Nat Wilkes

Most of the time at Ars Thanea, we focus on helping visionary creatives build their legacies by creating iconic brands. Our role in that process is creative production. But experimentation has always been an important part of how we work. Many ideas that later appear in production start as small side explorations. Quite often, they seem completely unrelated to the work we do in the studio. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with something slightly different: a fully on-chain digital artwork series called [self]FULL_CIRCLE. It’s a collection of five interconnected digital artworks about decisions, regret, and the alternate paths we keep replaying in our heads. Each piece is generated entirely on the blockchain and changes in response to decisions made by the token owner. The artwork itself exists as a system written in code rather than a static rendered file. The technical side of the project was flawlessly executed by our own Jakub Grobelny. At first glance, it may seem far from creative production. In reality, it explores a similar question: what happens when visuals are no longer just exported images or videos, but living systems that can evolve over time, respond to interaction, and even be owned or verified on-chain as a single source of truth. In my experience, some of the best ideas tend to emerge when we allow ourselves to drift a little farther downstream rather than constantly trying to swim upstream. Here you can check the collection: https://lnkd.in/d5UtzuHV And here's the ETH contract: https://lnkd.in/d-sFNmTN

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Working with AI tools can feel like a wrestling match, maddening and incredibly frustrating at times. But when you zoom out and really see what’s happening, it’s also liberating, opening doors for creatives everywhere to realize their visions. We recently launched a new podcast series, Creative Vibes, exploring AI and the creative craft. As part of Made with Lenovo Yoga and powered by AMD, we’re untangling the creative process around AI with artist Alexia Adana as our brilliant host. This latest episode with filmmaker Matt Zien is a real must-listen. You can find the series on YouTube and Spotify, links below! #notboring #advertising #creativity #ai SUPERHEROES Thanks Archit Mardia Wahid Razali Lenovo + AMD & all heroes!

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Hello LinkedIn friends and happy Tuesday! There’s a delicious irony at the heart of advertising right now. The industry that has spent decades perfecting the art of emotional storytelling, of making people feel something, is rushing headlong into a technology that, so far, tends to produce content that feels like nobody felt anything at all when they made it. Welcome to the tension between AI in advertising and the one thing no algorithm has cracked: genuine human connection. The numbers tell a striking story. According to a recent IAB study conducted with Sonata Insights, 83% of ad executives now say their company has deployed AI in the creative process, up from 60% the year before. Meanwhile, on the consumer side, trust is heading in the opposite direction. Kantar’s Media Reactions 2025 found that only 31% of people worldwide say social media ads capture their attention, which is a significant drop from 43% in 2024. More content, less connection. That’s the trap brands are falling into. Read more about it in this week's blog post. https://lnkd.in/ed6mnaZv

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We’ve entered the era of manufactured authenticity. ⭐ Brands talk like people. ⭐ People act like brands. Everyone’s “real,” and nothing feels real anymore. In the race to look relatable, brands have learned to stage imperfection — messy captions, blurred photos, “unedited” campaigns that took 12 hours to art direct. The result? Audiences don’t trust “authenticity” anymore. They trust consistency. Luxury, hospitality, and culture brands need to understand this: ✔️ Authenticity isn’t a style — it’s a behavior. ✔️ You can’t design it. You can only prove it, over time. In 2025, the brands that will stand out aren’t the loudest or most “human.” They’ll be the ones that stay real when nobody’s watching. 👉 Do you think “authenticity” has lost its meaning in branding? #BrandStrategy #LuxuryBrands #Marketing #CulturalInsight #DesignThinking #CreativeLeadership

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Before joining an agency as a Creative Look at the number of designations that exist between the CD and the CCO. It should tell you two things: 1. How many stakeholders will need to be aligned before one 'new thinking' piece sees the light of the day. 2. Is the focus on growth or creating a perception of growth. Designations like Associate ECD, Sr. ECD, Group ECD are some examples of faux next levels created with the intent of retaining talent and the status quo. This in no way means, do not join the said place. IF YOU GET AN OFFER GRAB IT WITH DEAR LIFE! But be aware of the kind of creative culture you are stepping into. Structures are telling. Listen, and calibrate your expectations. Good luck! #Advertising #Marketing #Culture #Hierarchy

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Yes. Yes. And yes. Don't overcomplicate this stuff. "[Big picture advertisers] know one big thing: People are much more likely to buy brands that are famous. So they create broadly appealing advertising and put it in front of as many people as they can. Then they stand back and let probability do its work."

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The industry has a problem it's not talking about. AI is replacing entry-level work. Agencies are hiring fewer juniors. The traditional path from junior to senior is disappearing. So where does the next generation of senior talent come from? You can't automate judgment. You can't prompt your way to experience. The skills that make someone valuable at a senior level come from years of seeing what works, what breaks, and why. If agencies stop developing junior talent because AI is cheaper, they're eliminating their own future workforce. I don't have the answer yet. But pretending it's not happening won't solve it.

