When everyone does the same research, they get the same answers.

And when everyone gets the same answers, all ads look alike.

You are never going to analyse effectiveness into your work. You are never going to formulate the equation for a great idea and great execution.

Bill Bernbach said this in 1965. Sixty years later, we're still proving him right.

The great creative agency names defined eras, built brands, changed culture, yet they’re disappearing into consolidation. Merged. Absorbed. Diluted.

This isn't just sad for the legacy. It's not just sad for the people. It's a warning about what's happening to advertising itself.

I'm bullish on AI. I think the technology is extraordinary. The tools, the algorithms, the efficiency gains, they're real and they matter.

But here's the thing Bernbach understood that we keep forgetting: efficiency is not differentiation.

When everyone has access to the same AI tools, the same data, the same optimisation playbooks - what's left?

Creativity. Taste. The messy, unpredictable, unformulatable thing that makes someone stop and take notice.

Bernbach called it art. He was right.

The clients who want certainty, who want one and one to equal two, who want every element to add up to guaranteed success, they'll get sameness. Safe. Forgettable. Invisible.

The brands that break through are the ones willing to trust the intangible. To back the idea that can't be proven until it works.

Distinctive assets will matter more than ever. Not because they're trendy, but because when AI commoditises execution, brand is the only moat left.

The tools are changing. The principles aren't.

Protect the creative. It's the only thing that can't be copied.