Designing 2050: “Why Aren’t We Promoting Great Ideas as a Green Solution?”
From the cost-of-living crisis and war tensions, to climate change and more, there is too much doom and gloom surrounding the future. Without drastic change, experts claim that by 2050 millions could be without food, rising seas will wipe out cities across the globe, air pollution will be at lethal levels, technology will breach our privacy, cyberattacks will increase…the list goes on.
It's bleak, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Creative thinkers, advertisers and brand strategists have the ability to create real change. So, in this series, creative agency 2050 London calls for the creative industry to step forward and offer an optimistic view of what 2050 can be through positive visionary thinking and some crazy ideas that can change things.
To kick things off, LBB’s Sunna Coleman speaks with Sir John Hegarty who shares his greatest wish for 2050 and the best way to influence change.
LBB> What is your greatest wish for 2050?
Sir John Hegarty> I hope we achieve the ambition of the United Nations and to have a climate that's in balance. I think that would be one’s greatest wish because if we don't achieve that then I think humankind is in a very, very dangerous position.
LBB> What crazy, fun, creative business ideas do you have to help make that happen? Or ideas that are already out there gaining traction that you admire?
Sir John Hegarty> I am on a mission to get people to understand creativity, understand the value of creativity and how it is central to all of our lives because we're all creative. Creativity has the solutions to our problems.
I'm doing a series of lectures on creativity through Business of Creativity to help businesses understand that creativity is central to their existence and central to their survival. It is not something that you engage with occasionally. However, I think businesses are suspicious of creativity because they don't understand. My task is to get them to understand that they are creative and how to constantly engage with it. It not only enriches your business, but enriches your life, as well.
LBB> So what common misconceptions do you feel businesses have around creativity?
Sir John Hegarty> Well, I feel they think of creativity as an expensive add on and that it costs a lot of money. They think it’s unpredictable and don’t trust it. But the very act of starting a business is a creative act. You have to have an idea. You have to decide what it is you're going to do or produce. You have to name it, you have to define it. All these things use creativity. So understanding that helps people realise the value of creativity. Innovation is fundamental to any business at its core. It touches virtually everything that we do.
LBB> How can we influence more people to take action against climate change?
Sir John Hegarty> The more you inspire people, the more likely they are to listen and to be motivated by what you say. We've forgotten that aspect of communication - we've become obsessed with promotion over inspiration.
So the first thing I want people to do is help reframe the creative industry as a green industry. A great idea is more efficient than an average idea. It needs less energy to communicate so it is more sustainable. Great ideas reduce your global footprint because they're more effective.
We are drowning in average, and average needs more energy put behind it to succeed than a great idea. So why aren't we promoting great ideas as a green solution to the planet’s problems? We've got to start thinking of great creativity as a solution to the world's energy crisis. So if you're concerned about your global footprint, then why are you churning out average ideas that are being ignored?
LBB> How will the advent of AI shape the creative industry? What will the role of human creativity be?
Sir John Hegarty> AI is just another tool - like the computer is a tool or video is a tool. We don't really know how it's going to shape the industry but we do know it's going to be a very valuable tool. I think it's going to liberate people from the more mundane aspects of creativity.
People over-ascribe that it’s going to take over. It’s not. AI looks at what has been and suggests a different way of doing it. It’s based on the knowledge of what has been. Whereas human creativity more often than not focuses on what hasn’t been. Picasso didn’t paint Dora Maar because he had looked at portraits and thought I’m going to paint the next portrait. He wanted to change the way people look at portraits.
AI hasn’t got a soul. It's never got up in the morning and mourned the loss of something. It's never been inspired by a beautiful sunrise. It just uses what's been and reinterprets it. And that's why it’s going to be a fabulous useful tool for all kinds of things, but ultimately where it will end up, I’m not really sure. Bits of technology come along and we don't know what impact they're going to have until we start using them. So I view it with great excitement. But just remember, it doesn't have a soul. And that's what great creative work has.
LBB> Looking at consumers next, how will we be spending our money differently? Will it all be through digital experiences and cryptocurrency?
Sir John Hegarty> I like to use the word audience over consumer because as soon as you do that, you begin to have a different relationship with the people you're talking to. When you say consumers, you don't view them as people, they’re just there to consume. When you view them as an audience with a point of view or an attitude, they have individuality and character.
In terms of how we will be spending our money - we’ve always been driven by convenience haven’t we? Since the beginning of time we have been obsessed with access. We want more of things, faster and more easily. I think convenience is a part of that. And I think we all try to do the mundane things as conveniently as we possibly can so that we get more time to do the things that we want to do. But the danger is what we're trading for convenience - and that will always be a moving target.
For example, the supermarket is a wonderfully convenient way of doing your shopping. But it compromises on various things for the sake of convenience. If I go to a farmers market instead, I get fresher vegetables and I get to meet the people who personally grew the vegetables as opposed to picking up a plastic pre-prepared package from a shelf.
LBB> So, looking at the future, are you feeling optimistic?
Sir John Hegarty> I'm cursed as an optimist. I do think we will solve our problems because, as a species, we have to otherwise we have no future. So we've got to do something and we’ve got to get our act together but we're courting danger every day by not embracing the things we need to do to survive as a species now. So I remain an optimist but a cautious one.
