What’s the most relevant business and/or creative lesson you learned in 2023 and how will you apply it to 2024?
While gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for 2024?2023 has been a lesson in embracing a shift in the approach to creative control–all in service of unleashing creativity and future-facing platforms and ideas at scale. For years, the advertising industry has schooled Creatives and Producers on obsessing over the craft of every single frame or layout. As the media landscape diversifies, however, we’re increasingly learning that in order to evolve with the changes, we as a creative industry need to stop being such control freaks. Whether that be white-labeling our productions to specialists from the world of long-form TV or allowing influencers to interpret ideas in their own unique style, it’s time for us to break down the walls of what we’ve been taught and let others in on the act.
While gazing into the crystal ball is a tricky proposition, we nonetheless ask you for any forecast you have relative to content creation and/or the creative and/or business climate for 2024?
It goes without saying that sustainability has become a hot topic for brands and agencies over the past few years. While up until now, the focus in the advertising world has been on how to mitigate the environmental impact of our campaigns through changes to our production approach, I wonder if 2024 will start to see changes to the actual creative we sell in. As a B-Corp certified organization, it’s something we’re constantly thinking about across the W+K network. We can continue to make adjustments to how we go about structuring a production, but at what point will we stop presenting certain ideas unless we can make them in an entirely carbon-neutral way?
Are you involved in virtual production or experimenting with AI, AR or other emerging disciplines or new technologies? Have you engaged in any real-world projects on these fronts? If so, relative to experimental and/or actual projects, briefly tell us about the work and what you’ve taken away from the experience. If the work is complete and you’d like to share a link to it, please include.
AI can be a rather daunting premise for creative agencies. The more the technology advances and the smarter AI becomes, the more we question the future of our industry. Will clients continue to invest in productions that soon they’ll be able to produce without having to hire directors, actors, or perhaps even creatives? The change is coming whether we like it or not, so the key is how to embrace it and evolve our offerings in line with the technology – rather than simply run away from it. For example, we’re beginning to experiment with how AI can help us achieve a high volume of deliverables based on one original piece of creative. Or how AI can help us localize global campaigns.
Gender pay disparity, sexual misconduct and the need for diversity & inclusion are issues that have started to be dealt with meaningfully. While the industry has made strides to address these issues, there’s still a long way to go. What policies do you have in place or plan to implement or step up in order to make progress on any or all of these fronts?
Diversity and inclusion across our productions is an area in which we’ve brought about significant change over the past year. Involving diverse perspectives and skill sets in the creative process is critical for remaining relevant and credible to the audiences we speak to. As Dan Wieden said, “There are many, many undiscovered voices out there — voices that against all odds can rise up and enrich this culture and perhaps one day change the very nature of the marketplace for the better.” This year at W+K London, we implemented a new bidding policy for film and stills production—Bid Different—which promotes assembling a balanced list of talent: one female director/photographer, one individual from an underrepresented community, and one other candidate. The key challenge lies in executing pitches using this framework while ensuring that our choices remain inclusive without turning tokenistic or creating an uneven field based on experience levels. There’s no “silver bullet” or universal guide that fits all scenarios perfectly, but we’re dedicated to improving, contributing to industry progress, and getting to fresh and exciting work.
