Christian Behrendt

Talked to Ad Age about why CMOs unrealistic expectations about AI cause them to abandon projects. An important read. As CMOs address change management, level-setting expectations may also require them to reassess the fundamental purpose for why they are adopting AI… Thanks for the chat Asa Hiken https://lnkd.in/erYhQVvr

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I couldn’t agree more: it’s crucial to define the passions of your audiences, what are the tastemakers that influence them and how they connect to their passions. Go out and listen to the people! #passionmarketing #pullbeforepush

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Pouring Creativity into Every Drop 🍹 Discover how Hero Next Door transforms beverages into showstopping visuals that leave audiences thirsty for more. From the perfect beer cascade to the mesmerizing swirl of a cocktail, our cutting-edge CGI brings liquid magic to life. 🍺🍷🍸 With a powerful mix of creativity and AI-driven production, we deliver: ✅ Jaw-dropping content for every platform ✅ Faster turnarounds at lower costs ✅ Visuals that set your brand apart Ready to see the extraordinary? Watch our latest liquids and beverages reel and experience the difference. #HeroNextDoor #hnd #beveragecontent #liquidgold #cgi #marketinginnovation #beverages #liquids

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AD UNBLOCKED Publicis dropped their 3Q #earnings yesterday, and gave us all some good signs for the #advertising economy. Their net revenues were up 5.6% across the board - after some uneven years in the mAd business, this is welcome news; perhaps most especially for Europe, which following some quite lean years, offered nearly 5% YoY growth. However, as I've said for some time, the greatest growth for this global ad player was in the three regions boasting the world's fastest growing economies: APAC, Middle East/Africa & LATAM. Those of us who enjoyed the benefits of growing/maturing ad economies over the last decade need to learn that real growth in the decade ahead will NOT come from our own back yards. For my friends in America or Europe looking for the NEXT great areas of truly explosive growth, my strong advice is to venture beyond the edges of your home field. Publicis' full results (for 3Q & last 9 months) are here: https://lnkd.in/eX4CnVUK #earningsseason

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Day 3 of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Here's an M&C Saatchi Group South Africa Brutally Simple wrap. Jacques Burger will also be sharing his perspectives. > IN A WORD < Storytelling. We kicked-off the day with an M&C Saatchi Group event with former BBC news producer Sam McAlister famed for managing to orchestrate the explosive Prince Andrew interview which she wrote a book on (and has subsequently been turned into the hit Netflix show Scoop). Candid, sharp, engaging. Key takeout: powerful storytelling comes down to bringing fact - or in our world an 'insight'- and emotion together. Obvious of course, but not easy to pull off when you see how much work is out there that is devoid of any emotion at all. > IN A QUOTE < "If everyone is using the same tools, the difference maker will be creativity." - Alex Schultz, CMO and Vice-president of Analytics, META Unlike the talk before Alex's where senior execs from Google took the main stage for boring and unashamed sales pitch (it was really, really bad), this talk was a lot more honest and candid on what AI will bring, and the role of creativity. So yes, AI is going to be delivering spectacular and efficient output, but ultimately it will come down to how it contributes to the story you're telling. So yes creative minds are still (very much) needed. > IN A PIECE OF WORK < The Plastic Forecast. This is a great piece of work that again demonstrates the power of bringing fact and emotion together to tell a story. It's from our M&C Saatchi Group AUNZ office, and it has picked up a Silver Lion so far year. https://lnkd.in/dm_pUQ3j

