Being creative without the tension

IS THERE a tension or common ground between content creators and adland creatives? That was the question explored as Whalar’s Ashley Rudder, the world’s first global chief creator officer, sat down with industry icon Sir John Hegarty, cofounder and creative director The Garage Soho & The Business of Creativity, on the Palais II stage. As an advertising legend with six decades of experience, Hegarty explained why he chose to get involved with Whalar and became chairman of the creator commerce company. “The reason I loved it was because I’ve spent my life fighting clients, fighting to get the idea out there, fighting people saying no. I thought as a creative person you’ve been liberated. It’s a wonderful place to be,” he said. “Finally, I’m in an industry where nobody stops you and you’ve developed your own audience.”

Hegarty reflected on the traditional world where you have to work hard to get the breaks, develop a reputation and get the power to be listened to.

“Whereas today you can go out as a content creator and you can do what you want to do, you can be responsible for what you want to do, you can develop your audience and you then have something unique,” he said. Rudder said that being a creator herself has opened many doors and she had been surprised at how many decision makers had little experience of content creation.

“As we evolve and are seeing lower and lower effectiveness of TV ads and higher and higher effectiveness of creative that’s come from creators, there’s a shift happening here,” she said.

JULIA Goldin, chief product and marketing officer, the Lego Group and Adam Sussman, president of Epic Games, took to the Palais II stage, along with their digital avatars, to talk about their joint plans to build a metaverse accessible to all.

“Internet 2.0 was not designed with children in mind, and yet they’re all there. We want to create the right world for them from the outset,” Goldin said.

“The immersive digital worlds of tomorrow will be a tremendous opportunity to develop creativity. We believe that kids and adults will be able to engage in ways they have never been able to engage before,” she added. Child safety is of prime importance, Sussman stressed. “Epic already has industry-leading parental controls and the Lego Group has partnered with organisations like UNICEF to shape digital child safety policy but it’s incumbent upon us as an industry to continue to elevate safety standards together.”

Sussman said the metaverse will help everyone unlock their imagination and unleash their inner builder. “We have an amazing opportunity to integrate tools in our work with Lego and what we build with them,” he said.

“We believe that the metaverse is going to come,” Goldin added, “it’s going to power up the opportunity to build brands, engage in new ways with consumers, and change our marketing model and the way we build relationships with our communities.”

AT THE start of the 2023 Cannes Lions session Unlocking Everybody’s Innate Creative Potential: The New Era of Collaboration, featuring singer-songwriter and entrepreneur will.i.am, moderator Jonathan Mildenhall dug out a 2010 video showing the Black Eyed Peas legend trying to persuade fellow band member Fergie that the future of music would be defined by AI. Fergie, like many in the Cannes Lions community, was sceptical. But 13 years on will.i.am is as evangelical as ever. In his words, the potential of AI is “freaking awesome. It’s already changing music and it’s going to change law, finance, education, retail, transport, white-collar jobs, blue-collar jobs, everything.” He is under no illusions that some jobs will be lost, but is convinced “it will lead to the emergence of new jobs and new industries”. He also expects it to be a democratising force that will benefit “underserved communities. It’s a tool that will liberate creativity in places like Soweto, Nigeria, Brazil and the LA projects where I grew up.” As an advocate for technology’s posi- tive capabilities, will.i.am has put his money where his mouth is — launching a new tech platform for creatives called FYI. “People who look like me don’t usually get to launch AI-powered platforms. But we’re entering a new era where entertainers can inspire industries. I salute the likes of Rihanna, Jay-Z and Dr Dre who led the way. It was such a pleasure to be in at the start with Dr Dre and Beats — eventually sold to Apple.”

FYI, which has backing from IBM, is designed for artists as a way for them to centralise all of their data in one place — stored safely through the use of encryption. “It came to me during the pandemic when I realised that creators were using about six different platforms for all of their IP, conversations and so on. FYI simplifies that.”

Rather than job losses, will.i.am’s biggest fear around AI is lack of regulation. “You need a permit to drive a car, but not to run an AI platform. You don’t need a moral compass at all. That has to change. The thing we really have to fight for is control of our essence and likeness. Everyone is at jeopardy if we don’t own our stuff.”