Tag: marketing

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There’s no doubt the role of creatives has changed. And it continues to evolve rapidly with each wave of technological advancement. What we’re experiencing today goes beyond a shift in tools or techniques. It feels like a fundamental redefinition of what it means to shape communication, storytelling, and culture.

Historically, every major technological leap has reshaped not only what we create but how we create it. And, just as importantly, how creatives participate in that process. It’s no longer only about having new tools at our disposal, but about where creative judgement sits, how it’s applied, and how it’s evaluated.

Let me try to explain by going back for a moment.

Well, way back.

In the pre-digital era, we shot and edited commercials on film. It was a time-intensive, almost ritualistic process. We’d review rushes, mentally catalogue shots, scrutinise takes frame by frame, and wait hours, sometimes days, for a new cut. Creativity back then was slower, more linear, and physically bound to the constraints of the medium. We respected the craft deeply. There was a sense of reverence and distance between thinking and making.

Then digital changed everything. Suddenly, we could work faster, with more fluidity and collaboration. Editing became open-ended. We could experiment freely, explore multiple versions, and adapt executions for different markets and formats with greater ease. Digital tools didn’t just streamline production; they pulled creatives closer to the act of making. Iteration became part of the process. The feedback loop shortened. We gained agency.

Now, with the rise of GenAI and neuro-powered analytics, we’re entering a new phase of transformation. But this one feels different. This isn’t simply about working faster or producing more. It’s about intelligence. We now have the ability to anticipate – to know before we act.

AI can predict how a piece of creative might perform in terms of attention, emotion, and memorability, even before it goes live. Tools powered by neurological data and historical brand performance are reshaping how we plan, produce, and assess creative work. And that shift is significant.

A recent article about Dentsu’s Measurement Engine, which brings AI and neuroscience together to evaluate and optimise creative assets, stopped me in my tracks. What struck me wasn’t just the sophistication of the tech or the fact that agencies are already putting it to work. It was what this signals for our role as creatives. The conversation has shifted, from what we’re making to how our role is being redefined. Our value still lies in the craft, but increasingly, it’s in how we engage with systems of insight and translate data into creative action.

So, here’s my reflection on where we are, and where we might go next.

The Role of the Creative Is Expanding

#1. The creative brief is no longer a fixed starting point; it’s a living, evolving input.

What was once a static document shaped by strategy and intuition now draws from live data and predictive insight. Creatives no longer work in isolation from performance signals. We’re working within environments that forecast how audiences are likely to feel, notice, or remember an idea before it’s even produced.

The brief now behaves more like a hypothesis—something to test, adapt, and evolve. Brand history co-authors the ideation process. What worked last quarter becomes a reference for what might land next week. The brief is alive, and it changes alongside the ideas it sparks.

#2. Art directors and copywriters are blending storytelling with system thinking.

The creative instinct is still there. But now it sits alongside real-time behavioural data, emotional resonance scores, and predictive modelling. Today’s creatives are expected to navigate dashboards, interpret heatmaps, and consider how cognitive load might shape audience recall.

Craft still plays a central role, but it’s increasingly accompanied by evidence. And rather than diminishing creativity, this might make it more accountable, more iterative—and potentially, more impactful. That remains to be seen. But we should stay curious.

#3. Producers are becoming architects of adaptive content ecosystems.

Production isn’t a finite process anymore. It’s modular, responsive, and continuous. Producers today manage pipelines that account for versioning, localisation, live signals, and performance-led adaptation.

The scope has expanded. Producers are becoming systems thinkers, one who orchestrate content networks that evolve as they move. They will be facilitators of scale and guardians of consistency, managing the delicate balance between central control and local relevance.

#4. The creative toolkit now includes neuro-insight dashboards and predictive platforms.

Tools like Dentsu’s Measurement Engine combine EEG, eye-tracking, cognitive scoring, and machine learning to provide creatives with predictive feedback at the concept stage. It sounds impressive, and it is, but it also presents new responsibilities. Creatives must now learn to evaluate layouts, visuals, and scripts not only for narrative clarity, but for emotional lift and projected recall.

We can now compare two headlines not just for voice or tone, but for predicted memorability. That doesn’t mean reducing creativity to numbers. It does mean expanding our confidence in decisions through foresight.

#5. Creative instincts aren’t being replaced, they’re evolving with earlier, sharper feedback.

There’s a persistent myth that AI flattens creativity. But used well, it can sharpen it. When creatives get timely feedback on emotional or behavioural signals, they can experiment with greater clarity, and iterate without the waste of blind rounds.

Intuition still matters. But in this new context, it becomes informed by foresight as well as hindsight. That’s a different kind of creative strength.

