Dom Hickey.
The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2024 and forward to next year.
Dom Hickey, Chief Strategy Officer, Howatson+Co
2024 has been a year defined by duality.
Constant change and enduring consistency.
The fear of AI and its opportunity to innovate.
The status quo and leadership diversity.
It’s a year that’s seen huge shifts across some of the biggest advertising clients in Australia. A shuffling of the deck chairs that have remained in place for so long.
Two of the biggest banks in the country moved their creative homes. ANZ making the move to Leos and Westpac shifting from DDB after 13 years.
Tourism Australia pitched their creative account and Australian Defence Force moved to TBWA.
Telstra changed agencies in late 2023 with the first work from +61 launching this year. A seismic shift for the brand that saw fans of long-established DBA’s clutching their pearls in disbelief. Love it or hate it, it feels undeniably different from the Telstra of the past.
On the flipside of change is a spotlight on consistency.
The IPA released ‘Compound Creativity’ proving what we should all know but all too often ignore, consistency impacts brand strength and creative quality.
Heinz won the Grand Prix for creative effectiveness at Cannes off the back of a decade’s worth of work consistently celebrating the brand as an icon rather than a commodity.
Closer to home, Budget Direct took home a handful of Effies for a platform that’s been in market for six years.
Changing gears, AI delivered equal parts fear and opportunity.
A mere two years after platforms like ChatGPT and Midjourney launched, the influence of new creative tools on the industry is being widely felt. The conversation around AI became less dramatic than in 2023, but while the catastrophic hyperbole has been dampened, the impact has been ramping up.
A talk at SXSW pointed to the ‘decimation of London’s creative industry’. If London is the canary in the coalmine, then Australia needs to take a deep breath. We’ll be coming into a year where clients have restricted budgets, smaller teams and higher productivity KPIs.
We’re an industry that’s tired and struggling to find the energy for what’s next. But as we recalibrate, AI brings huge growth opportunities for new skills and new talent.
One area that’s leading the charge is animation. The once arduous and overly expensive treatment was reserved for brands with blockbuster budgets. Animators are having their time in the sun across mass and luxury brands. Hermes is an example of a luxury brand creating endless AI art to share with followers on social media. The breadth of artists they’ve partnered with, and the scale of content would have been previously inaccessible, even on a luxury budget.
Brands on smaller budgets can create more for less with different treatments, allowing them to feel bigger and bolder than they are. It’s an approach that requires no locations or casting.
It can also bring the impossible to life. Much of the magic and fantasy in this year’s suite of Christmas advertising from across the world has been created using AI.
In research, Evidenza launched with much hype. 2025 will see far more debate about the value of synthetic customers, delivering more opportunities for brands to understand and research at scale.
It would be impossible to wrap up the year without talking about the creative leadership imbalance in the industry. This year, the industry saw its reflection in the mirror and decided to break it. We can no longer get our claws out on Campaign Brief. But is this a step forward?
If we can’t get outraged about the issue, we’re less motivated to change. I would like to see the momentum of this conversation remain in 2025 to elevate the voices of women creatives and address the imbalance in a way that delivers lasting change, without diminishing the success of existing creative leaders.
My prediction for 2025. A tough start and a strong finish.
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