LONDON, UK — The recently concluded D&AD Festival thoroughly hyped creative excellence. Apart from showcasing award-worthy and impactful work, it gathered today’s leading creative industry experts who imparted insights on design and innovative branding and advertising frameworks.
One creative leader in particular engaged the audience of advertising giants with his insightful discussion on the convergence of human creativity and AI.
Dentsu Global CCO Yasuharu “Yasu” Sasaki took the stage at the D&AD Festival and addressed a full house of creatives on his session topic, “Humanizing Brands with Creativity.”
In his talk, Yasu emphasized that amidst a world captivated by AI, data, and efficiency, creating emotional connections through storytelling and creativity is a philosophy that should be embraced by brands, and a way forward to create lasting engagement with people.
“Technology such as AI should work for humans as emotional creatures. That’s where our creativity is needed,” Yasuharu remarked, adding that technology and AI can be used to improve society and create emotional connections. “The more advanced society becomes with data and AI, the more we need to think about happiness and fulfillment for society — something that is quite difficult to measure.”
To further elaborate this, Yasu shared some campaigns that embody a more human-oriented approach to tech implementation, such as the Tokyo Mobility Foundation Technology “Voice Watch” campaign which demonstrates how technology helps people with disabilities participate in sports and improves accessibility for athletes using AI-powered sports commentary. “We dealt with technology that has been slowly trying to help save culture and society and ensure accessibility.”
Another case study Yasu presented is a campaign where Eurofarma and Dentsu joined forces to develop an AI-powered phone app that could slow down Parkinson’s disease progression. The “Scrolling Therapy” campaign featured an experimental tool that uses facial recognition technology for Parkinson’s patients. This collaboration not only helped Parkinson’s patients, it also won the Cannes Pharma Grand Prix in 2023.
Yasuharu capped his case study showcase with dentsu’s “My Japan Railway” campaign to further demonstrate his theme of humanizing brands through creativity.
With Japan’s oldest railroad company celebrating its 150th year, dentsu took on the brief to encourage people to discover the joy of traveling. Japan Railways, known for its practical convenience and punctuality, wanted their customers to see it in a more personal way. Yasuharu shared, “The agency worked with 65 train companies, and more than 900 stations. They wanted to learn about the train journey, not just about its efficiency, but also about the joy of traveling and the concept of discovery.”
Acquiring information on the history and culture of more than 900 stations and the community they served, the agency created wood-cut style stamps for each station, and a mobile app to collect stamps.
Further enhancing human and tech connectivity, the agency worked with Adbrain and Creative Power Unit to create an interactive web app specifically designed for rail users, turning everyday commuting into a brand experience. Here, customers were encouraged to travel by rail to more distant destinations and could use the app to express their creativity as they visited scenic attractions throughout Japan.
“We put a lot of work in the craft,” Yasu commented. “(Because) craft is the final contact surface between the brand and user, and it can create the emotional value.”
My Japan Railway impressed the judges at D&AD Awards 2024 and was awarded five Pencils, including a Yellow Pencil in Illustration. The work then went on to win a Black Pencil in the Art Direction category, an award reserved only for truly groundbreaking work.
“When you use your creativity to humanize your brand, you must draw a line between AI and humans,” Yasu concluded. “Try accepting the unpredictable instead of the planned, face the inconvenient rather than the convenient, search for clues in what makes you personally happy rather than the trend, have kindness than indifference, sometimes trust your gut than the data, follow your dreams than chase efficiency, and finally, take emotion over function.”
adobo Magazine is an official media partner of D&AD 2024.
