Let's be honest, we all love AI.
Compared to the relatively slow rise of social media, the explosive uptake of AI into our everyday work and home lives has been nothing short of phenomenal. Dinner parties, BBQ's, workplace or LinkedIn, we're bombarded with dire predictions, philosophies, hysteria and the daily rantings of doomsayers in search of a click. I'm not here to be one of those. AI is wonderful. More please.
I'm an advertising creative director who has seen more than my fair share of new technologies enter the creative industries, only to see a majority of them crash and burn.
Change is the only constant in advertising, and if things don't change regularly enough, creative people like me tend to get itchy and a bit nervous.
It's a weird addiction. There's probably medication for it.
Adland has always been quick to adapt to a changing world.
For the past twenty years, one of those big changes has been the focus on costs coupled with progressively reduced client budgets.
So, anything that reduces costs, but still maintains high levels of service, is fully welcomed with open arms and bottles of perfectly chilled Champagne gripped firmly in both hands. Bollinger preferably.
AI is a tool.
It's an incredible tool.
And it's here to stay.
How it's used – well, that's when things get interesting, and the fun begins.
Of course, the smarter people amongst us have already taken a course or three in how to use AI and implement it into their professional lives.
However, a majority have fumbled their way through using it as nothing more than a glorified Answering Machine.
Which is fair enough.
Because it's a bloody good one.
Especially for finding an authentic Thai Green Curry recipe around the 5pm dinner panic time. Guilty as charged.
But, beyond blind culinary crusades into the Far East, to get the most out of AI there needs to be proper guidance.
Lessons from a one-legged man on an escalator
As I mentioned earlier, Adland is quick to embrace new technologies because they help to tell stories in better and sometimes unexpected ways.
This happens whenever new game-changing technology hits the scene - the iPhone, Internet Explorer, the fax machine, telex, or even the humble elevator.
In 1911, the London Underground introduced something no one had seen before: a mechanical staircase. It was an unfamiliar, noisy device that terrified everyone – especially women with long skirts who feared they'd get eaten alive by the 'monster'. The Underground put up posters telling people it was safe - nothing worked.
Then, someone had a brilliant idea – they should physically demonstrate how easy it is to use – but with a twist.
William 'Bumper' Harris was an employee who'd lost a leg in an accident.
He was told to ride up and down on the escalator all day - nothing else.
When people saw a one-legged man with crutches nonchalantly riding the escalator, fear was quickly overcome. Today, elevators enrich our lives because no one likes taking the stairs.
It's not going away.
Much like AI.
Soon, two billion people will have access to it in their pockets.
The Great Averaging
From my lofty perch as a creative director, it's easy to see that AI has raised the floor, but it has also raised the ceiling. Of course, democratising creativity is a good thing and has led to many creative revolutions – punk rock is a great example.
In the years leading up to punk's explosion in 1976/77, becoming a musician usually meant attending music school or spending years learning the "proper" way to play an instrument. The music of the age reflected this, typified by the lengthy, intricate arrangements of prog-rock. Punk changed all this, all you now needed was an instrument, attitude and an idea. Of course, many great bands emerged from this period. But it also spawned a tidal wave of bands who got signed in a rush, only to fall by the wayside once the world moved on, and people realised they weren't very good to begin with.
Another example is Penguin Books. Penguin was the first to make books more accessible through the paperback, which massively increased the volume of books but also created new "novelists" - where previously writing was more high art, now it gave way to genres like gumshoe detective stories and opened the opportunity for Mills and Boon. Not everyone's taste, but there it is.
AI is doing the same. But on a massive scale.
Now, anyone can make average stuff – not bad stuff, just average, average stuff.
I call it The Great Averaging.
Imagine an upside-down Bell Curve, but the curve is flattened across 98% of the length of the graph like a wide square-shaped 'U'. It would mean that 1% of the work would be very bad stuff, 1% would be truly great inspiring stuff, while 98% would look like a soul-crushing barren plateau of meh, better known as AI slop.
