Goal: To help creative leaders recognize the cultural shift that’s already underway, which calls for a renewed focus on authentic brand experiences, and to challenge the growing reliance on AI as a shortcut for creativity and connection.
Audience: Creative leaders across industries who are responsible for shaping brand experience, building teams, and navigating shifting expectations from both consumers and executives.
Why this matters: We are living through a fundamental shift in consumer behavior, where connection, meaning, and trust are valued more than ever. But too many businesses are responding to economic pressure by doubling down on shortcuts like AI-driven content, instead of investing in real brand equity. Creative leaders must champion a return to authenticity as a core practice rather than treating it as a surface-level tactic. This is how we help brands survive and thrive in this new era.
The party is officially over.
Budgets are shrinking. Company layoffs are the norm. Leaders are scrambling to deliver profits. And this isn’t just limited to tech. Every industry is feeling the pinch.
The formative years of my career were spent in the tech industry, where I had a front-row seat as companies chased the “growth over profits” playbook popularized by Amazon and Uber. This was all enabled by cheap capital in the form of near-zero-percent interest loans, made possible by the Great Recession of 2008 as well as the 2020 pandemic. It was truly a time of scaling fast and worrying about profits later.
Like a trust-fund kid whose parents suddenly cut them off, the cheap capital has now run out, and any tech company not part of the FAANG acronym is scrambling to figure out how to operate in this new landscape.
Considering all this, it would be easy to think this dramatic shift is just the result of a financial correction. But what if it is instead the result of a cultural one?
The simple fact is this: Consumers have evolved, and so have their needs. And, this isn’t just affecting tech; it’s happening everywhere.
“Consumers have evolved, and so have their needs. And, this isn’t just affecting tech; it’s happening everywhere.”
After Amazon and the adoption of digital devices, we were certain that traditional book stores were dead, but Barnes & Noble has plans to open 60 new stores in 2025. Even with the prevalence of streaming music, vinyl records continue to thrive. And, despite the cost, live concert attendance is growing. Remember when The Era’s Tour was the hottest ticket in town?
Let’s also not forget about the local strip malls sitting half empty, while outdoor lifestyle centers (like this space in my hometown) are consistently packed with families, couples, and young people.
The point is, this trend isn’t limited to tech. Consumers are not passive. They are actively seeking authentic, high-quality experiences. They want connection and purpose, and the old playbook of marketing for scale, sameness, and surface-level metrics just does not cut it anymore.
I’ve been referring to this new period as The Great Contraction. In retrospect, this period was as inevitable as it is unfortunate. Companies ballooned on cheap capital and when the well dried up, people lost their jobs (myself included). I think we can all agree that this sucks, but the part that is becoming increasingly painful to watch are companies pinning all their hopes on AI as their savior in these bleak times.
They are missing the proverbial forest through the trees. They think AI will save them from addressing the real issue here, and (you guessed it) it won’t.
AI scales the past. It can’t imagine the future.
No one would argue that AI is here to stay. It’s a generational technological game changer. I personally love it, and use it daily. But, the reality is that whatever AI model you use is, they’ve all been trained on historical data. This isn’t to say that there aren’t individuals and companies out there using AI to do some very impressive things artistically. But, we all know that there also are a lot of people using these tools to create sloppy, half-baked content (John Oliver did a great segment recently on AI slop).
The point being, companies today in response to The Great Contraction are turning to AI as their great panacea and are, in fact, bringing the wrong solution to the wrong problem. Don’t get me wrong, AI has a lot to offer the creative process. What it most certainly doesn’t have is taste, or an intuition that has been honed over years absorbing what resonates with people—great experiences, unexpected moments of joy or laughter, awkward conversations that fall flat, or those moments of clarity in the noise. These thousands of moments woven into the texture of life that most people miss, but us creatives are acutely attuned to (for better or worse 😉). AI models may have absorbed vast amounts of data, but it still doesn’t know what moves people.
Audiences aren’t craving more of the same. They’re craving something that feels real.
Bloomberg recently reported that “global influencer marketing spend is projected to grow 36% between 2024 and 2025, reaching $33 billion.” In a time where marketing spend is contracting, this continued growth is very telling.
This move isn’t just about ROI, but a recognition of the very real value of the authentic connections created by these influencers with their audiences. In the last 2 years, the popular podcasts Smartless and Call Her Daddy both sold for well over $100 million each. The signal here is clear: audiences are clamoring for authentic experiences, and some companies are finally catching on, willing to invest big on creators who’ve built real relationships with their audiences.
“Here’s the hard truth: authenticity can’t be faked. It can’t be rushed. It has to be built from within, not just bolted on.”
Authenticity as a practice, not just a tactic.
Here’s the hard truth: authenticity can’t be faked. It can’t be rushed. It has to be built from within, not just bolted on. It’s not a finishing touch you sprinkle on later. It is the strategy.
Think of the most authentic person you know. They don’t compromise to fit in. They aren’t worried about appealing to everyone. They have a deep understanding of who they are, and that’s what draws people in.
Businesses must do the same. They must abandon this dated notion of scaling at any cost or appealing to everyone. Instead, connect with their purpose, and have that consistently inform their decisions. This not only takes discipline. It takes courage, especially when trust takes time to build, and the ROI may not be immediate.
In a world full of AI hacks and shortcuts, the long game is the only play.
Zig when most everyone is set to zag.
The Wrap Up
The cheap cashflow days of the early aughts had caused brands to focus more on scale over connection, while leading consumers to crave more authentic brand experiences. Now, in this period of the Great Contraction, many businesses believe AI will help save them from themselves.
The only path forward is to abandon the old playbook of short term wins, and shift to a mindset of long-term growth through authentic brand experiences. But, authenticity doesn’t just happen. It doesn’t just take time and consistency. It demands accountability.
It means businesses holding themselves accountable to what and who they say they are. It’s not just a catchy tagline, or a slightly edgier social media post. It’s a commitment. It’s an understanding that this will take time, discipline, and a fair bit of courage.
“Businesses that don’t evolve in this new age of authenticity will be choosing the same path as those old, vacant, strip malls. Faded relics of a different era, forgotten by consumers who have moved.”
Businesses that don’t evolve in this new age of authenticity will be choosing the same path as those old, vacant, strip malls. Faded relics of a different era, forgotten by consumers who have moved on.
This change will not be easy. Especially in a world full of short-cuts and hacks. But for the businesses and creative leaders willing to do the hard work. There has never been a better time to build something real, because that’s exactly what people are looking for.