India’s Umma Saini, director – content and creative, PhonePe, was part of a panel at the LIA Creative Liaisons program, to discuss why craft remains critical and the ‘only way to connect to audiences as the noise increases’.

Joining Saini on the panel were Michael Ritchie, managing director and co-owner, Revolver, Sydney; Dan Lucey, chief creative officer and co-CEO, Havas NY; and Juan Woodbury, CCO and global head – branded content and entertainment, Bento Entertainment.

Each of the panelists stated why executional craft is increasingly important, with examples of pieces of work for the same.

Ritchie kicked off the talk by stating, “One of our clients we work with says it simply: craft is the membrane between a brand and its audience. Everything we do is craft. If we’re not thinking about craft, all the communication we create will be lost. We are talking about AI taking money out of production, but we are creating work that makes the media budget really effective. It’s about clients getting bang for the buck.”

One of the two cases he showed was for Telstra. The brand chose 26 different iterations for its 2024 Paris Olympics campaign rather than create one big film.

Telstra

Channel 4

Lucey stated that for him, craft is the agency’s responsibility.

“Craft for me is about making people laugh or not. Craft is the agency’s responsibility. I’ve never heard a client talk about it. I don’t expect a client to understand the level of craft needed to make something memorable. It’s important that we make things that break through, and craft enables it. It comes under fire, though, because it costs money and takes a little extra time. But it’s important to help take time,” said Lucey before showing his two pieces, which had craft as the differentiator.

Saini spoke about how ‘good craft can help differentiate the great from the good’.

“When I joined the business of writing ads for a living, I figured it wasn’t just thinking of a story and writing it. We had to understand the craft as well. Eventually, it’s such a beautiful collaborative process that helps the thought get formed. Good craft can take a piece of work to another place. That’s why we like Christopher Nolan movies. It’s about the detailing and the choices. New platforms are giving out new rules for good craft. It’s so exciting to grasp that and learn it for other media,” she said.

She also spoke about how different craft is required for different media.

“Social media rewards authenticity. On social media, craft could be raw, but if it’s real, it connects with millions of people. For platforms like that, one needs to unlearn so many things. When one is trying to catch the right moment, we have only an hour sometimes. Don’t be too fussy, but be authentic,” said Saini before unveiling the Britannia Treat film she worked on at Schbang, where she worked before joining PhonePe.

 

 

 

 

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Giving his point of view on craft, Woodbury said, “Craft is important and it comes at different stages. I had a shift change 10 years into the game. I doubled down on myself and wanted to be authentic. I wanted to hone in on what I wanted to bring to the table. One has to be locked in with that.”

He also spoke about how one needs to develop craft till the last minute, with an example of a Firestone Tire creative that was changed at 10pm on the night before the shoot.

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AI

The panel then discussed the impact of AI on craft.

Stating how she’s a ‘tech optimist’, Saini said, “Every time there’s new technology, I’m excited. We are lucky that we are seeing AI evolve. It’s exciting for the creative industry. We’re in the business of creation, and I think it’s so liberating. AI has collapsed the time between thought and creation. We are all forming it together. It’s anyone’s playground now, and rules are yet to be written. It’s like when the camera was first invented; the first picture showed possibilities. We are at an exciting moment and not a scary moment.”

Ritchie, however, stated that it’s a challenging time for the advertising industry.

“What it comes down to is great ideas, great taste, and thoughtful execution. What we are going to find is that it’s useful for certain bits (of the industry). We have to use our judgment. We are using it in post-production, pre-production, and set design too. But we can’t build it all using AI. We have to wait and watch how it catches up. We need to see the next iteration,” he said.

Lucey added, “There’s going to be a temptation to see what AI can save us and how we can do more with less money and time. It’s about what more can be done. If we had a budget for one film or one stunt, we can now do five films with the same budget. Let’s make that film that one couldn’t shoot earlier.

Woodbury summarised, “The only issue I have with AI is that losing that humanity. From a cultural point of view, it’s losing that beat. Use it as a tool, but bring your true, authentic self. One can make a track and make it sound good, but it’s nothing like the original.”