Collaboration Is Evolving, Too

#6. The creative team now includes data scientists, AI engineers, and behavioural analysts.

Our circle has expanded. We’re working with those who build the systems that shape our decisions and measure our outcomes. This means learning new collaborative behaviours, interpreting data narratives, translating technical input into brand meaning, and working with KPIs as shared goals, not external constraints.

The work doesn’t just have to be good. It has to be explainable, traceable, and tuned to context.

#7. Transcreation has become cultural intelligence at scale.

Transcreation today is no longer confused with translation. With the ability to measure emotional resonance by market, we’re designing frameworks that adapt by intent. Modular systems allow local teams to interpret the work meaningfully, without starting from scratch.

It’s not about creating uniformity. It’s about giving teams the raw materials to build culturally relevant expressions that still ladder back to a shared idea.

#8. Real-time iteration is a core creative capability.

Once a campaign goes live, it doesn’t conclude—it enters a new phase. Assets can now be adapted mid-flight. Messaging can be reshaped for new platforms or audience groups on the fly.

Designing with this elasticity in mind isn’t an add-on. It’s part of the brief. Creatives must think in systems, build flexibility into their work, and prepare assets that can shift with signals.

#9. Every creative output feeds into brand intelligence.

Each piece of content contributes to a larger feedback loop. Assets become more than moments, they become signals. What performs well can be reused, remixed, or scaled. What underperforms teaches us what to avoid.

Creativity now fuels a learning system. It’s not just storytelling, it’s a strategic asset that evolves with every piece we put into the world.

One caution though, inserting creative judgment too early in the process, could prevents the system from exploring beyond human convention. So, knowing when to step in would be key and is an area that needs further exploration. 

#10. The creative mindset needs to prioritise outcomes over outputs.

We’ve long celebrated the “hero visual” or final execution. But today, one idea might need to exist in 50 or more versions, spanning platforms, moments, and audiences.

Creative excellence isn’t only about originality or craft. It’s about consistency, relevance, and responsiveness over time. Performance isn’t the enemy of creativity—it’s part of its purpose.

So, What Should We Do Differently?

This all sounds exciting. But it also demands change, that covers culturally, operationally, and creatively. Testing and using new tools, yes. But more importantly, rethinking who’s in the room, when they’re invited, and how we work together.

On top of my mind, here are four places we can start:

1. Redesign the brief as an intelligent, evolving object.

The creative brief should serve as an input into a broader feedback system. Frame hypotheses, identify outcome-based metrics, build versioning plans, and include signals that matter. Let the brief guide decision-making from concept through to performance analysis.

2. Treat production as a system for flexible deployment.

Every asset should be built with adaptation in mind—across platform, market, and audience. Tagging and metadata should be standard. Producers and creatives need to understand versioning infrastructure and design for variation, not just delivery.

3. Bring in broader collaborators earlier.

GenAI encourages cross-disciplinary thinking. We should involve data strategists, behavioural experts, and AI leads at the start of creative development. Don’t bolt insight on after the fact—build with it from the beginning.

4. Reskill creatives for iterative deployment and performance fluency.

The idea of a big reveal is fading. Creatives need to write with range, design with flexibility, and think in adaptive structures. Performance feedback should be seen as fuel, not friction.

Phew. So, what’s next? You might ask…

If everyone is creative, then every creative today is, in some way, also a scientist. We’re becoming hybrids. Part imagination, part interpretation. Maybe even “brand model trainers” or walking “large creative models.” (There’s a headline in that somewhere.)

Creatives will become “Mixture of Creative Experts” (MoCE)

Jokes aside, this requires a shift – in how we think, how we make, and how we lead. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it does start with embracing the complexity.

Creativity still matters. Perhaps more than ever. But how we get there is changing. Instinct still plays a role. Now it works in dialogue with data, tools, and systems that help us learn faster, respond smarter, and create with greater purpose.

The machines might show us the map. But the meaning, the shape, the emotional depth, that’s still ours to craft.

And that, I believe, is where the real power lies.

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Language, once considered a domain of human interaction and expression, is now a critical operational layer that permeates branding, marketing, product development, knowledge management, customer service, and even internal collaboration. The advent of large language models (LLMs) has amplified this shift, enabling brands to leverage language as a dynamic tool for efficiency, innovation, and connection.

The start of 2025 brings in new goals and expectations across different aspects of language operations. With rapid advancements in technology, particularly in generative AI, we’re witnessing a fundamental shift in the way global content is created, adapted, and localised. Over the past year, I’ve been energized by these developments, not merely because of their efficiency or cost-saving potential but because they challenge us to rethink the creative and operational frameworks that underpin global branding and communication.

