By Joost Narraina, Strategic Creative Director
Two years ago, everyone was panicking about AI destroying creative jobs. Today, after integrating AI into 100+ campaigns for brands like Philip Morris and Bacardi, I can tell you what actually happened.
AI didn't kill creativity. It killed busy work.
Remember 2023? Creative professionals were either terrified AI would replace them or convinced it would democratize creativity for everyone. Both camps missed the point entirely.
The real transformation wasn't about AI versus humans. It was about strategic humans learning to direct AI instead of competing with it.
AI is brilliant at execution but terrible at strategy. It can write 50 variations of copy in minutes, but it has no idea which one will actually drive business results for your specific audience.
After two years of real-world testing, AI's role became crystal clear. AI excels at production and iteration at scale, technical optimization and formatting, creating variations based on parameters you give it, and handling repetitive execution tasks.
Humans excel at understanding business context and objectives, reading between the lines of what clients actually need, making strategic decisions about messaging and positioning, and building authentic relationships and trust.
The magic happens when strategic creative directors provide the direction and AI handles the execution.
The brands that struggled with AI made the same mistake: they tried to use it for strategic thinking instead of strategic execution. The brands that succeeded learned to think of AI as a very talented junior who can execute brilliantly but needs clear direction.
You wouldn't ask a junior to set business strategy, but you'd definitely use their energy to scale your strategic vision. That's exactly how AI works best.
Instead of being replaced, strategic creative directors became more valuable. Why? Because someone needs to set the strategic direction AI follows, evaluate AI output for business impact, ensure brand voice stays authentic at scale, and connect creative work to actual business outcomes.
AI amplified our strategic impact. We can now execute ideas faster while spending more time on the strategic thinking that actually drives results.
The creative professionals who thrived with AI weren't the ones who feared it or the ones who thought it would do everything. They were the ones who learned to direct it strategically.
AI didn't kill creativity. It separated strategic creative directors from task executors. And honestly, that's probably how it should be.
If you're still worried about AI replacing creativity, you're asking the wrong question. The right question is: "How can I use AI to amplify my strategic creative direction?"
Because that's where the real opportunity lives.
Next week: I'll show you the exact workflow that cut my campaign development time by 60% while improving quality.
Ready to explore AI-enhanced strategic creative direction? Let's talk about how strategic direction + AI execution could work for your specific challenges.
Stay great,
Joost
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