Until Clients Can Write Briefs, I’m not worried about AI.

A few months ago, if you’d have asked me if I thought AI was going to destroy the creative industries, I would have been more doom and gloom. And some people still are, but I have had a change of heart more recently.

But the fear in some areas of creative is very real. I sat down a couple of weeks ago with a man who runs a small local agency, in my hometown. He's a writer. He asked me, with a forlorn look: "What now? Is my offering dead?"

But the following day, I heard a completely different perspective from a senior leader at a mid-size agency. A more confident perspective. "Whilst clients still can't write good briefs, we will have a place."

And that statement confirmed to me, why strong agency work will continue to win on quality. And the more I have thought about this, over the last week or so, the more I genuinely believe that agencies who also invest in Strategy, and their client service will be fine. As long as they can sell the importance of these.

The Brief Problem

Most people using AI write copy, create logos (yep, those who think just having a logo is having a brand), and mockup adverts won't create work that can compete with the professionals. Because they can't write a brief.

Same as it's always been. If you don't know what problem you're trying to solve, who you're targeting, who your competition is, you won't get back work that builds your business. Sh*t in, sh*t out. That hasn't changed just because the process of giving a sh*t brief has become faster.

Great work is achieved only when the right questions are asked. There is no short cut here.

Rigour

The agency leader I was chatting to, and I both simultaneously used the same word in our conversation: rigour. That is what will distinguish the agencies that win. The rigour of great strategy, creative thinking and asking the right questions.

When an agency receives a poor brief, they know what is missing. The strategist will dig for that unique nugget. Then you’ve got the tension between the Planner, the Creative Director, and the Writer. And within that tension, and question asking, the insight is discovered.

Whilst AI simply replies to the poor brief and mocks-up people pleasing options, that may be a million miles off the mark on what is needed.

Culture versus content

Yes, AI will respond with options that please many. But those who know the difference between work that's going to move the needle and work that doesn’t know where the needle is, won’t buy it. And whether the consumer is moved or not will be clear. I saw a comment from a Design Director (Jillian Di Benedetto) on LinkedIn that summed it up nicely ‘We used to make culture. Now we people just make content, and you can tell.’

Of course, AI is getting better all the time. But all these tutorials on Prompt Engineering are just a fancy new way of saying ‘write a better brief.’

Maths not conversation

But even with a great brief, AI platforms are just machines. The same with the printing press, and then the internet. These machines helped us speed up information delivery – but equally capable of delivering both good and bad information. Without human intervention, these machines are chaotic, and with AI, even hallucinogenic. People can easily slide into feeling that the AI is really thinking and searching for the best answer. But we keep having to remind ourselves that it is just using maths to find the next best possible word or two. Even if the next best word, isn’t the truth.

So, the creatives and agencies that are worried about AI replacing them. Don’t try and compete with it, by bundling up assets, ‘all you can eat’ deals and commoditising your work further. This is a race to the bottom. Pull in the direction of the human elements of what we do – strategy, insight, tension and battling to create the best ideas.

Great agency offering isn't dead. It's more valuable than ever, if you can articulate why the strategy matters more than fast and cheap output.