Smartly CEO Laura Desmond on AI’s Impact: “Without trust, there is nothing” for brands | Partner Content | Campaign Asia

The deeper integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into marketing practice means it has never been more important for brands to emphasise trust, authenticity and human connection. That was the verdict of a range of experts and industry figures who spoke at the Smartly Connect Singapore event, which saw a lively debate on technology, meaning and the rise of Intelligent Creative – AI-powered advertising that blends data, automation and emotional relevance – in the current media landscape.

The event, held by Smartly, the leading AI-powered advertising technology company transforming ad experiences for brands and consumers, drew delegates from right across the APAC region and touched on everything from budget challenges to crises of creativity. But its central theme was the ongoing power of purpose and the creative intelligence required to deliver it in an age of AI-enabled disruption.

The themes of trust and authenticity were key topics for Smartly’s global CEO, Laura Desmond, an accomplished marketer and leader who serves on the board of Adobe. While acknowledging the current pace of change in the industry was greater than at any point in the past two decades, she said that only underlined the need for businesses to find a way to speak to people on an individual level.

“Without trust, there is nothing,” said Desmond. “As much as we lean into AI, it’s still relationships – brands and consumers, people to people – that define things. No matter how powerful the technology or the markets, people are always out ahead of us. We have to pay attention to that, as managers and stewards of brands.”

Smartly unveiled new research to illuminate the new media landscape. It suggested half of marketers globally were struggling to reach consumers across multiple platforms, while 74% said consumers expected a more personalised experience than in the past. Meanwhile, 71% of consumers said it was more important than ever to be able to trust brands.

While accepting brands needed to be “AI first, every day,” Desmond suggested it was crucial they did not sacrifice creativity. “Advertising is a complex ecosystem and AI is designed to simplify that. Advertising is a perfect use case to unleash the power of AI. If we get it right, AI will unleash creative power and potential. It will not take the power of creatives away or remove the power of the idea.

“Consumers will lean into brands who use AI to build relationships. CMOs who see [AI] and embrace it, combining big ideas with variation and scale, will be rewarded. But it’s not possible with the old processes and ways of working. Systems need to be rethought, workflow needs to be redesigned.

“With AI and transformation, it will be possible to go from an idea to an ad with intelligence in one step. Think about all the possibilities – to get to a really big idea based on seeing in real time what people are interacting and engaging with.”

The trust that is required in this new world, concluded Desmond, “starts with the look and feel, the messaging and creative.” She noted that 85% of consumers in an eMarketer report were more likely to trust a brand with high quality, well-designed advertising.

Smartly used the day to showcase just what quality advertising looks like in practice – and how it is incorporating AI into its products to enable creativity and personalisation to be deployed at scale. Smartly’s AI Studio, for example, dramatically cuts the time required to take initial ideas to market, across multiple channels – blending the ability to optimise creative for individual platforms with adherence to brand guidelines, according to Chi Yu, Smartly’s AI Studio product  lead. The product suite, he added, is underpinned by real time data provided by Smartly Intelligence, enabling campaigns to be calibrated according to audience need.

Smartly’s record of designing solutions that deliver for brands has been heralded from multiple sources over the past year – it was named a leader in The Forrester Wave: Creative Advertising Technologies Q4 2024, which evaluates platforms for their performance and innovation, as well as being validated by PwC, which found Smartly was 3.3 times faster for campaign set up, optimisation and reporting compared to other platforms. And under the leadership of Bertilla Teo, APAC CEO, the business is making the region a key priority, evidenced by the array of brands and agencies who came together at Singapore’s Pan-Pacific Orchard hotel.

What comes next, both for Smartly and its customers, will encompass emerging technology showcased by Chi, such as Google’s Veo3 (which allows highly customisable video to be created from prompts), agentic AI (enabling AI systems to collaborate to access information and undertake human-like transactions) and multimodality, which uses technology to convey meaning across multiple channels and in different settings.

Such developments come against a backdrop of rapidly developing consumer behaviours. During a practitioner-led panel session. Sapna Nemani, chief solutions officer APAC at Publicis Groupe, cited the fact that consumers today stop engaging with an ad after two seconds on average, compared to 10 seconds just five years ago. That meant brands could no longer only be focused on quantity of messaging, she said.

“Purpose has come back,” said Nemani. “Ultimately, it’s about what moves people and businesses. We see a lot more focus on long-term metrics. It’s a full funnel, if a funnel exists at all, covering right across the consumer journey.”

The importance of a multi-faceted approach was echoed by Asha Gourinath, head of growth and paid media at Grab, who said “creativity, variety and velocity” were her watchwords – while short form, seasonal campaigns were particularly effective for her business, with video highly valued, sticking to one format or channel wasn’t enough. “Contrary to what Google might say, long form works really well,” said Gourinath. “But the refresh needs to happen every three to four weeks.”

The event drew to a close with legendary graphic designer and artist Theseus Chan, founder of award-winning creative studio WORK and the mastermind behind WERK Magazine, who reminded delegates there will always be a place for the spontaneity of invention, even in a tech-focused age. Chan, who describes his work as “a reaction against sameness,” cited the example of asking AI to visualise a book that cannot open. The task is impossible, he said, because the technology cannot deviate from its in-built logic.

“AI is a tool… but it’s too easy now to prompt AI. You can do a visual in a few seconds that 20 years ago would have taken a few weeks,” said Chan. “There will come a time when we’ll be tired of it because it’s too perfect.”