I love AI. I really do. In the advertising world, it’s like suddenly having a 24/7 creative department that never sleeps, never complains about deadlines, and doesn’t charge overtime. It can spit out headlines, draft scripts, create art, and even suggest campaign strategies in seconds.
Incredible, right?
But here’s the danger: AI’s brilliance can make us lazy.
If we’re not careful, it will slowly turn us from curious, inventive problem-solvers into button-pushers who just take what the algorithm hands us. It’s the creative version of letting your GPS do all the driving—you eventually forget how to read a map, or worse, how to navigate without one.
The magic of advertising has never been about finding the quickest answer. It’s been about finding the best one. Something with insight, personality, and a human spark that makes people stop and feel something. AI can help you get there faster, but it can also quietly nudge you into accepting “good enough” without realizing you’ve lowered the bar.
The real danger isn’t that AI will replace us. It’s that it will lull us into not challenging it. It’s tempting to say, “This tagline works” simply because the machine says it does, or “This visual tests well” because the data says so. But advertising isn’t just about what people will accept. It’s about what will surprise them, provoke them, inspire them.
When we stop questioning, we stop innovating.
When we stop innovating, we stop mattering.
The role of a great agency is to poke holes, push boundaries, and reframe the obvious. To see angles no one else saw—not just the ones AI has in its database. AI can amplify that work, but it can’t originate it without us asking better, deeper questions.
So, yes—use AI. Use it to explore, to brainstorm, to jump-start ideas. But then take the extra step. Pull at the threads. Challenge the first answers. Ask, “What’s missing? What’s the emotional hook? Where’s the twist no one saw coming?” That’s where the craft comes in. That’s where we come in.
Because if all we do is take AI’s output at face value, we’ll slowly train ourselves out of the very skill that made us valuable in the first place—our ability to think differently. And in this business, when you stop thinking differently, you’re not just falling behind. You’re invisible.
AI is a tool. A powerful one.
But the tool should never swing the hammer for the carpenter.
Joe Bouch, CEO
78Madison
78Madison is a full-service marketing communications firm – advertising agency – located in Orlando, Florida (Winter Springs). Have some questions? Let’s connect. Email me at jbouch@78madison.com