Our industry was born and blossomed through captivating the world and romancing the products and services it was tasked to sell. Through seduction and recognising that people buy with their hearts, not just their heads, it has attracted some of the greatest, sharpest minds that our nation – all nations – has to offer; a premium industry attracting premium talent. However, somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this, convincing ourselves this is no longer the case. That in today’s brave new world, it is not about seduction but about ‘telling’, it’s no longer about romancing, it’s about explaining, it’s no longer about captivating ideas, but all about the messaging, about spitting it out to the right people, in the right place at the right time.

Data is king, storytelling is dead

And the current crop of AI tools serve this thinking perfectly. Farming off readily available content to fit messaging needs. In a world that has embraced the importance of recycling, there is no greater proponent of it than AI.

So we get wrapped up in the most toxic of vicious cycles: Flawed thinking, creating ineffectual work, attracting poor talent – and round and round it goes.

Little wonder some of the most respected names in our industry decry ‘The Era Of The Blandemic.’

Little wonder we hear so many voices predicting the downfall of our industry.

“Farewell Don Draper: AI is coming for advertising” (I mean?! ‘Don Draper’ – From The Economist of all people)

The biggest threat to our industry isn’t AI - not even close. It’s the hands it has fallen into that we have to keep a keen eye on. 

The good news is that behind this toxic vicious cycle, we have an equally glorious virtuous cycle waiting to get out. And in one respect it’s a simple reversal of the elements that make up that toxic vicious cycle we are caught up in.

Where we are currently driven by the thinking that simple messaging is the key to wholesale engagement, our virtuous cycle recognises and reminds us of the importance of original thinking. The importance of original thought, of rich captivating ideas that woo and win the hearts of many.

However, we should also remember that this isn’t optional. That it isn’t a choice to make. In our new AI-driven world, original thinking has never been more important to cut through and overwhelm the vast cacophony of AI-generated guff.

Then we remember that this isn’t binary thinking, that AI is in some way the enemy, our creative foe.

Quite the opposite in fact. The more we embrace the power of original thinking, of real intelligence, to engage, captivate, seduce and romance, the more effective AI-generated content will be in support. Real Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence in perfect harmony. Like Mav and Goose if you like?

For symmetry, let's call it upcycling alongside the recycling qualities of AI! But now here’s the big thing and in many ways what we’ve been building up to. The crucial question of the talent that drives this cycle, the engine behind it all. And for that we need Giants. 

Giants like you and us.

Recently we were fortunate to attend The Social Mobility Awards in the company of our friends from Making The Leap, an incredible charity set up to support underprivileged kids and open the door to potential career opportunities otherwise closed to them. The keynote speaker was the CEO of Making The Leap, the equally incredible Tunde Banjoko. During his speech he reminded us that we were all giants of our industry with the power to change it for the better, to re-energise it, with a new respect for talent at its forefront.

He reminded us of the incredible talent outside our traditional recruitment pool. Remarkably, embarrassingly, only 16% of the creative industries are representative of the working class against a national representation of 48%.

Now this isn’t a plea or a call to level up the ratio for altruistic reasons but to do so to reboot the very fabric of our industry. To herald the introduction of new thinking from new sources, real thinkers from real backgrounds, representative thinkers from representative backgrounds, divergent and diverse thinkers, to fire up this new virtuous cycle. This is not to undermine or turn our backs on the many of us who come into this industry from well-educated backgrounds – not at all. It’s more in recognising the point that originality knows no class – a point perhaps all the more important in this new Trump fuelled era we are all being dragged towards.

So we need Giants like you and us to embrace this thinking, to upset the apple cart for the good of us all. To open the doors to new kinds of talent, to open our minds to new sources of talent, not simply looking to academic prowess. To look to vigour, to passion, to energy, connection and curiosity, to a hunger to grow and thirst to prosper, to drive, to ambition, to a want to learn and an unerring commitment to do so, irrespective of academic prowess. And oh how we will see the difference, and oh, how we, as giants of our industry, will take so much pride in doing so. The pride of Giants.