It's a daunting prospect.
Especially for creatives, marketers or founders. Finding the good stuff, whether that is creatively or strategically, is getting harder.
And that's the dilemma.
Why human insight matters more than ever
Most marketers will have access to the exact same AI tools as each other. And because Boards view marketing as executional and not strategic, the push to use AI to solve marketing problems is likely to increase in the foreseeable future. Trouble is, while AI is great for some things, its forte isn't in finding razor-sharp, deep human insights with the ability to drive a special connection with humans. In other words, the value of original human insights has never been greater.
Without a decent insight to drive your idea, your only real option to get a message out is to bludgeon consumers to death with a large media spend in the millions. Most advertisers don't have millions.
Every dollar is precious.
So they can't play it safe.
They have to cut through. They can't risk being beige. Being ignorable is the riskiest thing they can be.
Because they know that, unlike the big advertisers, they don't have the budget to be boring.
It's a huge lesson.
Stand for one thing.
Execute the work to the highest quality.
Make it look like it matters.
And make people nod, smile and take notice. Imagine being in the enviable position where friends, family and random strangers come up to you and compliment you on the work. It's a great feeling. All advertising is unwanted. You're interrupting people's lives. So if you're going to crash the party, best to bring some Champagne. Bollinger preferably.
I'm not dissing AI, I'm saying use it where it can be its most powerful.
AI can take a killer human insight and help turn it into something brilliant by creating a platform for the next step.
From there, a great marketer or creative can push it even further and turn it into something original, fresh, and even groundbreaking.
Something that actually sells. After all, that's why we're at this party, right?
AI plus human insight: the superweapon
AI has freed up and democratised the world of creativity like nothing before.
Suddenly, everyone is an artist, director, storyteller, content creator… But the gap between "forgettable" and "unforgettable" is growing fast. AI is fuelling that growth.
As a tool, you've got to know how to use it properly - or else you would end up trapped in dopamine-fuelled confirmation-bias hell. We've all been there. Who doesn't like to feel flattered when their AI platform makes you feel like you're the next Picasso, Einstein, Musk, or even Bradley Cooper in Limitless after he has swallowed NZT-48?
However, once the hangover departs and you sober up, 99.9% of the time you realise that what you've got doesn't stack up. But at least it felt good at the time, eh?
Coming up with the next great insight to propel your business or product to the next level is never easy. AI is just a tool.
Which is commoditised. That's it.
What gives you the edge is how you partner it with human insights.
Then it becomes an awesome personal superweapon.
A weapon that makes you no longer afraid.
A weapon that stops you from falling deep into rabbit holes, cuts through the noise, and keeps you ruthlessly focused.
A weapon that liberates you to help you move forward at breakneck speed.
It stops unnecessary baggage from hitching a ride as you distil your thinking. It gives everything an urgency.
It gets you off the ground.
It creates simplicity.
Strategy is not about adding more and more stuff.
Strategy is about taking stuff away until one clearly defined single powerful human thought remains. A truth so powerful no one can deny it.
Human insights are the genesis of great creative ideas.
AI can't give you them.
Only humans can.
But team it up with AI and the world is your oyster. Sometimes it'll feel unfair. Like you're not playing by the rules.
But rules are made to be broken.
The world is full of commoditised brands and homogenised experiences.
The further you get from that the stronger your brand. Sometimes what sets you apart is how close you get to the edge. This is worth aiming for.
AI helps you get there. Somewhere fresh. Undiscovered. Original.
Ownable.
Persuasive. And that is the Holy Grail.
It's game on
Jungle Gym was created around one core belief: give businesses the freedom to break the rules, discover deeper human insights faster, and unleash creativity that's dramatically amplified by AI across the entire journey.
Never has originality been more vital or in higher demand than it is right now. Today, marketers are faced with two choices: Succumb to apathy and The Great Averaging, or come out fighting and rightfully claim their place in the world without fear.
I know where I stand.
When they kick at your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun?