Myrhen apologized for “Crush” at the time, saying, “We missed the mark.”

In his Cannes remarks, Myrhen shifted the focus away from technology to the human talent at the heart of the industry. “Human touch is our superpower,” he said. “It’s the secret to building long-term brand love.”

For those still fearful about AI’s potential destructive power, Myhren ended his speech with a call to action: “AI will ride shotgun and be the best creative partner this industry has ever seen,” he said. “But we’ve got to drive.”

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

Brands shy away from creative risk

Periodically I come across articles of interest that I want to share. Below is one such piece. It’s written by Aaron Baar and delves into the mindsets of marketers and their respective brands when it comes to taking risks. Given the current socio-political environment, it’s no wonder that companies are backing away from and giving second thought to creative risks. So, let’s get to it, shall we?

Among marketers, 63% are focused on short-term tactics rather than long-term brand building, up from 53% in 2023. Photo via Adobe Stock

Dive Brief:

  • Only 13% of brand marketers and creatives view their companies as “risk-friendly” when it comes to creativity, while 29% are highly risk averse, according to the 2025 State of Creativity report from Lions, which produces the annual Cannes Lions creativity festival.
  • The report, now in its fifth year, surveys more than 1,000 marketers and creatives around the world and includes qualitative information from one-on-one industry leaders. More than half of respondents (51%) said their customer insights are too weak to develop bold creative, and 57% said they struggle to react quickly to cultural moments. 
  • The survey also revealed that brands are increasingly focusing on short-term marketing activities, rather than long-term brand building. In the 2025 survey, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents said their brands were focusing on such tactics, up from 53% in 2023. 

Dive Insight:

Brand and agency executives are becoming more risk-averse when it comes to marketing creative, which could negatively impact growth, according to the largest creativity festival. Outside data cited in the report backs up the assertion that stronger creativity leads to better business results. Brands that take creative risks generate four times higher profit margins than those that don’t, per WARC and Kantar. Additionally, brands with an appetite for creative risk are 33% more likely to see long-term revenue growth, according to Deloitte.

The aversion to “creative risk-taking,” defined by the survey as “bold, unconventional ideas that challenge norms and engage audiences in unexpected ways,” boils down to issues marketers face like poor insights and an inability to respond to cultural moments quickly, per the report. 

With regard to insights, 51% of respondents said their ability to develop high-quality insights was poor or very poor. Conversely, only 13% said their ability was very good or excellent. The main barriers to developing quality insights were a lack of understanding and clarity as to what makes a good insight, not enough priority on insight development and insufficient time allocated to insight exploration. 

The report noted that strong agency-brand relationships and more diverse teams and methods yielded better, more actionable insights. Additionally, AI use also increased efficiency and reduced bias.

A lack of confidence in consumer insights is also leading to brands’ inability to respond to cultural moments. According to the report, 57% of brands struggle to react quickly when something happens, and only 12% rate their ability to do so as “excellent.” Other challenges include too many layers in the approval process and limited resources and investment. Recommendations include streamlining internal processes and shaping culture rather than chasing it.

Interesting take, wouldn’t you say? I’d be curious as to your take on this report and, given your perspectives, what comments you may have. Let me know, okay?

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for selected short stories and personal insights on life and its detours.

It’s that time of the month again . . .

. . . when we see and read what others have said that made an impact. May these quotes bring about an impact for you as well. Enjoy!

 

All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. We can brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level. — William Bernbach, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ― Thomas Alva Edison

Nothing comes merely by thinking about it. — John Wanamaker, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. – Gerry Spence

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. – George Washington Carver

Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature—all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won. – Twyla Tharp

Chaos is the only thing that honestly wants you to grow. The only friend who really helps you be creative. — Dan Wieden, member Advertising Hall of Fame

What we are doing is satisfying the American public. That’s our job. I always say we have to give most of the people what they want most of the time. That’s what they expect from us. — William Paley, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

Advertising is what you do when you can’t go see somebody. That’s all it is. — Fairfax Cone, member, Advertising Hall of Fame

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. – Arthur C. Clarke

 

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for personal insights on life and its detours.

And, check out creative selections from ideasnmore.net.

Jolan tru!