The news: At Web Summit, a design conversation moderated by EMARKETER turned into a broader critique of sameness in brand building—a problem that may worsen with AI overuse.

• Porta Rocha design director Joseph Lebus and Ragged Edge co-founder Max Ottignon argued that chasing trends is the quickest way for a brand to become invisible. Trends may be “the result of some amazing work,” Lebus said, but never the goal. Ottignon added that brands exist to stand out, be remembered, and get chosen—none of which can happen when everyone is doing the same thing.
• The two creative leaders described a design process built around immersion, questioning, and context rather than imitation. When clients ask to replicate what another brand has done, Lebus said, the best agencies push back.

Why it matters: The conversation captured a shift that’s unfolding across the marketing industry: As AI accelerates production, distinctiveness becomes harder to achieve.

• According to IAB data, nearly 40% of digital video ads will be AI-generated by next year, with smaller advertisers leading adoption. When almost half of all creative work is produced through the same systems, differentiation becomes a discipline, not a byproduct.
• The temptation, Ottignon warned, is the “path of least resistance”—using AI to produce fast, acceptable ideas instead of meaningful ones. That’s already evident in marketer behavior. In a TripleLift–EMARKETER survey, 50% of US brand and agency marketers use AI to generate ad copy, and 38% use it to produce images or video, mostly for resizing or automation. These efficiency-driven uses risk flattening creative output if judgment doesn’t keep pace.