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The Myth of More Digital promised us freedom. Unlike traditional ATL, where every extra scene or billboard cost real money, digital said: “Go wild.” More formats? Sure. More product points? No problem. More executions? Bring it on. And we did. We filled timelines, banners, carousels, and stories with everything. Everything the product does. Everything we want the consumer to know. Everything we could possibly say. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: More isn’t always better. More is often just... more. Audiences don’t owe us their attention. They skim. They scroll. They move on in seconds. Literally. Meta’s own data shows we get about 2.5 seconds on desktop, and even less on mobile. Nielsen Norman Group says users rarely read online—they glance, they scan, they bounce. And WARC found that single-minded digital ads consistently outperform those trying to say five things at once. So why do we keep stuffing our campaigns with more? Because we can. Because digital made it easy. Because saying everything feels safer than choosing one thing and standing by it. But clutter isn’t strategy. Complexity doesn’t equal creativity. And in a world of endless scroll, the best way to cut through… is to focus. One strong idea, clearly executed, will always beat a wall of noise. Less isn’t a constraint. It’s an advantage. Less isn’t boring. It’s brave. Less is more. Still. Always. Especially now.

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The next post in The Positioning Lie series is up. I see it time and time again: brands reduced to just their surface identity. Real difference comes when purpose, mission, and values lead the story. Brands that clearly define what they believe, how they deliver it, and why it matters, and then carry that into the market with conviction, are the ones that lead with purpose and make a real impact. https://lnkd.in/dD2mv2Yp

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Augmented reality, outer space, original characters, backstories (on the backs of chip bags, no less), animated spots and an Outlaw named HANGRY - helping create this disruptor brand from the ground up has been a dream project for sure. The most exciting part is that it's working - 57% sales lift during media flights (2x the growth in non-media markets), link click benchmark exceeded by 157%, and 7,599 store locator conversions over a 4-week window. Check out more at https://lnkd.in/gB__BAHQ #snacks #branding #augmentedreality #disruptor

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Zoic Studios' fresh new Toyota campaign, partnering with Burrell Communications, Reset Content, & director Wes Walker to create custom Unreal Engine environments for a volume shoot, along with CG vehicles, fully digital environments, and visual effects that brought their expansive vision to life.

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Bringing outside clarity can be like therapy to a brand. Rob Monacelli talks about the 7-step process he uses to help brands understand the narrative they are in/on, where they play, and how they can go where they want to go next.

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Advertising is all about finding the right target, using the right tactic, waiting for the right opportunity to make your presentation, and going as far as you can to make a connection. Same holds true for fly fishing.

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3D, when fully integrated into a branding studio, stops functioning as decoration. It becomes an operational layer: forms, materials, lighting, and spatial logic are validated in real conditions from the outset. Rebranding shifts from hypothesis to projection. Decisions accelerate because the brand is experienced, not imagined. The result: identities that are structurally coherent, testable, and immediately legible in their final environment. #3D #CGI #BrandDesign #Rebranding #VisualIdentity #LookDevelopment #DesignPipeline #MotionDesign #ProductViz Studio Sketch

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Calling all designers. As an American and a creative, I am pretty stoked to see great design coming from our government. https://ndstudio.gov/ https://realfood.gov/ https://trumprx.gov/ But Politics aside, let's look at the historical context of great design. Nazi Germany Arguably the most comprehensive and chilling example of design as state power. The Nazis understood branding at a level that wouldn't be matched in corporate America for decades: • Visual totality: Unified design language across everything—uniforms, architecture, rallies, propaganda posters, even typefaces. They banned certain fonts and promoted Fraktur (ironically later abandoning it). Every visual element reinforced the brand. • Albert Speer's architecture: Monumental neoclassical designs meant to communicate permanence and power for a "thousand-year Reich." The Nuremberg rally grounds were essentially branded experiences at massive scale. • Leni Riefenstahl's films: Triumph of the Will wasn't just propaganda—it was cinematically innovative branded content that influenced filmmaking for generations. • Symbolism: The swastika became one of history's most recognizable symbols through relentless, coordinated deployment. The system worked because every touchpoint—from Hitler Youth uniforms to postage stamps—told the same story. It's a horrifying case study in how design creates emotional belonging and normalizes ideology. Soviet Union Constructivism and Socialist Realism created one of the most distinctive government design languages: • Early Soviet constructivism: Revolutionary graphic design (El Lissitzky, Rodchenko) that was genuinely innovative—bold typography, photomontage, diagonal compositions suggesting dynamism and progress. • Socialist Realism: Later shift to heroic, idealized imagery of workers, soldiers, and leaders. Consistent across posters, murals, sculpture, and architecture. • Monumental architecture: Stalin's "Seven Sisters" skyscrapers in Moscow, metro stations as "palaces for the people" with chandeliers and mosaics. • Consistent iconography: Hammer and sickle, red star, wheat sheaves—symbols deployed with absolute consistency. Maoist China China under Mao created perhaps the most saturated propaganda environment in history: • Little Red Book: Product design meets ideology—portable, ubiquitous, visually distinctive. • Propaganda posters: Heroic workers and peasants in bold colors, consistent style that created a visual monoculture. • Cultural Revolution aesthetics: Red Guards, revolutionary opera, model communes—every aspect of culture became branded content. • Personality cult: Mao's image reproduced billions of times, creating omnipresent "brand ambassador." It's probably just a coincidence, right?

