Speaking to Advertising: Who Cares? podcast host Brian Jacobs, Lucy Jameson makes a compelling case for human ingenuity. “AI will suck in all the old data and go, ‘This is what path you should follow if you want to do the same as everybody else,’” says the Uncommon founder. “But if you need to reimagine your brand and business, then you’re going to have to have people who can break out of that AI-driven reversion to the mean and do something different and more creative.”

In a conversation that pulls no punches, Jameson lays out the growing dichotomy facing advertising today. As AI tools proliferate, the temptation to standardize, automate and scale is only increasing. But in that pursuit lies a danger: the commoditization of creativity.

“You’re going to see a sort of bifurcation in the industry,” she predicts. “There are going to be a load of businesses that are there to use AI just to kind of fill the funnel and crank out more of the same. And then there are going to be those clients, those businesses who are all about trying to do something different and beat the average.”

This divide isn’t just hypothetical. For Jameson, it’s already shaping the agency landscape. On one side, she sees data-driven, capability-led agencies leaning heavily into AI for speed, volume and cost savings. On the other, studios such as Uncommon are pushing for distinctiveness, emotional impact and what she calls “disproportionate fame.”

“The industry is facing a fork in the road. You can either do everything cheaply, and that’s the return you can expect, or you can think about it a bit harder, do things differently, and you’ll expect outsized returns,” she tells Jacobs.

AI: great for production, average at originality

Jameson is quick to clarify she’s no AI skeptic. At Uncommon, the tech is already integrated into the production pipeline, especially for performance-driven campaigns. For British Airways, for instance, Uncommon uses AI to generate over 350 dynamically priced ads a month, tailored to context and location.

“We’ll use it in production for something like that, but we’ll also use it in really creative ways,” she says. One standout example is an AI-generated art exhibition for the World Wildlife Fund, where classic landscape painters such as Constable were reimagined to show environmental futures based on action or inaction. The result? A physical exhibition, media coverage and fresh cultural relevance for a legacy NGO.

But while AI can extend and enhance creative execution, Jameson is adamant it can’t originate standout ideas. “We’ve seen that there’s been some testing on AI and how it performs and it performs almost exactly in line with the average of a sector,” she says. “If you want to hire us, we’ll do something that’s going to beat the average and do something that’s really going to stand out. And I think that’s the future of creativity.”

Her concern is that AI's strength – pattern recognition and replication – is also its creative weakness. It cannot surprise, subvert or emotionally engage in a way that makes advertising memorable. “Everything starts to look the same, sound the same, feel the same – and that’s when you notice, oh, that just didn’t quite sound real. It didn’t hit right. That’s when you want that craft.”

Creativity as a commercial advantage

For Jameson, the debate isn’t philosophical – it’s commercial. Fame, emotional connection and creativity aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re profit drivers. “There’s a lot of good data that shows that it’s the quickest way to drive disproportionate profit. It’s also really important if you’re wanting to charge a premium for your brand. You have to do stuff that feels different and more exciting.”

She cites brand extensions, new product development and pricing power as areas where emotional capital and brand fame offer real leverage. “If you’re not generating fame, your brand is just going to sink to the average. You’re not going to be able to charge more for it; it’s not going to be selling more and you will start to sink without a trace.”

This belief underpins Uncommon’s approach. Clients come to the studio not just for campaigns but for transformation. From British Airways to ITV to EA Sports, Uncommon is typically brought in at inflection points – new leadership, business model change or post-crisis reinvention.

And it’s not just about external messaging. Internal culture is fair game, too. Jameson talks of building creative ideas that extend across the full brand experience – from onboarding emails to safety videos to lounge menus. “Strong brand ideas can – and should – influence internal culture and colleague engagement, not just customer communications,” she argues.

The middle is being hollowed out

Jameson sees a future where the agency world is polarized: mass-scale, AI-driven commoditized output versus high-craft, premium creativity. “There won’t be these people in the middle. There’ll be the people just using tech, data, AI and running everything through a machine. Then there’ll be the top-end of highly crafted creative.”

That future places pressure on agencies to sharpen their value proposition. As Jameson sees it: “We have to be really good at what we do. Otherwise, we’re going to get eaten alive by AI.”

The bigger question, perhaps, is whether clients will be willing to invest in that level of craft. As AI normalizes low-cost creative output, the premium side of the market must not only prove its value but continually reinvent it.

The industry, Jameson believes, can no longer sit on the fence. It’s time to choose a side.

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