Google’s Suzana Apelbaum on Cutting Edge Creativity
Creativity at the cutting edge of technology is where Suzana Apelbaum lives. As the head of innovation and creativity in the US for Google, she’s immersed in the latest developments in artificial intelligence, unlocking the rapidly developing tech to transform their own processes. So it’s a fascinating year to be on the executive jury at the international MAD STARS awards in Busan, South Korea, where it’s all about uncovering those big, game-changing ideas that can only be described as ‘mad’. Here she discusses what she’s been working on, how she thinks AI will inform the jury room discussions and her secret to bold, culture-shaping ideas.
LBB> Tell us about some of the ‘Mad’ ideas that you and your creative team at Google Media Lab have been working on recently?
Suzana> In parallel to creating campaigns for Google Pixel phone, Google Search and Google Shopping, we’ve been focused on unlocking the power of AI to supercharge strategic and creative processes. We’ve been developing new internal tools based on Gemini that have been proving to not only accelerate these processes but also improve them, inspiring us in new ways that help lead to better and more unexpected ideas.
Some examples: We are exploring how AI can help us build better briefings, how it can help surface cultural trends faster so brands can more easily move at the speed of culture, and also how it can help marketers and agencies in their creative brainstorming processes.
LBB> There’s so much happening in the wider Google ecosystem right now, from the gradual retirement of cookies to the launch of Gemini. Which developments are shaping and influencing the way your creative teams are working and the sort of big challenges they’re taking on (and big ideas they’re coming up with)?
Suzana> Beyond starting to incorporate tools like the ones mentioned above in our processes, we’ve been seeing how automation and Gen AI have been helpful in media planning, buying, pre-testing, and in generating a huge variety of assets in a fraction of time and with a significantly lower cost.
Creative variety is often a key driver for better performance, and historically it’s been a major challenge for the industry as it’s difficult, slow and costly to deliver on it.
Counting on AI and automation to more efficiently do these tasks means we’ve been able to focus more on the strategic and “handcrafted” creative parts, which require uniquely human craftsmanship/artistry, and which I personally find the most interesting ones.
In the creative part, specifically, the AI models for generation of images, videos, texts and audios have been accelerating significantly the production process; and that means the time we’re saving on the that phase, we can use to further polish the ideas, come up with new ones, and to further refine the executions.
The increased ability to create a huge variety of assets also means that as creatives we need to start thinking of campaign storylines that can flex across infinite possibilities of contextual targeting.
LBB> What’s the key to creating and enabling the creation of those ideas that are truly bold and culture shaping?
Suzana> The key for that is to have a constant pulse on what’s happening in culture in real time and have a structure in place to be able to respond to current events with agility - though always in ways that are authentic to the brand.
For bold ideas, the key is to not only have great insights, but also a great partnership between agency and client; a relationship of trust, and mainly one where there’s openness and support to take risks.
LBB> And when you’re judging, what are your criteria for identifying those ‘Mad’ ideas?
Suzana> A first criteria is if it made me feel something special, if it sparked some emotion - if it made me laugh, cry, be angry, jealous, think deeper.
Then I look at the challenge the campaign was trying to solve and see if the creative approach to it was somehow unexpected or fresh - and how deeply it connects to the brand’s identity and ethos.
And then I take in consideration if the campaign was able to have an impact/ touch and engage people who it didn’t intend to. Usually a powerful campaign idea extrapolates the world of advertising and makes its way into culture in a natural way.
LBB> How crucial is diversity and representation when it comes to building a culture that can nurture these bold 'MAD' ideas?
Suzana> It’s absolutely critical. There’s a tremendous richness and light in the exchange of thoughts among diverse people, which is what allows seeds of ideas to grow into highly interesting, relevant and connecting ideas.
A team culture without diversity and proper representation creates work that reflects just that.
LBB> The big story this year is AI - what sort of challenges and discussions will this bring up in the jury room?
Suzana> I’m also curious to find out more about that in this jury!
One point of discussion might be around the ethics and taste of campaigns that tap into AI to recreate the voices and images of individuals who are no longer with us. I’ve seen many of those executions being quite impactful, but some that are borderline creepy or cross a delicate line between celebrating and exploring a persons’ legacy.
Another point of discussion might be around campaigns that used AI just for the sake of this tech’s novelty, versus the ones which had a great idea that naturally landed itself to have AI as a genuine enabler of its execution.
LBB> MAD STARS is all about the big ideas - how do you think AI will change the sort of big, mad ideas we’ll see in the future?
Suzana> I think it’ll impact more profoundly the craft of the big ideas vs the ideas specifically.
We’ll likely see more campaigns with an insane level of craft, with a higher level of contextual relevance, and tapping into the facilitated possibility of scalability (examples: Cadbury on Diwali, Burger King’s One Million Dollar JJJWhopper).
AI will for sure empower creatives to get to better ideas faster. But ultimately defining THE big idea will continue taking uniquely human sensibility, taste and artistry.
LBB> Aside from AI, what spaces are you finding to be the richest and most interesting seams to explore for innovation inspiration right now?
Suzana> I find dynamic OOH (placements that allow interactions based on real time signals like time of day, weather and location) a fascinating canvas that has untapped opportunities to be further connected to the context around it.
Also AR is also a rich territory for innovation, given its ever evolving ability to provide magical and relevant experiences for consumers.
