AI is the tool, not the creative: Agency experts reveal how they use GenAI tools to shape modern campaigns | Analysis | Campaign Asia

“At the start of our research, we used ChatGPT Enterprise to understand public sentiment and audience segments,” Ribeiro explains. “It helped us explore how Australians perceive AI in storytelling and identify the cohorts most likely to engage with a GenAI film platform.”

After TBWA’s chief creative officer, Paul Reardon, landed the creative platform, OmniAI—Omnicom’s proprietary GenAI tool, the design team tapped its image generation capabilities to visualise complex interpretations of the festival’s theme, ‘Humans and Their Tools’. “We generated 15+ options to explore style, tone, and narrative potential, essentially using AI to fast-prototype visual storytelling and accelerate human decision-making.”

Once the team narrowed down their direction, they used GenAI platforms Runway and Veo 3 to animate the final creative for the festival’s website and promotional materials. “The human team remained in charge throughout, but these tools gave us speed and flexibility when translating stills into movement.”

While AI’s industry impact is often discussed, insights into how creatives actually use these technologies and integrate them into workflows are rarer.

“AI is integrated into almost every aspect of the creative process today. It’s as natural as having the internet in your workflow—it’s part of how we think, design, and build,” says Laurent Thevenet, head of creative technology for APAC at Publicis Groupe. “It’s hard to pinpoint what counts as ‘AI work’ unless it’s explicitly visible, like a generated visual or AI-powered experience. But AI has become embedded in our daily work.”

Thevenet and his team use AI platforms from Publicis Groupe’s partners, including Google’s Gemini, Imagen, and Veo, OpenAI’s GPT models, and HeyGen. He explains how using these AI tools enabled them to “re-create the past” in campaigns like Cathay’s ‘Re-righting History,’ where AI recreated historic Paralympic moments never recorded on film.

“We had little data and had to iterate the prompts extensively,” he says. “Most AI models struggled to accurately depict specific disabilities, so we had to fine-tune until we achieved realistic portrayals.”

When asked about the number of prompts needed to produce a piece, Thevenet responds, “It varies. Tools fine-tuned on brand data need fewer iterations, while others may require hundreds depending on creative ambition and user skill.”

Sagar Jadhav, executive creative director at Ogilvy Mumbai, who’s been experimenting with GenAI tools long before they became mainstream, agrees, “Whether it takes 20 prompts or 200, I keep iterating until the work looks, moves, and lands exactly as I envisioned.”

His team uses tools like Google’s Veo 2 and 3 via WPP’s Open Creative Studio. For images, they work with Imagen 4, OpenAI’s GPT Image, Adobe Firefly, Bria 3.1, and Stability AI’s SDXL. Outside WPP’s ecosystem, they experiment with Sora, Midjourney V1, and Higgsfield AI for stylised video generation, while Suno and ElevenLabs provide music and voice.

One standout project was “Shah Rukh Khan – My Ad,” a series of personalised films featuring India’s biggest movie star, created using GenAI at scale for local retailers. The campaign won Titanium and Grand Prix awards at Cannes.

“That’s a valid concern,” Ribeiro says. “Overusing AI might erode foundational skills, like how calculators impacted mental math. That’s why we invest in ongoing education, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.”

Sasha Barkans, associate creative director at R/GA Japan, worries especially about younger creatives. “I do worry for young and emerging creatives still building the muscle. But culture is already pushing back against the hyper-digital world: Practical effects, film cameras, flip phones, anti-influencers, vinyl, and the rise of experiential marketing. These are all clues to what culture values. Machine learning has been transformative, but I believe the demand for work that is distinctly human will ensure we don’t become overreliant on generative AI.”

Jadhav argues AI is not making creatives lazy but freeing time to focus on what truly matters: “The idea, the story, the craft.”

“I don’t outsource ideas,” Barkans says. “That’s where homogenisation sets in, and instinct dulls. Creative directors used to say ‘interesting’ when lukewarm about ideas, now they ask, ‘Is this AI?’ Ouch.”

Rodrigo Mitma, creative director at We Are Social Singapore, insists, “AI is a tool, not the creative. We know our audiences and goals best and interpret insights accordingly. Final ideas and products must remain human-led.”

Alongside commercial AI tools, agencies are increasingly building proprietary platforms—Publicis has CoreAI, WPP offers Open, Omnicom uses Omni, which have become integral to campaign creation. Historically, production was outsourced, but generative AI is shifting some of that work back in-house.

“We’re already seeing this,” says Owen Leach, senior design director at INVNT. “Smaller brands, especially on social, use AI tools like Canva to handle production internally. But there’s a difference between access to tools and mastering design as a craft.”

Ribeiro likens AI integration to having your own kitchen. “Great for quick meals but we still occasionally dine out.” He explains that while GenAI has prompted his team to reconsider some production workflows, shifting tasks in-house, particularly those suited to rapid prototyping or experimentation, this shift is not absolute. “We still deeply value specialist external partners who bring unique capabilities and insights.”

Looking ahead, human oversight is still essential. “Emotional instinct, insight, and judgment belong to us,” says Stan Lim, chief creative and experience officer at Dentsu Creative Singapore. “We find human truths, decide where to dig deeper, and refine ideas until perfect. Only work created with human emotion truly impacts people.”

Though AI is ubiquitous today, it is far from replacing human creativity.

“No AI tool can replicate the intuitive leaps of original thinking,” Leach concludes. “Big, out-of-the-box ideas are human territory. The divide between AI-generated work and human craft will grow, increasing the value of true creativity in a mass-automated world.”