Make sure you're excited by innovation, without just chasing the latest hype cycle

We interviewed Wesley ter Haar, curator of the last Festival ACD*E. 

Wesley ter Haar is the founder of Media.Monks, a global creative production powerhouse known for its comprehensive creative solutions, with 3,750+ employees in 40 locations across 31 countries. A recognized figure in the design industry, Wesley serves on Cannes Lions' juries, speaks at major conferences worldwide, and has been honoured with accolades including induction into the ADCN Hall of Fame and recognition on AdAge's Creativity All-Stars list in 2018. Ter Haar understands technological advances as a means to treat people empathetically, rather than as targets, and shares with us his vision of how they impact advertising and design today.

Reflecting on your experience, what crucial changes have you observed in the advertising and design landscape, and how have these shifts affected creativity and innovation?

We started media.monks more than 22 years ago, and if I have to define the most important element during that time, it’s the constant calibration between culture, consumer behaviors and channels. I’d say there is some level of “platonic ideal” for advertising and design, but in general the best work happens when you have a heightened focus and understanding on those variables, and how they intersect. For us, we often look at the channel first, so we can celebrate the relevant behaviors and culture there, and then focus on delivering work that hopefully elevates the space, makes it more fun or functional, and just has an innate respect for craft & quality.

As someone deeply involved in the digital realm, what emerging trends or technologies do you foresee reshaping the future of storytelling and consumer engagement?

It’s pretty clear that generative AI is going to change the customer experience massively, it’s a technology that allows us to get much closer to the original intent and promise of digital advertising & ecosystem. Being personal, in the moment, highly contextual & helpful, all goals our industry has talked about endlessly, but has struggled to make a reality. We’re at the start of a new wave of interfaces, interaction models and I think completely new ways to make creativity part of the consumer experience.

In your role, could you share an example of a project that particularly resonated with you and how it addressed challenges in today's market?

I really like a recent project our team in Italy launched for Sephora to support the Pangea ETS Foundation, mAI colpevoli. A series of films that use generative AI to show the prevalence off victim blaming in society. It’s a beautiful and powerful piece of work, but also opens up an interesting discussion around AI bias, and the importance of understanding that that will be part of models trained on so much human culture & conversation.

With the rapid evolution of consumer behaviours and preferences, how can creative agencies balance the need for innovation with the importance of creating content that genuinely connects with audiences?

That’s the constant balance, to make sure you’re excited by innovation, without just chasing the latest hype cycle. It’s very easy to move too early, or too late, but looking at some of our best work, it happened when we were able to capture a real shift in user behavior and expectation, using innovation to engage consumers in different ways. Not for the sake of innovation, but for the sake of giving them a new experience.