Gavin Culpan
03 Apr 2025
Audio and Advertising should tie the knot
What’s happening in advertising and the creative industries feels familiar. Almost déjà vu.
I was in the music industry when technology changed everything.
Overnight we went from needing an expensive recording studio to recording at home, in someone's bedroom, with a computer and some recording software.
One of the things I ever did in advertising, before even paying attention to landing an agency gig, was record jingles and audio clean ups for some environmental business on Logic inside a professionally built floating studio.
Now, I can sit in my living room, drinking coffee and do two tracks in an hour. But still, a creative person behind it and making it. Technology moves forward whether people are ready or not.
The ad industry is having a moment that is not too different to what happened in music.
Technology is allowing smaller, more nimble agencies and studios to go up against the big agency system...and win.
The same brands that once only worked with major agencies are now hiring micro teams and independent creators.
No longer do people need to be sitting at desks in expensive offices. Hell, I sit in my kitchen during my day job hours.
A handful of talented people are pulling off what used to take an entire department.
And brands? They’re bypassing agencies completely, working directly with creators.
The creator economy is expected to hit a whopping $530 billion or R1 trillion by 2030.
Technology has democratized creative industries, especially advertising.
Big is not better.
And then of course there is AI.
Initially, AI will be widely embraced by the cheap and uncreative when it comes to creative execution.
Just look at the childlike fervor for the Studio Ghibili offering from OpenAI.
But that’s good. It leaves space for real creativity and craft.
Who will stand out?
The smaller creatives who refuse to churn out cookie-cutter, copy-paste work. Just like the audio industry.
Change isn’t optional.
Staying ahead of it? That’s the real game.
Right now, being a small creative shop is the best position to be in.
Thinking of starting one? Same here. Do it.
And the biggest edge?
Actually being creative.
Leave the Copy Cat style of thinking to the bottom of the barrel people. Let those bottom-feeders keep chasing trends.
Real ideas. Real thinking. That’s what wins.