At a time when algorithms shape audience attention, and artificial intelligence enables almost anyone to create content, the question arises of what actually separates great brands from average ones today.
This is exactly what Radim Malinić, one of Europe’s best-known creatives, founder of the London studio Brand Nu, author of several internationally successful books and host of the podcast Daring Creativity, listened to in more than 160 countries, will speak about at this year’s Branding Conference.
On September 18, at Sarajevo’s Zetra, at the Branding Conference under the slogan “Brand New Control”, Malinić will speak about how to preserve brand identity in the era of artificial intelligence, hyperproduction of content and algorithms that increasingly dictate the rules of communication. In this interview, he reveals why he believes AI will not replace creatives, why many brands are voluntarily giving up their own identity and what will represent the greatest competitive advantage in the future.
Today, brands have more tools than ever before, but at the same time they seem increasingly similar. In the era of artificial intelligence and generative design, what today represents a true competitive advantage for creatives and brands?
The strange irony of today’s time is that, the more tools we have, the less recognizable the results are. This tells us one important thing: the tool was never the real competitive advantage. The real advantage today lies in the depth of conviction. A brand that has clearly defined what it believes in, why it exists and what it will never become will always stand out, regardless of what tools others have at their disposal. Brands that have long-term value do not compete over who has better capabilities, but over who has clearer convictions. That is exactly something artificial intelligence cannot generate, because it has never been taught that.
Many brands today optimize their content for social networks and platforms. Are they losing control over their own identity in that way?
I would not say they are losing it. I would say they are slowly exchanging it for something else, without even being aware of it. Optimization for platforms is very tempting because it offers numbers in exchange for meaning. You get reach, but you lose authenticity. The most successful brands use platforms as a distribution channel, not as a creative director. I always ask the same question: who is writing the creative brief? If the algorithm is writing it, then the brand has already given up control over its own identity. Control begins with the decision to remain the author of your own story, even when platforms punish you for it.
Artificial intelligence today enables almost anyone to create visuals, campaigns and content. When everyone can create, what remains in the hands of creatives?
What remains is the thing that excites me the most, and that is the ability to judge. Creatives were never just people who produce ideas. They were people who can look at something and say: “This is the truth of our brand.” Or: “This is not us.” That ability does not come from one AI prompt. It is created through years of experience, questioning, mistakes, choices and refinement. When creation becomes available to everyone, the greatest value will no longer be the ability to make something, but to know what is worth making and why. In my new book Daring Forever, I talk about what I call “permission”, the inner authority to trust your own instinct. That is exactly what remains indispensably human.
What will represent a greater competitive advantage in the future, the ability to create or the ability to make creative decisions?
Without a doubt, it will be decision-making. The process of creation itself will become faster, simpler and cheaper every year. But the decision of what to create, for whom, in the name of which conviction and for what reason will become increasingly valuable as the amount of content grows. The brands and creatives that will remain relevant will be those that develop what I call the Daring Forever mindset, the ability to recognize what is true, what is truly needed and what deserves to exist. You can get a visual with the help of AI tools. But you cannot prompt a clear position in the market.
This year’s Branding Conference carries the title “Brand New Control”. When we talk about control in contemporary branding, what is the most important thing to keep under one’s own control, regardless of technological changes?
There is only one thing that needs to be found and controlled, and that is truth. Not tone of voice guidelines. Not a standards book. Not visual identity, however important they may be. What must never be handed over to automation is the search for one’s own truth and the decision of how people will experience it. That is the work I return to in every project I work on. Finding truth is an act of courage, and creating truth is a craft. And both require a human being who is ready to go deep enough to find something truly worth saying. A brand that preserves its truth has preserved everything. The one that loses it no longer has anything to protect.
If you were launching a completely new brand today, what would you invest in first, design, content, community or something entirely different?
First of all, clarity. And immediately after that, a community of people who share the same convictions. I increasingly believe that the brands that will survive will not be those that gather the largest audience, but those that create the deepest sense of belonging. We already see this. Microplatforms with a clear, uncompromising voice gather like-minded people in ways that mass channels simply cannot replicate. When you know your truth and speak it without hesitation, you do not have to chase an audience, you will attract it. Design can wait. Content can develop. But that early community, gathered around something real, becomes living proof that your brand means something. It becomes what you hold on to when everything else changes. First understand the truth properly, then build a space for the right people, and the rest follows with a coherence that no budget can buy on its own.
Radim Malinić is only one of the major international names coming to Sarajevo for the Branding Conference this year. Early Bird registration fees can be secured until August 1, and all information about the conference, speakers and applications is available at www.branding.ba.
