In the New Era of High-Performance Creativity, AI Isn’t the Driver—It’s the Engine

This post was created in partnership with Treasure Data

Key takeaways

AI is speeding up every stage of creativity—from idea generation to execution—helping teams move faster without losing focus.
Data powers the most effective AI, giving marketers the ability to personalize at scale and pivot in real time.
Human judgment, authenticity, and transparency remain the ultimate differentiators in an AI-driven world.

Just as professional drivers rely on cutting-edge engineering to push the limits of human performance, today’s creatives are using AI as their ultimate co-pilot.

During an ADWEEK House Raceway Group Chat co-hosted with Treasure Data, a panel of industry leaders gathered to discuss this shift. The consensus? AI is not replacing the creative driver—it is upgrading the vehicle.

(L-R) Acorns' Justin Johnson, Treasure Data's Karen Wood, Qualcomm's Don McGuire — (L-R) Acorns’ Justin Johnson, Treasure Data’s Karen Wood, Qualcomm’s Don McGuire

AI helps creatives get ideas off the starting line

For many panelists, the immediate value of AI lies in its ability to cure blank page syndrome. Joe Lazer, a fractional CMO at Pepper, described how he uses AI in brainstorming sessions. He shared an example of struggling to name a piece of research until AI provided a spark. “It wasn’t something that ChatGPT gave me, but a lateral leap it helped me get to, which is the great betrayal, and then it popped off,” Lazer said. “I think that’s one of my favorite ideation use cases that I use all the time.”

AI’s impact isn’t limited to ideation—it’s also transforming how global brands present and personalize their messages. Shergul Arshad, head of North America for the Aston Martin F1 Team, explained how his team uses AI avatars to customize communication at scale. “We’ve used a tool called Ai.lonso, which is an avatar of sorts that is Fernando Alonso and speaks 35 different languages, and we can use that in presentations,” Arshad shared. “It can really tailor a message to brand marketers.”

(L-R) Treasure Data's Rafa Flores, Aston Martin F1 Team's Shergul Arshad, ADWEEK's Liz Kneebone, IBM's Elizabeth O'Brien — (L-R) Treasure Data’s Rafa Flores, Aston Martin F1 Team’s Shergul Arshad, ADWEEK’s Liz Kneebone, IBM’s Elizabeth O’Brien

Automated workflows keep teams moving

But the real magic happens after the idea takes shape. Once the idea is generated, AI acts as a force multiplier for execution, allowing smaller teams to handle massive workloads.

Justin Johnson, a global marketing and partnerships expert who was formerly the head of market development at Acorns, described his experience using a custom tool to process inbound partnership proposals.

“I’m working on a Gemini agent that would use a framework to stack rank,” he shared. Johnson explained that the agent helps answer questions like, “Does it align with brand? What is the projected output of what we think this could produce? Is this ROI positive?” From there, the agent assigns a score indicating whether to look into the deal further or if it’s not worth the time.

For large organizations, the time savings of using AI are immense. Don McGuire, CMO of Qualcomm, noted that his team has deployed writing tools to streamline copy development. “We’ve saved like 2,400 hours a month just through Writer alone,” McGuire revealed. “And my people grabbed onto that like there was no tomorrow.”

(L-R) Pepper's Joe Lazer, Milk Makeup's Kristina Windham — (L-R) Pepper’s Joe Lazer, Milk Makeup’s Kristina Windham

Data as the high-octane fuel for storytelling

Speed may accelerate output, but the fuel that powers successful AI is data. Karen Wood, CMO of Treasure Data, highlighted the paradox—to be more human at scale, brands need better machines. “The challenge is, how do you authentically engage with each consumer?” Wood asked. “The irony is that the way to do that is through AI, so through artificial intelligence, we’re actually putting the power in the hands of marketers to scale up what that one-to-one personalization can look like.”

Rafa Flores, chief product officer at Treasure Data, added that this data-driven speed allows for a “fail fast” mentality. “I think storytelling is all about innovation. Storytelling is about meeting the moment. So a lot of the brands we work with, you have to innovate to meet the moment.” To do that, Flores explained, AI lets brands experiment quickly, making it easier—and less risky—to try new ideas and fail fast.

“Because of that, you are more willing to take a risk and say, ‘Well, if it fails, it fails. But it was five minutes of my day. I’m cool with that,’” Flores said.

Bryson Shellito, head of marketing operations at Lucid Motors, shared how his team uses AI to quickly refresh creative assets and surface real-time performance insights, allowing them to focus on big campaigns while continually improving content through a feedback loop.

“This creates a feedback loop where we can get insights in real time,” Shellito explained. Instead of hemming and hawing over subjective details in a specific asset, we’re trying to create a learning loop to make our assets better and evolve and progress over time.”

Lucid Motors' Bryson Shellito — Lucid Motors’ Bryson Shellito

Human instinct remains essential

Despite the technology, the panel agreed that human instinct remains non-negotiable. Elizabeth O’Brien, senior executive of sports and entertainment sponsorship marketing at IBM, emphasized that AI should handle the data so humans can handle the heart.

“Using AI judiciously helps you to free up to do the things that only humans can do,” O’Brien said. She noted that while AI writes race recaps, “there’s another section of the app where people can message the drivers or the team, and the team messages them back, and there’s no AI there.”

Kristina Windham, executive brand advisor for Milk Makeup, stressed that human oversight is vital when selecting brand partners. “I consistently task our teams to think through utilizing AI as we’re talking about influencers and community,” she said. Windham added that while AI can help surface potential talent, brands are deeply sensitive by nature—so humans must make the final call to preserve authenticity and keep the brand narrative aligned with its true north star.

Transparency is the future of brand ownership

Just as with most conversations around AI, the focus turned to trust. McGuire noted that consumers are savvy, and honesty about AI use is the best policy. “It really comes down to intent,” he said. “If your intent is to try to fool people, then you’re going to get caught, right? If your intent is to tell a story in a way that makes sense to utilize AI, be transparent about it.”

Lazer agreed, pointing out that owning AI use can be a strength. “If a brand is transparent about it, it actually greatly increases trust in the brand,” he concluded.

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