It was my final year studying journalism at Rhodes University. The AAA School of Advertising had visited campus the day before, and I had missed them. But there it was: a crumpled flyer on the ground, advertising a world I did not yet know existed. I picked it up, went back to the flat I shared with a lecturer, fired up a dial-up modem and typed in the web address. In that moment, something opened. I realised there was this whole other world out there, and I wanted in.
I return to that story often because it captures something I have come to understand more clearly over time: the moments that reshape us tend to happen where a creative spark meets a technological enabler. A flyer. A modem. A connection. That is how transformation often begins, not with certainty, but with curiosity and the tools that help us follow it.
A divide we built in our own minds
Somewhere along the way, we taught ourselves to think of creativity and technology as separate disciplines belonging to separate people in separate rooms. Creatives on one side. Technologists on the other. Different languages, different assumptions, different ways of measuring value.
Part of the problem is that many creative businesses first encountered technology through data, measurement and reporting. These disciplines often felt as though they were there to inspect the work rather than enrich it. It did not feel like a partnership. It felt like scrutiny. So, naturally, many people in creative spaces recoiled.
However, the more I have reflected on it, the clearer it has become that this is a story we have told ourselves for so long that we have begun to mistake it for truth.
A partnership hiding in plain sight
Look around you. The sneakers on your feet, the phone in your hand, the pen on your desk; none of these things exist because of creativity or technology alone. That is what changed for me over the last few years. I started seeing this relationship everywhere. Not as an abstract business idea, but as the logic behind the objects, systems and experiences people use every day.
Someone thought about form, feeling, function and meaning. Then technology made that idea real, useful, scalable or lasting.
Why this matters now
That understanding is also what made Accenture Song feel like a natural next step for me. Years ago, I met someone from Accenture Interactive who described the work he was doing as building platforms and products that people could actually use. Not just campaigns that flash brightly and disappear, but things with form, function and endurance.
One of my deepest frustrations with traditional advertising has always been its disposable nature. We pour talent, time and energy into making something, and then, almost as quickly, it is gone. Yes, we build brands. Yes, ideas matter. But often you cannot point to something and say: we made that, and it is still standing, still serving, still being used.
There is a broader truth here too. The old advertising model has been under pressure for some time. Many of us have witnessed the cuts, retrenchments, and the slow erosion of certainty. So, the question is not whether the industry needs to evolve. It does. The real question is what kind of model can protect the value of creativity by connecting it to more enduring forms of business impact.
The challenge is integration
Of course, recognising that creativity and technology belong together is one thing. Building that reality inside organisations is another. Wherever these two cultures meet, there is usually friction at first.
That, to me, is the real task: not simply arguing that creativity and technology should work together, but creating the conditions in which they actually can. My role is not to force an artificial unity. It’s to help build the connection points, the bridges, and the shared spaces where collaboration becomes practical and productive. Because when those two worlds genuinely build together, something powerful happens. The work becomes richer, the value multiplies, and clients can see the difference.
The mindset shift
What gives me optimism is simple: creativity is not a trend. It is one of the oldest and most defining human capacities we have. It has always been with us, and it is not going anywhere. What needs to change is not whether we value creativity, but how we understand its relationship with technology. If we continue treating the two as separate, we limit both.
So, the shift I would ask of anyone reading this is a simple one: look again. Look at the objects, systems and experiences that shape your day. Almost everything of value in the modern world began as an idea and became real through technology. Creativity and technology were never enemies. We only imagined they were.
