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Mom, the London promoting company based almost 30 years in the past, is an odd beast. In an trade the place founders often promote profitable ventures to holding teams reminiscent of Publicis or WPP, it stays unbiased. A neon signal studying “Not for Sale” hangs in its Shoreditch head workplace.
Mom’s workers now really feel even weirder. “We speak about being a protected haven in a zombie apocalypse,” says Katie Mackay-Sinclair, a world companion. The trade is being reworked by expertise, with Google and Meta dominating digital advert revenues and AI invading the territory of businesses that create campaigns for giant corporations reminiscent of Unilever and Mars.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder, spoke in a current interview about AI producing so many adverts for small corporations in future that “you don’t want any inventive”. World advert teams have reacted to monetary and industrial pressures by folding some well-known inventive manufacturers collectively: WPP has built-in each J Walter Thompson and Younger & Rubicam into VML.
This upheaval was on show final week at Cannes Lions, the trade’s “pageant of creativity”, which is nominally dedicated to giving awards to excellent advert campaigns, however has been invaded by US expertise and leisure teams. Mom’s companions regarded down on the parade from a rented villa within the hills above city.
The UK has a protracted historical past of creativity, with businesses reminiscent of Saatchi & Saatchi and Bartle Bogle Hegarty (each now a part of Publicis). M&C Saatchi is a London-listed public firm and the town is residence to businesses together with VCCP, which is owned by Windfall Fairness Companions and Unusual Artistic Studio, during which Havas took a majority stake two years in the past.
The query is whether or not this legacy might be overwhelmed by automation or the spirit and humour of UK promoting — evident in Mom’s cult-like Imagine in Rooster marketing campaign for KFC — can survive. “Creatives in London are nonetheless a bit scrappy and there’s an power and grittiness right here,” says Miranda Hipwell, chief government of Adam & Eve DDB, owned by Omnicom.
The bear case for human creativity is simple to see. Generative AI platforms reminiscent of Adobe Firefly, and WPP Open, which the group has constructed for its businesses and shoppers, can produce photographs immediately from written prompts. Companies are making AI fashions for giant corporations that may generate new adverts based mostly on the tone of voice and magnificence of their catalogue.
This threatens to substitute for human effort and impacts the trade’s mannequin of hourly billing for work. “Time is being compressed,” says one government. Even when AI fashions are merely used to generate plenty of tough concepts which can be used for inspiration and developed into subtle campaigns, shoppers won’t wish to pay as a lot.
There are sound the explanation why businesses have consolidated, combining abilities from creativity to buyer expertise. Promoting not solely has to span many types of media however massive businesses are concerned in guaranteeing that prospects can, for instance, order merchandise simply via cell phone adverts. A larger share of promoting has develop into about execution, not brilliance.
However economies of scale stay much less apparent for inventive businesses than for media businesses, which oversee advertising and marketing for giant corporations. By definition, AI fashions can solely spit out adverts based mostly on every little thing that has gone earlier than, whereas corporations rent high businesses to invent one thing new. It not solely needs to be unique, however sufficiently arresting to chop via the noise.
As extra businesses are amalgamated into larger, broader organisations, rarity will increase the worth of unbiased ones. It additionally makes them engaging locations to work for pure rebels. Mackay-Sinclair calls Mom’s philosophy “do the very best work we are able to, have enjoyable and make a residing . . . in that order”. Different businesses are extra profitable, however it affords inventive autonomy.
There may be nonetheless a world position for London businesses. Felix Richter, Mom’s chief inventive officer, argues that “America has the innovation however Europe has the craft: the eye to element and nuance that makes one thing actually unique.” Mom has workplaces in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Berlin, whereas VCCP has 5 worldwide workplaces together with New York.
It feels unbelievable that the purpose of Cannes Lions might be destroyed by Zuckerberg. Though some outdated names are disappearing within the apocalypse, others will take their place.