Artificial intelligence is increasingly transforming marketing by taking over a large share of repetitive and data-driven tasks. Algorithms can effortlessly optimize bids in real time, segment audiences based on multiple variables, and prepare simple reports and baseline content. More and more often, they also support the production of campaign materials—from quick format variations to initial creative sketches.
Automation relieves teams of much mechanical work while clearly highlighting a boundary—not every element can be meaningfully delegated to technology.
In creative processes, AI functions more as a tool than an author. It can generate multiple concept variants, suggest combinations, and assist in building early versions of layouts, visualizations, or format ideas. The direction, however, is still set by humans. People assess whether a given graphic, message, or style fits the context, objectives, and sensitivities of the audience.
The source of ideas remains empathy, cultural understanding, attentive observation of behaviors, and conversations from which meanings emerge that are difficult to “generate” on command. These areas remain beyond the reach of automation and enable the extraction of accurate consumer insights, the construction of narratives, and the design of strategies that go beyond schematic solutions.
Creativity in marketing is still often reduced solely to the visual or slogan layer—to images, taglines, and catchy forms. This is, however, an overly narrow perspective. In contemporary realities, creative thinking encompasses both planning and the day-to-day execution of activities.
Its core lies in the ability to reach genuine audience motivations and understand the mechanisms behind their choices. Only from this perspective does a communication idea emerge that not only attracts attention but truly hits the mark.
From the same source comes today’s understanding of creativity as the design of experiences rather than a focus on individual messages. What matters is viewing the entire customer journey—from the first contact with the brand, through the purchase moment and product packaging, to post-sale interaction. Each of these touchpoints can build a coherent impression that stays in memory if consciously designed.
In this sense, creative thinking also addresses strictly business challenges. It includes searching for solutions under constraints, such as limited budgets or hard-to-reach target groups. Sometimes it also takes the form of skillfully using a crisis to demonstrate a brand’s authenticity and consistency.
Brands operate today in a different landscape than just a few years ago, which is why marketing teams are increasingly seeking individuals who can think unconventionally. Audiences are tired of schematic, intrusive messaging and no longer respond to simple slogans like “Number one on the market.” Since similar promises are made from all sides almost daily, it is difficult to expect them to continue evoking emotion.
Instead, authenticity, sensitivity, and less obvious ways of building relationships with brands matter. Added to this is content overload. The internet is flooded daily with enormous volumes of text, posts, and video materials, and audiences navigate a dense informational noise. In such an environment, attention is captured primarily by bold and fresh ideas—those capable of breaking through communication routine.
Non-standard concepts most often deliver the highest ROI (return on investment)—a mechanism increasingly recognized by companies. Such ideas engage emotionally more strongly and are more likely to spread organically, without the need for constant increases in media budgets.
As a result, the importance of approaches combining creative decisions with data-driven insights is growing. A solid understanding of audience behavior allows for a different perspective on channel and format selection. If analysis indicates a young target group, a classic television campaign does not always prove optimal. In such cases, simple forms embedded in everyday environments—such as branded stickers functioning in urban spaces and harmoniously fitting into audience culture instead of imposing themselves like traditional advertising—can be more effective.
How a brand uses creativity directly affects audience perception—both online and offline. Simply informing is no longer enough for internet users. Attention is drawn by ideas that guide audiences through a narrative and encourage them to pause longer.
This is why short content adapted to the dynamics of social media, concise formats readily shared, and simple interactive elements that engage users are effective. Artificial intelligence can amplify these efforts by facilitating the preparation of multiple variants of a single concept for different groups, but meaning, decision-making, and emphasis still originate on the human side.
The same mechanism applies outside the online world. Creativity can strongly influence the overall brand experience, especially in guerrilla marketing activities. What matters is surprise within the audience’s everyday environment and an idea that transforms an ordinary place into part of the brand’s narrative.