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Most legacy ad agencies, as we know them, will not exist. Not because creativity died. But because creativity escaped. Because the value was never in the holding company. It was in the people the creatives, strategists, technologists, makers, and doers. And now those people are smart enough to build their own shops, their own IP, their own revenue, and their own client relationships. We don’t need 14 layers of approvals. We don’t need bloated overhead. We don’t need a C-suite that takes all the upside while the makers get none. By 2030, I predict 40–60% of traditional agencies will either: merge into a single holding-co “super shop,” collapse quietly, or become skeleton crews that mostly sell outsourced execution. Meanwhile? Creators, independents, and micro-agencies will own the work. Clients are already waking up to this. Why hire a holding company with 6 meetings, 20 opinions, and a $300K deck… when you can call the person who actually made the award-winning idea and get real work, real fast, directly from the source? The future is direct-to-creator. The future is lean, intelligent, AI-powered creative shops built by people who actually understand culture and technology. The future is HI – Human Intelligence, not legacy bureaucracy. Cindy Gallop said it perfectly on next week’s episode of Second Wind with Kerrie Finch: “Get the f__k out.” She wasn’t talking about abandoning creativity. She was talking about abandoning a system that no longer deserves the people who built it. So here’s my message to every client reading this: **If you want real ideas, real speed, and real results… Hire the person not the logo. Hire the mind not the machine. Hire the creative not the corporate ladder.** By 2030, the agencies that survive will be the ones built by actual creators, not holding companies protecting outdated overhead. And the ones who don’t evolve? Well… They’ll be gone. Just like the millions they paid out to the C-suite while the talent walked out the door.

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Want to scale? Start by syncing your brand’s visuals, voice, and vibe. If those three aren’t aligned, you’re bleeding trust and repelling conversions. Visuals are what people see: your design, photos, branding, grid, slides. Voice is what they hear: your tone, message, clarity, personality. Vibe is what they feel: your confidence, energy, authority. When they don’t match, people hesitate. When they do match, people buy faster and trust deeper. So if your brand looks polished but sounds unsure, or your voice is fire but your design looks like 2013... guess what? You’ve got brand friction. And friction kills conversions. Here’s how to fix it: 1. Audit like you didn’t build it. Scroll your socials and website like you’re a cold lead. Would you buy from you? Would you even follow? 2. Lead with clarity, not Canva. If your message is muddy, it doesn’t matter how pretty your content is. Clarity converts. Period. 3. Energy over aesthetics. People buy how you make them feel. Show up like you believe in your offer, on video, in writing, on sales calls. 4. Stop blending in. Brand templates are tools, not personality replacements. If your brand sounds like everyone else’s, it won’t be remembered. Scaling isn’t about doing more. It’s about syncing your presence so the right people trust you faster. The energy you lead with is either attracting money or repelling it. Choose alignment. If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t sound like you or sell for you, start here. Grab my free guide: 5 Quick Fixes to Clean Up Your LinkedIn Profile and start syncing your visuals, voice, and vibe, right where it matters most. ➡️

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Last week our team spent a day at Meta’s headquarters digging into some of their new AI tools for building creative briefs. The newest tech is helping generate storylines and angles based on what’s trending across the platform. Pretty cool to see in action. But what really stood out wasn’t the tool itself, it was how much human brainpower it still required. The Meta team kept coming back to the phrase “Human in the Loop”... the idea that AI only works when guided and refined by people who understand the brand, the audience, and what makes an idea actually resonate. That clicked for me right away. It’s exactly how our teams who are excelling with AI are using it. It’s not about replacing creative talent, it’s about giving them a boost. Here are a few takeaways I think matter for creative teams right now: • Start with strategy, not prompts. You still need a clear brief and a real understanding of what you’re trying to say. AI can’t give you that. •Use AI for breadth, humans for depth. Let it help you explore more directions faster, then apply your own instincts to focus on what’s worth chasing. • Edit like an expert. The output is just the raw clay. The value comes from how we shape it, combine it, and make it feel human. AI can speed up the brainstorm, but it still takes people to turn ideas into something that hits.

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