How AI can help marketers up their game

Over 20 years as a creative, and I’m still excited about one thing. Change. Change allows us to connect the dots quicker. As a marketing community, it also inspires us to do great work with talented people, even faster across borders and channels.

In recent months, interest in AI platforms as a start-point for strategic planning and creative has been, well - huge.

Yet, my line on this topic remains the same. Whether it’s at the watercooler, talking to a C-Suite exec or in a creative session with our global teams. In times of change, it is nothing to fear. It is an opportunity where the cream of the crop rises to the top and I strongly believe AI will see marketers up their professional game.

Regardless of the tools at their disposal, creative and marketing professionals must focus on what they’re hired to do. Making a creative difference. 

While AI certainly raises the “process” baseline for teams. It also creates a new platform for talented people to build on. “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” I believe Pablo Picasso once said….

So, regardless of how they’ve done their homework, those wanting to turn a brief into an award-winning campaign must still ask the right questions to uncover the nuggets of opportunity that lurk behind an NDA.

Identifying the problem that you need to solve and audience you want to get in front of – still requires critical thinking, diverse experience and killer instinct.

So, my view is that using AI in the right way can only help good, original thinkers stop procrastinating, see the wood for the trees and rule out obvious ideas. It’s part of the new journey. Not the destination for people seeking an answer. AI isn't the quick fix or an alternative to truly great creative outcomes.

Causing chaos and dreaming up provocative vs predictable campaigns is a creative’s sweet spot. AI means we can focus on what creative people are great at. Solving problems. And in these uncertain times, there are plenty of those to crack, and fast.

As an agency type, I can only imagine that clients are sighing with relief. The low hanging fruit and obvious answers will no longer stand as creative executions. Gone should be the ‘graveyard’ pitch slot where a panel hears the same idea from the sixth agency they’ve seen that day. Or sending someone back to the drawing board when they’re presenting a slight variation on a showtune. Yawn. More coffee anyone? If AI can do it, you should be doing what it cannot.

So will AI change how marketing teams work? Absolutely. For the better, I’m sure. Great thinking, across channels can be deployed even faster. Bring it on.

Note: This was not written by Chat GPT but by a real person. Imagine that.

Simon Billington is Executive Creative Director at Global Marketing Agency, TEAM LEWIS