This could take the form of an unconventional spatial installation placed at a store entrance—for example, a large scenographic element inspired by the offering, positioned on the sidewalk and turning a fragment of the street into part of the campaign. Such an element can enliven space and make a location “live” differently than usual.
A similar effect is achieved through window displays. With a well-thought-out design, a storefront ceases to serve solely an informational function and begins to act as an artistic intervention in urban space. It often becomes a natural backdrop for photos circulating online. In this way, local buzz grows, conversations emerge, and offline activities seamlessly extend digital efforts—while keeping costs at a moderate level.
It is easy to view creativity as something given at birth and attribute it to a narrow group of individuals. In marketing, this mindset quickly becomes outdated, as creativity proves to be a set of concrete skills—such as attentiveness or the ability to connect facts and assign meaning to observations that seemingly have little in common.
An idea may arise from observing people in a queue, from video game mechanics, or from a film watched years ago that suddenly returns as inspiration for contemporary brand communication.
Creativity understood in this way does not require investment in expensive training or extensive tool infrastructure. It most often develops through everyday habits, such as attentive observation of surroundings, openness to diverse fields, and a willingness to test ideas on a small scale. It can be shaped both during academic education and beyond—and it is precisely such repeated exercises that form the path toward more creative thinking.
The learning phase is particularly conducive to developing imagination—it is a time when one can experiment, make mistakes, and explore new paths without the burden of major consequences. Group projects create space for testing formats, bolder conventions, and confronting different perspectives, from which the strongest ideas most often emerge.
Therefore, project assignments are better treated as experimental spaces rather than tedious obligations. Internships and student organizations add another dimension—contact with practical market challenges while retaining room for learning through trial and error.
Much can also be gained by carefully breaking down campaigns into components and seeking answers as to why some solutions “carry” better than others while some fade into the background. Exposure to diverse disciplines—psychology, cultural anthropology, or sociology—helps here, as they reveal subtle mechanisms and offer inspirations that later return in conceptual work.
Outside academia, creativity can grow just as quickly. Helpful practices include:
● Immersion in culture—screenings, audio productions, books, visual projects, street art, memes, and games often provide insights unattainable through “pure” desk-based planning.
● Noting what happens around you—overheard dialogues, characteristic gestures, expressions, or small everyday scenes can transform into valuable observations invisible in tables and reports.
● Sprint-based work—intensive creative sessions and idea marathons accelerate thinking and reveal different problem-solving styles, especially under time constraints.
● Personal mini-projects—running Instagram as a portfolio, creating simple graphic materials, and building concepts for fictional brands. Such small exercises gradually strengthen creative skills.
In marketing realities where technology and data have become widely accessible, competitive advantage is increasingly less about tools themselves. Technological solutions can be implemented, data collected, and processes optimized—but an idea that responds to genuine audience needs and builds an emotional relationship cannot be faithfully replicated or fully entrusted to algorithms.
It is precisely the ability to look beyond conventions that allows brands and specialists to stand out when the “technological” side of the game is level.
Creativity has ceased to be a label reserved for artistic temperaments. Today, it functions as a competency that can be developed through curiosity, regular practice, and the ability to connect seemingly unrelated elements into a coherent whole. The labor market increasingly seeks individuals with imagination and open-minded thinking—those who can give meaning to information and technology and translate them into ideas that genuinely resonate with audiences.
Sources:
● SigmaDruk Large-Format Printing
● Future of Jobs Report 2023, Future of Jobs Report 2025 – World Economic Forum
● Marketing – Principles – OpenStax textbook
● Future Marketing Competencies – IAB Poland, Sectoral Council for Competencies in the Marketing Communication Sector
● What skills and abilities can automation technologies replicate and what does it mean for workers? – OECD
● What Is Guerrilla Marketing? 4 Types and Examples to Delight Consumers – Coursera
● What it is and how to calculate ROI or Return on Investment – Esade
Article prepared in cooperation with a service partner
Author: Joanna Ważny
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