Observed Signal · Aug 20, 2026 · Interview · Source: The Drum · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI Makes Mediocre Creative Easier, Great Ideas Matter
Liam James Ward, founder and CEO of content studio Something Something and juror on The Drum Awards Festival's Social, Content & Creator Marketing jury, argues that AI is lowering the bar for mediocre creative, which increases the value of truly great ideas. Ward, whose agency was named Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025, cites a client roster including Meta, TikTok, Google and Live Nation. He advises brands to trust unfamiliar voices and creative instincts, warns against overreliance on incomplete data, and says his 2026 investment focus would be direct-to-consumer. The piece is an interview-style profile tied to The Drum Awards Festival and its juries.
Agency leader perspective highlights how generative AI is changing creative quality and decisioning—useful industry insight but not a platform policy or technical release.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Liam James Ward is the founder and CEO of Something Something.
- Something Something was named Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025.
- Ward is a juror on the Social, Content & Creator Marketing jury for The Drum Awards Festival.
- Ward said AI is making 'lukewarm-to-mediocre creative easier than ever', increasing the importance of boundary-pushing ideas.
- Ward stated his 2026 investment would go into direct-to-consumer.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“Liam James Ward built Something Something into Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025 by putting rule-breaking storytelling at the heart of so...”
“Liam James Ward built Something Something into Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025 by putting rule-breaking storytelling at the heart of so...”
“Liam James Ward built Something Something into Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025 by putting rule-breaking storytelling at the heart of so...”
“Liam James Ward built Something Something into Music Ally's Agency of the Year 2025 by putting rule-breaking storytelling at the heart of so...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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Jason Williams: Flashy AI Falls Short in Creativity
Jason Williams, creative director at Ingram Micro’s in-house agency and a juror on The Drum B2B Awards' Creative Aces jury, argues that AI’s fast, flashy outputs are often derivative and cannot replace human critical thinking and original idea generation. Drawing on a 30-year career creating campaigns for technology brands, Williams says creative principles endure even as tools change, and he advocates investing in process (symbolised by a yellow pad and #2 pencil) and sustained brand building rather than short-term shortcuts. He warns that pausing brand investment under commercial pressure risks losing a brand’s voice, and advises B2B marketers to avoid treating B2B like consumer marketing. Williams’ comments appear in The Drum ahead of The Drum B2B Awards entry deadline (July 23).
AI Should Elevate, Not Scale, Mediocre Ads
An opinion piece by Erin Emmerson (Co‑Founder & CEO, Tower 28) published on AdExchanger on April 29, 2026 argues that AI's value in performance marketing is not in churning out more of the same creative at scale but in making cultural nuance and taste scalable. The article suggests AI can surface micro‑communities, regional cultural differences and creative tensions, but cannot replace human judgment on brand voice, positioning and long‑term equity. Emmerson recommends shifting measurement away from reductive last‑click metrics toward signals like brand search lift, repeat engagement and sentiment, and asks marketers to use AI for volume while humans set creative standards and make trade‑off decisions that prioritize lifetime value over short‑term ROAS.
AI Can't Replace Creativity in Advertising's Future
Generative AI is touted as enabling self-driving advertising, but the piece argues automation cannot replace creative judgment. It contends that while AI can generate content quickly, coherence, consistency, and connection remain the core drivers of effectiveness. The article contrasts today’s push for speed with the 1986 Big Bang when agency mergers (e.g., BBDO, DDBO, Needham Harper & Steers forming a holding company; Omnicom Group debut) and subsequent consolidations reshaped the industry for scale over quality. It warns that the current era promises endless AI variations across platforms, yet brands still need to be distinctive and memorable; and that data-driven insights come from connecting creative ideas to performance. The author suggests practical shifts: connect the content ecosystem, integrate creative data into measurement, and measure idea resonance rather than outputs. It concludes that consistency is the new scale and that human discernment remains crucial in the self-driving age.
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