Ai, Influencers and Creativity With Rei Inamoto of I&CO

Welcome to a different particular episode of the Advertising and marketing Vanguard podcast. Immediately, our visitor is Rei Inamoto, founding accomplice at I&CO, a world innovation agency that helps manufacturers navigate change. 

Inamoto has been named amongst Creativity Journal’s annual Creativity 50, in addition to one of many Prime 25 Most Artistic Individuals in Promoting by Forbes. He shares his expertise rising up as an similar twin and the way it formed his artistic profession. He talks about his roles at R/GA and the beginning of the digital period within the late ‘90s. 

He additionally discusses the position of brand-side entrepreneurs in pushing companies to embrace new applied sciences and the rise of the creator economic system. 

Inamoto emphasizes the significance of experimentation and warning relating to utilizing synthetic intelligence in advertising. He additionally highlights how manufacturers like Nike and Apple face challenges in sustaining their inspirational creativity.

“Model-side entrepreneurs play an important position in driving innovation inside companies,” he says on the podcast. “They’re those who’ve a deep understanding of their model’s targets and may push companies to suppose exterior the field. By continually difficult companies to embrace new applied sciences and keep forward of the curve, brand-side entrepreneurs be certain that creativity and innovation stay on the forefront of the business.”

At I&CO, Inamoto helps shoppers simplify and break new floor. Because the founding accomplice and head of design, he’s a designer by commerce and a minimalist at coronary heart. Previous to founding his personal firm, Inamoto spent over 11 years at AKQA, a design and advertising company the place he was liable for delivering artistic options for the company’s high shoppers, together with Audi, Google, Nike, Xbox, and Verizon. 

Key takeaways:

07:48 Creativity Meets Expertise: The Epiphany — Inamoto displays on the pivotal moments that formed his artistic profession, starting together with his fascination with the web in faculty through the late ‘90s. The moment connection he skilled whereas reside chatting with a pal in Singapore impressed him to discover the intersection of expertise and creativity. Annoyed by the constraints of early digital instruments, he pursued a double main in nice artwork and laptop science, ultimately laying the muse for his skilled journey as a digital designer at R/GA.

14:10 How Nike Pushes Companies to Undertake New Applied sciences — Inamoto shares how Nike performed a pivotal position in reworking the advertising panorama by pioneering the idea of a digital company of report, difficult conventional promoting strategies. By means of collaborations with companies like Wieden+Kennedy, Nike pushed artistic boundaries, resulting in a brand new era of modern advertising. Their initiatives, reminiscent of Nike+FuelBand, Nike+, and Nike ID exemplified their affect in driving the business ahead. Nike’s influence prolonged past their very own model, as they helped redefine what was doable in advertising, making brand-side entrepreneurs key gamers in shaping the way forward for the business.

19:32 Navigating Advertising and marketing Evolution: From Digital to AI — Inamoto displays on the evolution of promoting over the previous few many years. Since launching their firm in 2016, Inamoto and his accomplice have targeted on serving to manufacturers navigate fixed change. He highlights the development from the digital period within the early 2000s to the cellular period post-iPhone in 2008 and the social media period from 2012 to 2022. Now, with the rise of AI, sparked by instruments like ChatGPT, he anticipates the same decade-long transformation from 2022 to 2032 as AI turns into more and more built-in into mainstream enterprise and advertising practices.

22:53 Recommendation to CMOs on Adopting AI in Advertising and marketing — Inamoto highlights the present challenges and alternatives of AI in advertising. Whereas AI presents thrilling new prospects for creativity and ideation, it stays an unproven space, significantly regarding copyright and authorized points. Inamoto advises manufacturers to experiment with AI within the early phases of artistic work however to strategy its use in closing executions with warning, given the continued authorized uncertainties surrounding AI instruments.

24:20 The Rise and Evolution of the Creator Financial system — New applied sciences have led to the democratization of creativity, like images and Photoshop that made artistic processes extra accessible. Inamoto acknowledges that whereas creators now have highly effective instruments and platforms to precise themselves and promote manufacturers, the position {of professional} creatives stays distinct. Creators deal with private expression, whereas creatives resolve particular issues for manufacturers. Regardless of similarities in output, the underlying intentions differ. Inamoto believes that whereas creators are worthwhile for model promotion, the strategic context offered by creatives is crucial for efficient model communication.