We Need a Better Boat
Good news: There’s a button you can push to do all of your work.
Bad news: It’s going to keep going until you have no more work to do.
And let’s be honest—we’re all thinking about this, right? I can feel the quiet panic. Three months ago, AI creative output was laughable. Now? It’s getting better. Scarily better. We’ve spent years honing our craft. And now the ship is—well, let’s call it leaking.
To quote Parker Posey: “I just don't think, at this age, that I'm meant to live an uncomfortable life.”
Same.
So I’m brainstorming ways to stay relevant, stay paid, stay me, without losing my soul (or my home). So far, here’s what I’ve come up with. But first, full disclosure: In 1999, I convinced my art partner not to buy Google stock because “It was just a stupid search engine.” (I’m sorry, Chris.) So… take this as you will.
What’s shifting isn’t our value. It’s the shape of our contribution.
The creatives who survive won’t be the ones who come up with “big ideas.” They’ll be the ones who build systems where big ideas can scale, adapt, and evolve—for a million different people in a millionth of a second.
That’s the shift—from Creative to Creative Architect.
A Creative Architect still writes. Still concepts. Still gets to reply, I’m a writer… no, not books—TV commercials.”
But they also:
Think in idea ecosystems, not just one-offs
Design messaging systems that AI can remix without losing meaning
Write for real-time, shifting journeys—not static personas
Build modular content that flexes for tone, time, and context
How I’m Starting the Shift
I’m learning how to think in ecosystems, not just ideas. I’m asking:
What mindset am I meeting?
What comes before and after this moment?
How does this message evolve across the journey?
Think Lego, not pyramid.
Break content into modular blocks:
Multiple headlines for different moods
CTAs that shift in tone
Stories that expand or contract emotionally
Partner with AI.
Not to replace the work, but to expand the edge of it:
Explore alternate tones and voices
Pressure-test ideas across different personas
Generate emotional variants that adapt situationally
Build a Creative OS.
A toolkit I can pull from per brand and campaign:
Voice matrices
Modular messaging frameworks
Reusable narrative patterns
“If-then” logic for adaptive content
Ask Better Questions
Don’t ask “Is this a good idea?”
Ask ”How does this idea scale? How does it flex? How does it live across touchpoints without losing the idea?”
If I had bought Google stock in 1999, I wouldn’t be worrying about any of this. I’d just buy a boat. Alas, I did not invest in Google. So I’m going to have to build the boat myself.