What industry trends, developments or issues were most significant in 2022?
At the start of 2022, I remember a lot of optimism about all things “metaverse.” I started the year very curious but skeptical. I didn’t know at the time that I would be diving eyeballs deep into the metaverse for most of our work for the year. We worked on all the big campaigns for one of the biggest VR games, Beat Saber, and we were jamming in Meta Horizon Worlds nearly every day. So, as the rest of public opinion turned more skeptical, I warmed up to it. SpecialGuest put in a lot of hours in VR, meeting the early adopters and builders of the metaverse, and experiencing the shortcomings at the same time. But by finding all the pitfalls, we also understand better where it all might be going. I’m reminded of the early days of AOL chat rooms, when I was in middle school, not realizing that the often frivolous and short-lived interactions in those chat rooms would essentially lead to platforms like TikTok. At the time, those chat rooms left a ton to be desired as an experience. And that’s where we are with the metaverse. But through that lens, it’s also clear how immense it is going to be. Skepticism is a crucial part of the development, but I love working on the beginnings of something big.
What is the most relevant business and/or creative lesson you learned in 2022 and how will you apply it to 2023?
I learned that my clients believe in my growth and want to help me take the next step. It was the first year I heard people tell me, “Aaron, we love you, but you need to let your team do that.” It might sound obvious from the outside, but it has always been tough for me to trust and give up control. While I had heard these kinds of suggestions from my partners, it rang differently in my head hearing it from my clients, some of which I’ve been working with for a decade, across multiple brands. I thought I was expected to be always everywhere, and this was permission to rise above. I’m not great at it yet, but that’s what I’ll be bringing with me into the new year.
What are your goals or New Year’s resolution, creatively speaking or from a business standpoint, for your agency, company or department in 2023?
I love working in advertising because I get to be creative every day—and it’s not about me. It’s about the brands we work with. But we need to remember to tell our story too. We are growing our creative community, starting new ventures (SpecialGuestX), and making our best work ever. The team works too hard not to talk about it—and we will. That’s my New Year’s resolution.
Gazing into your crystal ball, what do you envision for the advertising and/or entertainment industry–creatively speaking or from a business standpoint–in 2023?
I’m sure we are all thinking about how to reckon with developments in AI that are already disrupting the creative industry. I definitely see that in the crystal ball, and I think it’s a pretty exciting prophecy. I’ve grown up being borderline dyslexic, and I have always thanked my lucky stars that I exist at a time of “spell check,” for example. What a fabulous bit of early AI. I’m equally excited about the creative potential of generative art and language. We’ve been working with versions of creative AI tools like this for about half a decade. And yet, the crystal ball vision is still cloudy. We started a new company, SpecialGuestX, based in Madrid and New York, to study and implement these very tools, so I think it is going to be a fun 2023.
