Sir John Hegarty, creative, The Business of Creativity, challenged the existence of the ‘big agencies’ in today’s times on day one of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

In his session titled ‘Why Giants Can’t Dance’, Hegarty discussed how size can be a problem for the agencies.

He said, “This year there where there will be endless conversation about AI and for fairly obvious reasons. It has made a profound impact it will make on ours and other endless industries. Digital streamlined processes, but AI will be transformative. When one talks about AI and what will happen – we don’t know the ultimate impact.”

Explaining why ‘giants can’t dance’, he said, “It’s not the big that beat the small, or the small that beat the big. It’s the bold that beat the bureaucratic.

What happened to the giant?

Referring to the merger of Omnicom and IPG, and how WPP is said to be facing challenging times, he said, “We are looking at the merger of Omnicom, and stories of what’s happening at WPP. It tells you something – size is no longer a strategy to grow. It’s not inertia and it breeds bureaucracy and that’s a problem.”

He added that AI has made everyone a creative director.

“AI hasn’t just creativity, it has changed who gets to play. Everybody is now a creative director. But there’s something else happening too. The old company saw the boss at the top making decisions and calling tunes. Now, the new company is an inverted triangle. The boss is at the bottom and is in a sense recognising the talent at the company. So, it’s a problem for large companies and how they operate it. They can probably learn something from sports people who learn how to play in different eras,” he said.

He also made a bold claim that the leaders won’t change in their way of operating which will lead to size working against agencies.

“With AI coming in, creativity is the only thing left to compete on. AI isn’t a tool, it’s a collaborator. So, what can the giant do? It’s about creating a culture of creativity, driven by philosophy. It’s about why one is doing what they are doing,” he said. 

He added, “The tragedy is that big companies become operational and not inspirational. Again, size could sustain companies and withstand competitive pressure, but it’s now changing and it’s over.”

So, what is it that can agencies do to grow in the future?

“One needs to rediscover the original philosophy,” claimed Hegarty.

“But, what happens is that at large companies – the philosophy dies with the founder. And that doesn’t need to happen,” he said.

Giving an example, he said, “Did the Christian church go into decline after Jesus died? No. It did rather well because it iconised him – spoke about what he believed in through storytelling, music and painting. That’s what made it great. It’s about how one keeps it going. So, why isn’t it that modern companies can’t learn from what the Christian church taught us all those years ago?”

He shared three pieces of advice for young creatives, through an AI video of a young Hegarty.

“Start your company and don’t’ be answerable to anyone but your clients. Take the chairperson role along with being the creative director. Remember money is a tool and not a philosophy. It has a voice but not a soul,” he said.

He ended with a suggestion for agencies looking for creative transformation.

“Move faster, build culture, empower bold ideas at scale, discover your creative philosophy and rethink structure. That’s the only way the giant can learn how to dance. But it’ll be difficult and I don’t think they will be able to get that song and dance to it. So, my advice is that one doesn’t need to be the biggest, but aim to be the boldest. View AI as a collaborator that is democratising creativity.”