Brand New World

In this lively discussion, Kate Rouch, the Chief Marketing Officer at OpenAI and former CMO at Coinbase, dives into the evolving landscape of branding in the AI realm. She reveals the strategy behind OpenAI's groundbreaking Super Bowl ad aimed at demystifying AI. Kate also highlights ChatGPT's cultural impact, especially on the under-35 crowd, and discusses the challenges of building authentic connections in a fast-moving market. Her insights underscore the importance of clear brand values and engaging younger audiences through innovative marketing.

Lorraine Tuhill, the Global Chief Marketing Officer at Google, and AI strategy consultant Nilesh Ashra dive into the evolving landscape of marketing in this engaging conversation. They explore the challenges of promoting AI tools while keeping genuine human connections intact. Lorraine highlights the shift towards emotional storytelling in advertising, while Nilesh discusses how AI can enhance marketing efficiency and brand compliance. Together, they stress the importance of balancing technology with creativity, urging brands to embrace relatable and innovative messaging in the AI era.

This discussion features Zena Arnold, Sephora’s US CMO, Vlad Kuznetsov, Chief Information Officer, and Liz Siegren, a senior writer at Fast Company. They dive into Sephora's groundbreaking use of AI in beauty, emphasizing tools like SkinScan for personalized foundation matching. The guests explore how AI transforms customer interactions and addresses industry challenges, promoting inclusivity and innovation. They also highlight the importance of balancing authenticity and trust in an AI-driven landscape, ensuring a seamless integration of technology with creative branding.

Pratik Thakar, Coca-Cola's Global VP for Generative AI, and Jason Zada, creative director at Secret Level, explore the brand's innovative use of AI in marketing. They discuss the controversy surrounding AI-generated holiday ads, reflecting on the passionate backlash they faced. Despite this, Thakar emphasizes Coca-Cola’s commitment to creative risk-taking and long-term investment in AI, while Zada shares insights on blending tradition with technology. Their conversation invites a deeper look into the evolving relationship between brands and the creative landscape.

If GenAI is the biggest technological advancement since the internet itself, then the creative possibilities are or will be pretty much endless. From a brand marketing and advertising perspective, we are still very early days, but there needs to be those willing and able to push the envelope, test boundaries, make mistakes, learn lessons, and evolve from there. Yet how far should the boundaries of brand content be pushed? In this episode, I look for some answers by talking to two founders of boutique creative shop Food Arts & Technology, industry legends creative technologist Iain Tait and designer Richard Turley. I also sat down with Jason Zada, founder of AI-focused production studio Secret Level, who has worked with major brands like Coke on utilizing these new tools. There are so many different perspectives on how this tech will and should be used creatively. Here you’ll get a glimpse into the perspective of people trying their best to push the tech and their own creativity for brands.

To paraphrase a great philosopher, brand ideas are like small intestines – everybody has one. But could you build something with that idea in less than an hour? In this episode, we meet with David Jones,founder and CEO of The Brandtech Group, a $4 billion company which invested heavily in integrating AI into marketing and advertising services by acquiring leading companies like Pencil and Jellyfish. Jones says GenAI tools tailored to brands make that idea possible, so we challenge him and creative director James Dow to make it happen, right here, right now on the podcast. While that’s happening, we also take a look inside a few of the large-scale tools being deployed by major ad agencies right now. Omnicom Advertising Group chief operating officer Deepthi Prakash gives us a peek under the hood of TBWA Worldwide’s CollectiveAI platform, which it has built working with companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Adobe, and more to create tools trained on decades of successful strategies, creative work and philosophies, then utilized to help inform and evaluate new work and ideas. I won’t spoil the brand idea we have, but by the end, you may just have a new favorite toothpaste.

David Droga is a legendary advertising creative and executive. He’s also CEO of Accenture Song, one of the largest advertising and marketing services firms on the planet. For those two reasons, we kick off Brand New World with Droga at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Why there and then? It’s the world’s biggest convergence of media, marketing, entertainment, technology, and brands, and a mirror of what's happening and a bellwether of what's to come, on a global scale. There’s no better time and place to start a conversation about how brands, and the marketing and advertising industries are approaching AI at this nascent moment.In this episode, I talked to Droga about what Accenture’s $3 billion commitment to AI means for his work, how it compares to the first digital revolution two decades ago, where it may be headed in the not-so-distant future, and the impact it will have on the art of persuasion and pop culture.

AI is everywhere, and no more is the hype as big and ambiguous than across an industry known for both chasing and utilizing new technology: advertising and marketing. In a recent chapter of the book ‘Our AI Journey,’ released in March, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that artificial general intelligence will be a reality in the next five years or so and, as a result, ‘will replace 95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today.’But we’re not there . . . yet. How brands and ad agencies use AI is already influencing what they know about us, how they will use it, and subsequently, how this technological shift will revolutionize consumer and pop culture.If brands are the connective tissue between business and culture, how will AI impact the ways in which they build meaningful—and profitable—connections with audiences? What are the lessons that are and can be used from the first digital revolution? How are the leading players in the industry not only using this technology today, but thinking about how it can, will, and should be used tomorrow? Join 'Fast Company' senior staff editor Jeff Beer as he embarks on a journey to find out.The result will be not only a snapshot of this moment in time, but an evergreen look at the AI philosophies, strategies, and work that will determine the future of brands.