Creativity is at a Crossroads and in the Crosshairs

The day of my elementary school’s spelling bee finally arrived. I studied and studied, practicing every word day and night leading up to it. Despite knowing every word backward and forward, I was still nervous, because I was a fourth grader going up against fifth and sixth graders.

My mom pulled into the parking lot to drop me off. As I exited the car, I turned back to her and asked, “Do you think I can win?” She took a big drag off her cigarette and let out a long, smoke-filled exhale before saying, “Why not? You’ve done the work.” Then she drove off.

Those words took over my thoughts as I walked into school and went about my day—right up to the second I stepped on stage to spell my first word: “separate.” I put my head down, took a deep breath, and calmly voiced each letter. I spelled that one correctly, along with every word after it. My mom was right; I did the work, so “why not” win … and I did.

While her words might not sound like the kind of inspiration that would power a lifelong career, the truth is, they did. “Why not?” has stuck with me every step of the way—a mantra pounding like a drumbeat in my head.

In college, I constantly asked myself, if someone is going to get an “A” on a term paper, why not me?

As a marketer, I constantly asked myself, if a company is going to have the top brand icon, why not us?

As a CMO, I constantly asked myself, if someone is going to win Brand CMO of the Year, why not me?

It might seem like a simple two-word question, but trust me, it’s much more complex than that. At the core of “Why not?” is a profound sense of openness that bravely embraces opportunity and believes in itself. I didn’t realize it until later in life, but when my mom said, “Why not?” she was actually saying, “Yes, Jeffrey. I believe you can win, and so should you.”

I am sharing this story because true creativity is at a crossroads and in the crosshairs. As the number of “slide rule CMOs” increases, so does the number of creatively insecure marketers who find it hard to act independently of a data point. If we as marketers don’t collectively take the proverbial look in the mirror, true creativity in the industry will become a unicorn. We’re at a tipping point and headed for a creativity crisis if we don’t start asking ourselves “Why not?” more often. Marketers could benefit from my mom’s advice; we must unite and rise up to keep true creativity alive.

The Decline of Marketing Creativity

If there was ever a time and need for creativity, it’s now. Consider this: creativity is a highly desired trait that’s more indicative of real world success than IQ alone. Not many people realize that, but research backs it, and marketers should be worried: creativity levels have been on a downward trend for years.

Think about that reality in the context of CMO tenure, which is at its lowest point in over a decade. Advancements in AI and technology are fueling job insecurity and keeping marketers up at night. And if that wasn’t enough, there’s the age-old “art vs. science” debate of which aspect drives the most marketing and business value.

I’ve always followed my creative instincts and used data to support them. It’s what drove my decades-long stint as a Fortune 500 CMO and my role in developing highly memorable campaigns and characters like the Aflac duck and Flo and Dr. Rick from Progressive. I can trace every major success in my life back to creativity and am fortunate that it was valued in each of these roles, which led to driving marketing and business value.

Many CMOs don’t see it that way, though. They spend too much time staring at spreadsheets and screens, looking for just the right data point to justify their next move. Instead, they should be tapping into creativity as a means to connect with consumers and drive brand loyalty.

If you read that and think, “Okay, but data-driven marketing is the hallmark of a modern CMO,” then you missed my point. I’m not saying that creativity and data are at odds; both have a place. But know that a slide rule won’t create meaningful marketing—data cannot be a marketer’s sole source of decision-making. If CMOs continue to deprioritize or dismiss creativity, the sea of sameness will grow. Campaign effectiveness will suffer. Customer retention will plummet. Brand loyalty will stagnate. And getting noticed will be nearly impossible.

We are on the precipice of a creative crisis. If you disagree, just look back at this year’s Super Bowl and ask yourself how many ads you remember—or of the one(s) you do remember, did they truly feel creative, relevant, or resonant?

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Enter: AI

It’s easy to read the downward trends about creativity and hop on the defeatist bandwagon, but we can’t, especially now. Since the launch of ChatGPT, hundreds of AI tools have flooded the market—many claiming to be built specifically for the marketing industry.

The general reaction to it: fear. Is AI going to replace our jobs? Is AI going to lead to the demise of creativity? Let me take a minute to address both.

First, your biggest concern shouldn’t be losing your job to a machine but to someone—another human—who learns how to harness that machine to do their job better and faster than you. Why? Any human paired with the right machine is superior to any human alone; using it will help the best get even better. This is true even for creativity.

On the latter, the choice to leave Progressive at the top of my career was largely driven by witnessing the loss of creativity in the marketing world and wanting to focus my efforts on helping save it. I started my quest toward developing solutions soon after exiting corporate America, but when ChatGPT arrived on the scene in late 2022, it changed everything and opened my eyes to new possibilities in taking on the problem.

Thinking back to my mom’s advice, I asked myself, if someone is going to use AI to improve marketing, why not me? That led to the creation of MKHSTRY AI, the first AI trained by a top-tier CMO to help marketers unlock and generate creativity faster.

For over a year, the MKHSTRY team tirelessly worked with me to train MKHSTRY AI on one thing and one thing only: CREATIVITY.

Let me pause here to acknowledge that many question whether training an AI to be creative is possible. The answer is yes—because we did it! Still, there are naysayers, but we’ve never let skepticism deter us. Our “why not” mantra has kept us curious and been the filter through which we’ve viewed our AI’s potential. It has reframed our thinking to form the hypothesis, “If we could train an AI to be creative … then what?”

Our answer is this: if we could train an AI to be creative, we could unlock human potential for new business concepts, new inventions, and new ideas for solutions beyond the realm of marketing. Most importantly, we could power even greater human creativity to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges.

The Crossroads

As a lifelong CMO turned CEO, I understand the gravity of our collective experience. The introduction and integration of AI into our daily marketing activities is arguably the most significant tech-related transformation the industry has seen since the introduction of social media platforms in the 90s. Companies that buried their heads in the sand lost to those who bravely embraced the unknown and figured out how to use social media to benefit their brand. History repeats itself, and we are once again in a seminal time when marketers are facing a similar choice: get on board or get left behind.

If you say yes to AI, don’t just think the bare minimum will cut it. Know that your competitors likely have AI in their toolbelt, so mere adoption won’t produce meaningful advantages. Advocate for cutting-edge, creative-first AI in your organization. Be brave and be part of this history-making moment in marketing.

For those who choose to forge ahead without AI, it’s only a matter of time before you become obsolete. Avoidance won’t make it go away; AI is here to stay.

Combining Human Intelligence (HI) with Artificial Intelligence to Drive Creativity

The creativity divide is growing, and if we don’t act now, we’ll soon find the gap is too wide to close in this generation. We must fully embrace the combined power of Human Intelligence (HI) and Artificial Intelligence to kickstart a creativity resurgence.

As creatives, if we operate out of fear or are too late to adopt, then AI can become our demise. What’s holding you back? “Why not” adopt? “Why not” be a leader in this movement?

Finally, going all the way back to separate—the first word on my fourth-grade spelling bee. It’s a tricky word with a tricky meaning. But, know that AI adoption will separate great brands from good brands. It will separate confident marketing leaders from accusatory followers. It will separate those who will indeed make history from those who will be history.

Separate and elevate yourself from the competition. Put any creative insecurity behind you and rise up. Welcome to the a br(ai)ve new world of creativity.

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