The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2024 and forward to next year.
Jim Ritchie, founder and strategy partner at US+US
There is so much geo-political and socio-cultural uncertainty in the world right now: Trump 2.0, wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, and countless other regions, a global lurch to the right, and the rapid advancement of technologies. It feels impossible to predict anything without adding to the noise and collective anxiety we’re all experiencing.
To that end, the following is a blend of head, heart, and gut; a perspective on what I think, not what I predict will happen. Take it or leave it, but for the love of God, don’t quote me on it. Disclaimer: This perspective weaves a strong narrative thread about AI throughout.
So where are we at? In 2024, productivity is still in decline, or stagnating at best; underlying inflation remains stubborn at around 3.5%; unemployment holds steady at approximately 4%; 38% of businesses in Australia have reduced staff numbers due to economic pressures, yet employment in creative industries has seen a slight uptick, now representing nearly 6% of the total workforce (up from 5.5% in 2016). Make of this what you will, because I can’t see a pattern.
Looking back, it feels undeniable that 2024 was the year everything shifted. AI has gone from being a novelty to a game-changer. Whether this change will ultimately prove to be better or worse remains unclear, but its impact already ranks alongside the wheel, printing press, electricity, and the internet. And maybe even toilet roll.
Insert LinkedIn poll: Which one has had the most positive impact on your business?
Beyond AI’s obvious power to optimise processes and create efficiencies, its potential, nay power, is virtually limitless. For instance, I recently used it to understand my daughter’s high school homework, a task that in another decade might have required the collective effort of the entire street (and probably driven a few to drink). While I’m leveraging it for parental survival, others are undoubtedly finding uses far more innovative, or subversive.
As we head into 2025, I believe the challenges we face will be distinctly human-made. With AI enabling us to create, make, publish, and broadcast faster and cheaper than ever, you can bet that as humans, we’ll do exactly that. I see businesses, brands, marketers, publishers and content creators lurching headfirst into the volume trap. Oh God – not more stuff. Yes, lots and lots more stuff. But where will it go? In your eyes. And your ears. And up your nose. Everywhere.
On one hand, there’s the possibility that this AI-powered tsunami of content and communication will prompt audiences to become more discerning, driving a demand for human-made, high-quality, and original creative. But, realistically, I suspect this tsunami of stuff will instead drown out anything of real note. The sheer volume will obfuscate and obscure any meaningful output. There will be plenty of ‘healthy’ brands who find their reach, influence and engagement diminishes as a result. Any brand, advertiser, or marketer that manages to create some clear air for themselves will do well.
One thing that strikes me is just how many creatives are extolling the virtues of AI-powered creativity, enthusiastically wrapping their fleshy arms around it. Let’s be honest: creative prompts are not expressions of creativity. And in reality, anyone can generate ideas using AI. Anyone. Like your Nanna. Or Daz the garbo. And when anyone can do something, that something becomes ripe for automation. So maybe, we’re not as far away from becoming the proverbial lift operator as we’d like to be.
At the same time, AI is giving creatives something to resist. While some will lean into it, using its capabilities to augment their work and open up new frontiers, others will rebel, doubling down on authentic and human-made as a counterbalance to the overly polished and distinctly AI outputs. The emergent glitch-aesthetic and analog art movements that celebrate imperfection and tactility as a direct response to AI’s slick, algorithmic output, could take hold. Could…
Back in the office, the broader socio-economic implications of AI remain an open question. One thing seems likely in 2025: we’ll quickly find ourselves with too many people and too few tasks. If AI technology can help us handle the work of two, where does that leave the rest? I don’t think we’re anywhere when it comes to working out how to navigate a world with fewer people doing less work. Where does the money come from? Who drives the economy? What can’t AI do?
I suspect freelancers and contractors will find work harder to come by, as the efficiencies wrought by AI mean agencies are not as time-pressured as they were. Jobs are more contained, capacity issues are less pressing, and the knock-on effect is that outsourced work is shrinking. The ripple effect could be huge, leaving independent creatives to navigate an increasingly competitive and automated landscape. Storyboard artists, retail copywriters, headshot photographers, and the inexperienced, became obsolete in 2024.
2025 will be the year that people really start to take a long hard look at their careers. They'll wonder how they can recycle their experience and skill into something else. People will look to take their key skills and experiences and step diagonally into roles more insulated from AI, roles that demand distinctly human qualities like empathy, judgement, and strategic thinking.
For the marketing and creative industries, nervousness feels like the defining word for 2025. It’s a bit like watching a lit firework fizzing on the floor. We know it’s going to go off. We know it’s going to make an impact. We just don’t know whether it’s going to singe the carpet or burn the house down!
On the plus side, AI is offering us incredible tools to eliminate the mundane and maximise individual efficiency. Never before have people and employees had so much control over what they do and how they do it. Writers can proofread thousands of pages in minutes. Designers can save hours using AI to remove image backgrounds. Video production can leverage AI to track objects seamlessly and auto-cut footage. Across the board, we’re spending more time thinking, considering, and crafting – and less time on grunt work.
As we move forward into 2025, the challenge will be finding genuine balance. How do we embrace new technologies while preserving the humanity, creativity, and experience that define us? The very fabric of our industry – and society – is evolving, and AI is undoubtedly part of that transformation.
I’ll leave you with this. Remember, AI isn’t in charge. If havoc ensues, it won’t be AI’s doing. It will be ours.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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