In my career I worked in the marketing and advertising industry. Always in areas where I felt I can bring the most value in creating new angles, ideas and possibilities for clients. On that basis I have always seen myself as a bit of a maverick, the idea of spending my time managing processes and busy work is something that whilst important, detracts from the main focus, how you can make a significant and positive impact to a business.
I moved away from this space in 2020 and Co-Founded a gaming technology start up . Moving into a product leadership role taught me a lot. So much so that over the past 6 years I have run my own business, one which is a consulting business focused on working higher upstream than where I operated earlier in my career at media and advertising agencies. We work with scale ups and VC backed technology companies. In particular with a focus on media, entertainment, sport and fan engagement (but not only isolated to this).
What I see much more of with Founders and Product people is their ability to turn imagination into reality. They see a gap in the market or have inspiration to change the world and way things are done. This for me is where creativity in the advertising space used to live and from my experience was waning.
80%+ of marketers agree that creative quality is one of the most influential factors in campaign success, yet many report declining focus on it amid short-term optimisation pressures
Marketing and Advertising companies used to challenge conventions and shape culture as opposed to where they exist now, which is to constantly evaluate data, signals and other measurement metrics. Personalisation at scale, attribution, measurement, data, targeting have in my opinion removed the art and heart from this industry. Now big holding companies try to play the big tech companies at their own game. Although they are building on top of services, tools, tech and platforms that are readily available (for the most part) marketing teams within businesses.
I used to attend workshops and talks where people would proudly explain how ‘the Don Draper is over and old fashioned’. How now with science based and data driven approaches, this is the solution. Inadvertently this has led to the cannibalisation of the entire industry as big tech takes more and more scope and establishes direct relationships with clients spending the most money.
DECISION BY DATA ALONE IS ALWAYS ONLY EVER REACTIONARY AND NOT REVOLUTIONARY
For me the obsession with reactivity and optimisation in the marketing world has been a big turn off for maverick thinkers and creative people. It has made it procurement focused, commoditised and low margin. Working with Founders for the past 6 years it is simply more fun and contagious to work with people who dare to dream, build an MVP, potentially get funding and then make an impact on the world. They don’t in many cases have reams of data to substantiate their vision in the same way the marketing teams do to mitigate risk. They take risk, not everything imagined works out, but sometimes you see a brilliant business like Loveable, SweatPals emerge along with significant wealth creation in the process.
This in my view is how marketing used to be, someone like Ridley Scott would direct epic adverts for Apple which are more like an artistic statement to what we would see from them today. AMV BBDO created the epic video ad with horses chasing a surfer amongst the crashing waves, based on a literal work of art (Neptune’s Horses by Walter Crane)
AI SUPPORTED PRODUCT INNOVATION AND CREATION IS THE NEW CREATIVE CANVASS AND BLUE OCEAN OPPORTUNTY
Product invention is a richer territory for to operate in in 2026. Now with the rapid prototyping made possible with AI workflows, tools and services it means that process, busy work and sameness just wont cut it anymore if everyone else has the same advantage.
"Fans now representing 80% of consumers spend 27% more on entertainment services, creating rich territory for those who dare to imagine new interactive formats rather than optimize existing ones."
Imagicana (part of Metahead Consultancy) and was created to work with rights holders and occasionally brands to imagine and realise new ways to leverage technology, culture, platforms and creators. In doing so releasing new products, interactive and formats that capture the attention, delight customers and entertain audiences authentically.
In 2026, with AI enabling 20–50% faster time-to-market and rapid prototyping that turns imagination into testable reality in hours, process-heavy sameness simply won't compete. This is where maverick thinkers and bold product invention thrive.