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The fab folks at LBBonline - Little Black Book asked me about the role of Nostalgia in advertising in 2024. So I decided to shout about the work I loved this year instead: https://lnkd.in/d_bZvB5T I don't think I'm the only person who thought this was going to be a year where we fell at the feet of advertising-RoboCop and begged Al to spare us and our precious inefficient human cells. But it wasn't to be the case. Sure, Al continues to grow in stature and impact, having become (including for us at Modern Citizens) a tool that has become intrinsic to how we work, but its rise feels like it's moved through the We're all totally using it, and its totally going to solve all those pesky budget and timings challenges and has settled somewhere in the region of 'it's dead useful for a stack of stuff, but it still can't do fingers. Remember that wicked CeraVe spoof that Michael Cera did? That was THIS year. Many of us have a pastiche on our reel somewhere, so it's not the freshest idea on the block, but as far as pastiches go, this one's right up there. Just for Michael Cera's little beard. The Loewe work created in-house by the brand is a fabulous film with incredible branding, amazing casting, and an unforgettable look that was scorched into our retinas. The British Airways posters deserve a mention - it's hard to convince clients to put stuff out in the world that doesn't tick all the 'but this is how ads look' boxes, and whilst the Windows' campaign didn't land for me (have you ever been on a BA flight?), the industry loved it. That really clucking long KFC brand film was a beautifully crafted bucket of golden goodness, and is comfortably on a par with Mr. Gavras' 'Oh My Gosh' video. So, lots of really nice executions, but nothing I'd define as 'modern' ideas. (a modern idea being a creative one that can scale, flex and react quickly). Modern ideas come from agencies that are creatively ambitious, and humble enough to be able to bang stuff out when the need arises. This year, there was one campaign that deserves to be held up and truly celebrated, and that's from EE. Clearly, that's a client team that's really making waves with the crew over on Chancery Lane. That's a brand that's shown up with brilliant broadcast films, a gorgeous design system, gorgeous candid out-of-home - all being held together with some truly sophisticated branding. Our industry continues to be full of amazing talent, wanting to create that big bold and exciting work, but we need more partners that can realise the value in them there hills. There are certainly a lot of great clients out there in the world, but there are precious few who are empowered to take a big swing and try something truly new, something truly distinctive, and something that will truly move people. Here's hoping that 2025 gives the people with ambitions for their brand the conditions to really land the big, bold 'modern' ideas the world reacts brilliantly to nowadays.

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Shared some thoughts 💭 on Toca Boca's recent brand refresh. Full interview below!

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Artificial Intelligence (#AI) is reshaping the creative landscape of #DigitalAdvertising and revolutionising the interaction between brands and consumers. But what do #advertisers and #consumers think about AI? How can it "build trust" and "enhance the #ConsumerExperience" in digital advertising? According to a study by Yahoo and Publicis Groupe, a significant gap exists between advertisers and consumers regarding their understanding and perception of AI. Roger Li, senior director of #YahooCreative APAC, explained that AI's ability to handle repetitive, routine tasks allows creatives to focus on more critical, innovative, and strategic work, such as brainstorming, idea generation, and exploring more effective applications of AI. Moreover, AI enhances data analysis, predictive insights, and optimisation capabilities through #MachineLearning and #DeepLearning, resulting in improved ad performance.  #tech

Coachella: a cautionary tale for brands. Despite its star-studded lineups and passionate attendees (we see you, Taylor Swift!), the festival recently hit a sour note with a record-breaking lack of interest. Over the years, Coachella went from music fest to brand extravaganza. Brands, eager to be 'cool,' splurged on everything from art installations to VIP parties, reaping short-term benefits and boosting Coachella's visibility as a marketing benchmark. But nothing lasts forever, and now they're facing the music. What does Coachella stand for today? What legacy has it created? Without clear guidelines for partnerships, space usage, and participation - letting people use it the way they saw fit - Coachella's brand has been diluted away. Brands, take note: protecting your equity goes beyond logos. Comprehensive guidelines should cover employee conduct, decor, and partnership strategies, ensuring a cohesive brand experience. Coachella can bounce back, but it will take deep reflection before next year's lineup announcement to reclaim the essence that made it special to begin with. #Coachella #Brand #BrandExperience

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Speak out on topics that truly matter and authentically align with your brand's values. And do not play the short game of acquiescing to the usual mob of purpose-haters. #SocialJustice #BrandValues #TakeAction