A Moment of Reflection: Lessons from Transcreation’s Rise

Reflecting on the early days of transcreation, I’m reminded of the transformative conversations that reshaped how global brands approached global content adaptation. At that time, the idea of producing local versions of global campaigns in a centralized hub was both refreshing and disruptive. It spurred a cascade of innovations in team structures, asset management, and centralized production workflows. Allowing global brands to appoint independent creative agencies without a network, and at the same time creative hotshops have the capabilities to win and retain global clients from one single office. These discussions – focused on balancing quality with efficiency – laid the groundwork for the centralized and scalable systems many brands rely on today.

Now, with the rapid development of generative AI, I sense a similar moment of transformation -one that holds even greater potential to redefine the disciplines of language and content creation.

Here’s why:

Generative AI: A Catalyst for Change in Global Content Creation

Generative AI offers capabilities that challenge traditional silos in global branding and language operations. The technology is not just a tool for automation but a platform for reimagining collaboration, creativity, and cultural relevance. Key areas where I envision generative AI driving innovation include:

1. Decentralized and Collaborative Ideation

Generative AI allows for global creative platforms to be ideated, conceived, and refined in any market, language, or culture—and in real time. This is a profound shift from the historically English-centric approach to global campaigns.

Collaboration tools enhanced by AI also facilitate smoother communication across departments and geographies, breaking down silos and fostering innovation, enabling creatives from diverse markets to articulate big ideas and anticipate challenges in adaptation. By empowering talent in any region to lead, we’re moving toward truly “global-ready” creative platforms where ideas can flow bidirectionally—whether originating from Tokyo, China, São Paulo, or Nairobi.

2. Blurring the Lines Between Translation, Transcreation, and Localisation

Generative AI’s ability to produce culturally nuanced and fluent language outputs is blurring the distinctions between these disciplines. What I’ve long referred to as “creative adaptations” is finally becoming a unified process. Foundation models, powered by brand-specific data, are already producing more coherent outputs across creative and technical content.

Key developments include:

  • Integrating brand terminology at the system level, ensuring consistency across all languages and content types.
  • Implementing supervisory agents within agentic workflows to maintain alignment with a brand’s tone, voice, and cultural context.
  • Grounding outputs in proprietary knowledge, creating more seamless integration across creative and technical writers and teams.

The result? Greater coherence and cultural sensitivity across all touchpoints.

3. Foundation Models as Living Brand Guardians

Traditionally, brand guidelines have been static documents—invaluable but cumbersome. Generative AI enables the creation of dynamic, living brand style guides, grounded in “brand truth” and continuously refined with proprietary data. These AI-driven guidelines act as virtual partners, providing:

  • Real-time feedback on language and multimodal content creation.
  • Dynamic adaptability to changing market contexts or evolving brand narratives.
  • Enhanced consistency in tone, design, and cultural relevance across platforms.

This approach transforms static guidelines into an evolving resource that grows alongside the brand.

4. The Rise of Branded Conversational Interfaces

As generative AI evolves, brands are becoming increasingly conversational in their tone of voice. The next generation of customer-facing chatbots will be “branded customer agents,” and will be considered as brand ambassadors in their own right, serving as the primary touchpoint in customer journeys. Unlike traditional chatbots (and “chatbots” won’t be the right term to justify their significant role), these agents will:

  • Reflect the brand’s personality and tone of voice, shaping perceptions in real time.
  • Replace traditional corporate website hierarchies, allowing users to access information or services via natural language queries.
  • Create seamless, human-like interactions that enhance customer experience and deepen brand loyalty.

This shift will redefine the role of brand websites, transforming them from static repositories into dynamic, conversational platforms that adapt to each user’s needs.

Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Challenges

While the promise of generative AI is vast, it’s essential to approach these advancements with a balance of optimism and critical thought. AI is a double-edged sword in our industry – it empowers us to push boundaries, stretch production possibilities, and localize content at scale, yet it also raises critical challenges around intellectual property, ethical use, and fair remuneration.

Yet, as we’ve seen in past industry evolutions, the challenges are often the catalysts for innovation. The integration of generative AI into language operations is an opportunity to reimagine not just how we create and adapt content but how we connect with audiences across cultures, languages, and platforms.

As we step into 2025, I’m excited to see how these trends unfold and to be part of the conversations shaping the future of language in branding. 

Let’s chat. 

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I stumbled upon an image on facebook recently and it had stuck in my mind for a long time. It’s a facebook page of InterContinental Hotels where guests post snapshots of the hotel from all over the world. It’s a fantastic collection not because it is completely from the eyes of the consumers; it also illustrates one interesting thing – the hotel looks and feels so differently in each market.

