by Federico Soto Roland & Maxi Urrutia – NSB Team


We're living in a moment when artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way into virtually every field —from automating tasks to generating copy, images, advertising jingles or marketing campaigns. And yet, AI can't rescue a bad idea, nor pick the best idea out of a small set of options (at least for now).

AI's promise is enormous: efficiency, data, speed. But when the core —or central— creative concept is poorly thought out —a weak story, a shallow strategy, a message that doesn't connect— then AI simply scales up what was already wrong.

So the key question is: why does creativity still matter in 2025 and beyond?

1) Human ideas create emotional connection

Machines can generate hundreds of versions of an ad, hundreds of variations of a piece of copy, but that doesn't guarantee anyone will be moved, change their behavior, or see themselves in it. It's the emotional resonance, the saliency and the creative power that determine whether a campaign is memorable. We remember what grabs our attention first, and then what reaches the "gut" of our emotional feeling, whether because it amuses us, makes us think, teaches us or shakes us.

AI can process patterns but it lacks lived experience, the emotional "why" that underlies human creativity. The machine can generate, but it doesn't necessarily feel or evoke the way we humans do.

2) AI is a tool —not a creative replacement (even if it will put many in our industry out of work!)

It's tempting to think that with good tools everything gets easier, that AI is a "magic fix." And yet, before any idea, there must be a solid creative strategy. Only then can we use AI to optimize, to replicate, to create more compelling videos and images; but without a clear creative strategy, without a salient and powerful core concept, AI is just a tool that (we insist, at least for now) falls short.

This opens up a clear role for human creativity: leading the strategy, defining the message, bringing meaning to brands.

3) AI tends to homogenize —and creativity is the way to differentiate

If AI is widely accessible and we're all using the same LLMs, it stops being a sustainable competitive advantage when applied without human creativity.

In other words: automating processes may become standard, but what will keep making the difference is that unique, inimitable human creativity.

This means brands betting solely on AI run the risk of becoming homogeneous; those that combine AI with authentic creativity have the chance to stand out.

4) Keeping "creative friction" alive is necessary

Part of the magic of human creativity lies in imperfection, in trial and error, in the search, in the questions that wouldn't have been asked if everything were generated automatically, in pushing against what's conventionally accepted and going for options that create discomfort, friction, noise.

That is: if every idea is generated in seconds by an AI, where does the human process of exploring, getting it wrong, learning, provoking go? That "friction" —that productive discomfort— is usually what produces what's genuinely new.

5) What's the balance between creativity and AI?

At NSB we propose three recommendations for bringing AI + creativity together:

  • Start with the creative strategy, not the tool. Before deploying AI, ask questions like: What do I want this brand to communicate? How should we create saliency in a market hyper-saturated with identical options? What emotion do I want to provoke? What's the central story we want to tell? How will it connect with my audience?
  • Use AI as an amplifier of options, not as the source. AI can generate variations, test headlines, explore visuals, but the human role must be to filter, contextualize, give an authentic voice. This is consistent with the idea of "AI as a creative partner" rather than "creative substitute."
  • Scale our human creative capacity with AI. The generation of images, audio, video, textures and visual options powered by AI opens up a universe of opportunities for agencies and clients who have historically worked with small creative budgets. Today the limits of the possible are shifting in our favor! And we can —and should— take advantage of it.

Creative strategy is —and will remain— the key to every brand's success

In 2026, human creativity won't just keep mattering —it will increasingly become a key strategic asset. No matter how much it improves, AI doesn't replace (at least for now) the human spark: it can't fully grasp the emotional "why," it has no life experience, and it doesn't generate authentic meaning.

If we launch campaigns with no strong concept, no consistent story, AI will simply amplify what's already wrong —which leads to cold, disconnected, ineffective results.

In that sense, creativity is the "currency" that lets you differentiate, connect, move people. And AI is the tool that, used well, can make that process more efficient, faster, and yes, far more creative too.