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Apple of today sounds like the Nokia they killed. - More megapixels - More processing power - More buttons - More features nobody wants - More of the same we had last year - And the year before What happened to Think Different? #iphone16 #apple #innovation

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So grateful to Miriam Plon Sauer at AKQA for given me the opportunity to talk about the Past | Present | future of Fellow progress and Strategy for humans (which was term inspired by a presentation given by Miriam). I was asked at the end of the call about a belief that was harmful to people who work in strategy? My response was simple really, the most harmful belief you can have is the belief that you are what you do. Simply this means saying "I am a strategist". It's harmful because over identification means that we attach our identity to our job, and if we do our job well, we are a "good" and if we do our job badly we are a "bad" person. Our identity and value is determined by how well we feel we did in our job. I think it harmful to over-identify with any high performance role, because... we play so many roles in our life, our job is just one of them. I suggested a different approach which is more aligned with behaviour, instead I say something like "I do strategy", by shifting to a behaviour we enable ourselves to remove our identity from action, we can be good or bad at a task, without it determining our identity. You can also caveat it so that the statement becomes more aligned with the circumstances. So rather than saying " I am a strategist" say this instead.... "I do strategy, sometimes I do it well, sometimes I don't. Yet I always try to give my possible best, given the time and resources available" For bonus points you can also say: "...and when I do strategy I focus on learning and growing, regardless of immediate outcomes. Each experience teaches me something valuable." Identity is who you are. Behaviour is what you do. It's a simple distinction, yet working with our imagination, it's easy to confuse the two. Be well

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Delusional. The ad industry is dead because of creatives. You’ve become so self-centered, you’ve lost touch with reality. My LI feed is full of creatives ranting about nothing but their own feelings. Some mediocre writer is angry because “Greg in finance” killed creativity and “old white men with receding hairlines run agencies” (even though he’s only a few years from being one). 1000’s of creatives celebrate a video comparing themselves to Van Gogh. Really? People pay to see what Van Gogh made. And they pay to NOT see what you made. Bernbach didn’t make the VW Beetle a success. It was successful in many countries where no Bernbach ad ever flighted. He just made the ad. 100’s of the world’s smartest engineers spent years making the car. My engineer friends don’t post pics of those verifiable geniuses with lines like “oh, how I miss good engineering”. Creatives brag publicly about winning awards for their idea that fed hungry kids. The entry makes it look like 1000’s of kids. The truth: 32 kids were fed. Once. The cost of the award entry could feed a 1000 kids. You’re literally lying about feeding hungry kids and then you use the award to get more business. Banksy isn’t talking about suits. He’s talking about YOU.

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Here's my weekly newsletter with commentary on all the latest Generative AI news. Lots going on in the advertising industry this week with the launch of Toys R Us’s new ad, the first to be made with OpenAI’s SORA, a GenAI ad from Motorola and Derya Matras from Meta saying that AI will increase the need for advertising agencies. We also had the release of Google’s second generation open model, Gemma 2, and continued controversy around Perplexityand their practices. There are also some great articles about the power usage of training and using GenAI and good long reads from John Gruber on Apple Intelligence, Sequoia on AI’s $600b Question and a great interview in TIME with Dario Amodei. My weekly Generative AI newsletters are free for subscribers. If you're not already a subscriber it's super simple to sign up on the website by following the link below. Subscribers get the newsletter delivered straight to their inbox every Sunday evening at 7pm (UK time). #genai #ai #newsletter

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A lot to unpack here: https://lnkd.in/dMFhjs6d

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Why should brands diversify in the face of ad tech challenges? Simon T., Managing Director EMEA, Flashtalking by Mediaocean explains how to stay agile in an ever-changing digital ecosystem. Read More - https://lnkd.in/grDZ2Wsd #AdTech #DigitalStrategy #BrandStrategy #martech #martechedge

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New technologies solve old problems all the time. And Gen AI is no different. Can it help solve our 'CD Dilemma' of Creatives transitioning to Creative Directors without the necessary directing skills? I think so. Digitas UK Campaign UK