This got me thinking…how does brand consistency apply in this context? Is consistency really relevant after all? Or perhaps we need to redefine the conventional definition of consistency?

What about global brand guidelines? We often hear branding specialists emphasize that in order to maintain global brand consistency, local markets need to be provided with over-arching guidelines about presentation, logo use, images and tone of brand messages, often in a manifesto or marketing book. However, many of these brand guidelines are over simplifications or generalizations that often have not allowed the breath of thinking.

I think consistency is an attitude. It’s more about the ‘how’ than ‘what’.

Intelligently local

As brands become more national, multinational or global, they realize that not all the consumers in each market have the same needs.  The need for global brands to be transformed and make sure they are locally relevant is increasingly important. In the travel industry, for example, hotel brands have been increasingly adapted to the local needs.

Accor has revamped its Grand Mercure brand in China, offering products and services tailored for local clientele, in a move aimed at taking advantage of the booming upscale domestic travel market.

Grégoire Champetier, chief marketing officer of Accor said “Our clients are now expecting brands capable of understanding the diversity and the complexity of their identity.”

The re-engineered branding for Grand Mercure, referred to in Mandarin as Mei Jue (美爵), was unveiled at the inauguration of Grand Mercure Shanghai Zhongya, the first hotel adapted to the new positioning. The group’s nine other similarly branded properties in China are due to adopt the new identity.

In Shanghai, employees will be conversant in the local Shanghainese language (a dialect that is class-defining in mainland China), and guests will be welcomed by staff wearing Qipao, a traditional evening dress (Think Maggi Cheung in the Mood for Love).

All local staff will be identified with name badges bearing firstly Chinese characters, followed by a pinyin equivalent enabling them to use their given names rather than adopting foreign equivalents.

Other signature services include daily Tai chi lessons, and complimentary head and shoulder massages (Chinese style presumably) for guests staying on premium floors.

The Grand Mercure brand provides Accor with a fresh platform for organic upscale expansion throughout the country. The opportunity for organic growth in the upscale hotel segment in China is one of the largest in the world. Accor’s tailor-made Grand Mercure product has already garnered great support from hotel owners. Accor currently operates 10 Grand Mercure hotels in the country. Accor has confirmed commitments for 10 additional hotels, and announced that it will expand its network to around 65 hotels in tier 1 to tier 3 cities throughout China by 2015.

Authentic global

The concept of globalization often carries a dose of negativity. By definition, globalization means the ‘process by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society’, which indicates the process of standardisation. However, in an increasingly interconnected global economy, many of us cherish our local roots. Some global brands understand that and promote ‘now localism’ in their brand strategy.

Hotel Indigo is what IHG considered to be their nearest to a non-hard brand.

As their CFO of EMEA and head of development for Europe for IHG, Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, once said “A good brand is one that does a lot of research into what consumers want and designs something around that”. In fact they have put this in practice and bring in the feeling of the locale wherever they go. For example in Liverpool, the hotel focus on the music scene, in Shanghai it captures a strong Chinese-feeling.

Bart Carnahan, senior VP for acquisitions and development of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide once commented on the pros and cons of hard branding versus soft branding: “St. Regis for us is hard-branded—you know what you’re getting”. Luxury Collection is getting close to these white brands, it has some core consistencies throughout those brands, but it gives more breadth to owner developers, so it’s not so rigid. Carnahan said Starwood’s upscale brands have to have local designs to get that eclectic local feeling and the company wants some of the luxury brands to be.

Not just local, it’s your neighbourhood

Going one step further, the notion of ‘place’ is such a core of the proposition that certain brands has gone all out to adapt to local market needs. Statbucks is one such brand. In Seattle, 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea looks nothing like a Starbucks. But, this new café, named after the street where it is situated, is a Starbucks. Starbucks has decided to un-brand it’s newest location in Washington DC. By featuring local entertainment, sourcing from local bakeries and donating leftover food to the local parish, these new un-branded cafés aim to integrate themselves into the fabric of the neighbourhood.

Consumers are turning away from the allure of globalization and massive brands for the comfort of localization. In the US, we stand poised to see the resurgence of neighbourhood. How can your brand capture local character and appeal to consumers’ by providing them with a greater sense of identity and belonging?

Here, I am leaving with you some food for thoughts:

What consistency means in global brand management nowadays? Does it need to be redefined?

If brands need to be localized, what are the impact in the process of creating and implementation of global campaign?

If one-size-fits-all marketing tactic does not work for certain product categories, what are the implications of adapting global ideas for local markets?

What do you think?