Why creativity still matters when algorithms are marketing’s first audience

Award shows, like D&AD, night schools and creative education remain critical, not nostalgic argues D&AD global ambassador and Australian brand and growth strategist Patrick Guerrera (Image supplied)

“If algorithms are increasingly deciding which expression reaches which person, then creative excellence becomes more important, not less.

“The job of the creative industry is no longer just to make one perfect campaign; it is to build distinctive systems, diverse talent pipelines and creative cultures capable of producing range at speed,” he says.

The Intelligence Layer

Guerrera also has a distinct point of view on how modern brands need to be built: not as static identity systems or one-off campaigns, but as growth systems where brand design, brand marketing and performance marketing compound together.

Travelling to South Africa to work with Standard Bank on brand systems, performance marketing and growth explains his thesis, called The Intelligence Layer.

“The Intelligence Layer argues that most marketing organisations are still running a broken engine.”

Brand teams build meaning, he says, but are often treated as overhead.

“Performance teams drive measurable clicks but can cannibalise long-term brand equity.

“The commercial opportunity sits in reconnecting the two. The gap isn’t between brand and performance. It’s between integrated and siloed,” he says.

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Relevant in financial services

This is especially relevant in financial services, where trust, salience, conversion and lifetime value cannot be solved by media efficiency alone.

“The next generation of growth will belong to organisations that can build a strong brand core – meaning, proof, values, distinctive assets – and a large creative playground that gives algorithms enough variation to test, sequence and optimise without losing coherence,” says Guerrera.

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About Patrick Guerrera

His perspective is also shaped by his long-standing relationship with The Up&Up Group, where he worked closely with the business during his 16 years at M&C Saatchi, bringing together brand strategy, design systems and growth thinking across major client challenges.

He has also recently been appointed chief brand officer of FXTRADING.com, bringing his brand-performance thesis into a live fintech scale-up environment as the business expands globally.