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How #Diageo’s #AI Project Vision Sets a New Standard in Consumer Personalisation As marketing increasingly embraces AI, Diageo, known for its visionary marketing, has launched yet another AI-powered experience with #ProjectVision. Following the success of Project Halo in Edinburgh, which allowed visitors to create personalised #JohnnieWalker Blue Label bottles with the guidance of Scottish artist Scott Naismith Diageo expands the reach of generative AI marketing in Germany. Read my post: https://lnkd.in/eVNRRhmu Collaborating now with renowned graphic artist Andy Gellenberg this campaign brings a fresh approach to personalisation and consumer engagement. What is Project Vision at Diageo? #ProjectVision marks a significant leap in how brands approach personalization. By creating 5,000 unique Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles, Diageo introduces a new level of consumer-driven design, a development with potential implications across marketing and advertising. Project Vision brings together cutting-edge AI and creative expertise, enabling Diageo to offer unique experiences that resonate with each consumer on a personal level. For marketers and advertisers, it demonstrates how AI can break traditional barriers in creative marketing, allowing brands to develop deeper connections with consumers. Andy Gellenberg and the Art of AI German illustrator Andy Gellenberg, known for his distinct pop art style, brings a vibrant touch to Project Vision. In collaboration with Diageo, Gellenberg created 50 original pieces that were then enhanced through generative AI, producing 5,000 distinct bottle designs. 🔹Artistic Freedom with AI: Each bottle features a silhouette of a unique face, symbolising the diverse identities of modern whisky enthusiasts 🔹Personal Relevance: Consumers can now choose a bottle that reflects their individuality, blending art with AI-driven customisation 🔹Brand Consistency: By aligning with Johnnie Walker’s “Keep Walking” mantra, this campaign reinforces the brand’s commitment to progress and innovation Diageo’s Project Vision sheds light on the broader potential of AI in advertising. Here’s how this project offers insights for marketers: 🔹Creative Collaboration with AI: As seen in Gellenberg’s work, AI can enhance rather than replace human creativity, creating novel products that appeal to consumers’ tastes and preferences 🔹Localised, Targeted Campaigns: Project Vision’s Germany-exclusive launch highlights how brands can tailor campaigns for specific markets while maintaining a globally recognisable brand identity 🔹Beyond AI for Efficiency: Diageo uses AI not merely for convenience but to strengthen the emotional resonance of the brand, a crucial strategy for companies aiming to foster lasting customer loyalty #ConsumerExperience #BrandEngagement #MarketingInnovation #FutureofMarketing

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Great think piece Angela Matusik Farhoud Meybodi. Exactly the examples we need to help drive every brands' operating SOP's for AI. Here's how I'm approaching AI for my company and clients. Brands Must Embrace AI SOPs— 1. The AI Look: We exclusively harness AI tools like Runway, Adobe Firefly, and Midjourney for our initial concepts—but not final art. The tech isn't there yet, there is a distinct AI look to images that make the work feel phony. 2. Empowered Teams: Our crew is trained to seamlessly integrate AI into their workflows, utilizing tools baked right into Adobe Suite and essential platforms like Notion and ClickUp. 3. Scaling Up: From Canva to CapCut, we’ve added these tools that have native AI in their workflow to amplify our social media game and scale content effortlessly. 4. ChatGPT as a Springboard: We leverage ChatGPT for brainstorming, not final outputs. Transparency is key—teams must disclose when they’ve used it since AI hallucinates. 5. Creators Unite: Artists like @Jon Lam from Riot Games are leading a movement to protect creative rights against Big AI. Meanwhile, major publishers like The New York Times are battling against data scraping, but the struggle continues. 6. One thing AI does well is voice and music. Try Suno I've written incredible songs. Thanks PJ Pereira Finally, let’s be real: every time we see a headline claiming "____ (insert brand) used AI to..." we can’t help but crack up—it feels like they're saying, "We used Microsoft Word to..." #ai #workflow #storytelling #adobe #canva #capcut #chatgpt #notion How are you implementing AI?

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