The Suasion Game

I’ve always been amazed at the ability of organizations to solve big problems.  Collectives build on a premise, test ideas and push toward lofty if not seemingly unachievable goals.  In the process, agencies stand out by dint of the ideas they promote, their intellectual fortitude and their resilience in the face of adversity.  Advertising isn’t American Ninja Warrior - we succeed by harnessing group dynamics.  In Content Production, we’re tasked with engineering desired (and at times unexpected) outcomes.  We enable ideas and help make them real.  I’m humbled by the opportunity it affords me to meet experts, iconoclasts and cultural creators.  We are a mixed lot oft defined by what we didn’t do with our lives as opposed to what we did.  It’s an opportunity to rebel and excel.

The speed with which ChatGPT, Bard, midjourney and Runway AI have entered the marketplace of ideas is taking the fiction out of science fiction.  The uncertainty is inspiring thought leaders to position themselves as pedagogic interpreters around this ‘generative creative stream’ that learns exceptionally fast.  Will marketers (who pay for data if they don’t already own it) simply set parameters for AI executions that get deployed on programmatic servers?  Probably. Techno utopians believe that many of us are going to do things more akin to ‘artistic production.’  For that I thank them because that’s what I like to do!

Cameras, software and processors have created an aesthetic plateau for visuals - from organic social to upper funnel branding, it looks pretty good. Photographers, DPs, Art Directors and Illustrators still take care to apply techne to push digital imagery in subtle ways, but it’s not too hard to make good imagery. Alas, there’s no mistaking the lack of art direction or a bad headline - craft matters.

With respect to the commercial work I’m luck enough to be a part of, I ask myself ‘Is it relational? Do I care? Why do I care?’ We aim for relevance and resonance.  Our visual language - irrespective of whether the concept is fantastical, testimonial or clever, just short (or long) of obvious - has a predictable veneer.  The major differentiator is the personalization of our relationships with brands.  As technology embeds itself further into the substance of our lives, personalization is THE feature. 

I have spent my professional life playing the suasion game.  For every ‘rule’ there’s an exception -  let’s zig when everyone else is on the zag.  Advertising excels at re-defining and exposing such obvious truths that they become revelatory.   Connecting all of it are the rare & exceptional people I’ll always cherish and experiences across this country (and beyond) which inform me to this day. Let’s do and do well!