With apologies to Bloc Party for the headline, but……
…Like most in the creative industries, I’m both excited and deeply concerned by the state of flux we are in.
🟢 The astounding potential of what AI ‘could’ be.
🔴 The appalling standards of current AI content
🟢 The awe-inspiring creativity our industry can produce
🔴 Short-termism as a management team sport
🔴 Endless ‘reorganisations’ and resultant redundancies
But in the last few days, with a bit more time on my hands than normal** Three excellent bits of thinking have really hit home. I urge you to check them out (full links in comments)
First Ivan Fernandes has produced a succinct, spot-on, analysis from great research into who the real winners are from WPP actions of the last few years. Spoiler alert, it’s neither the staff nor clients…
Then the highly prolific Joe Burns. In multiple posts, he rails against the sloppiness and lack of foresight in our rush to get AI tools embedded in workflows. Yes, you might get home earlier on Friday, but you’re training your clients and the rest of the agency on fools gold.
Finally, and with a real flourish. Karen Martin with the 'Women Who Walked Around Soho'. A call to arms to embrace the timeless magic of talking and collaborating. To hire more, not less, and embrace a lack of conformity. Because the potential of new scary ideas is the real wow of the industry
Remember
The real beneficiaries are in another room
We are in danger of shooting ourselves in the face
The resolution is within our remit, but we need to keep talking
