Renee admits the first AI-generated video at her agency felt like a gut punch. Instead of hiding, they leaned in, created new roles, and let people mourn the old ways. Change management with empathy beats panic any day.
Feeling like the ground is shifting under your feet? You’re not the only one. The creative industry is going through seismic change — AI is reshaping how we work, what we make and what “good” even looks like anymore. If you’ve caught yourself thinking “bloody AI, is it normal to have no idea what good looks like anymore?” — take a breath. That swirl of uncertainty is something plenty of people are feeling right now.
Psychologist Sharon Draper, who’s spent over a decade helping people find steadiness through change, and Renee Hyde, who’s guided Howatson+Company through its own AI journey, both have a reassuring truth for you: you’re not alone in this.
When Renee was asked “bloody AI, is it normal to have no idea what good looks like anymore?” her answer was instant: "Yes, it's very normal."
Sometimes that’s what we need most — someone to say, you’re not losing your mind, this is just big, messy change.
Renee shares the moment this hit home for her team: "About a year ago in March last year we as an agency were wondering what it looked like for our agency, for our team, for ourselves and we went off site and had a working session and we briefed the creative team and we briefed the tech team to create the same thing - a video."
The result? Eye-opening, to say the least: "The creative guys did a great job and they went out and shot something and it was awesome and then the tech team came back and their video could have run on television, it was unreal and there was this physical feeling in the room of heaviness like we were all - someone stood up and went to the floor to ground themselves like it felt extremely overwhelming."
And then comes that sinking feeling: "I remember running through my head going well my skills are transferable right like I can project manage construction or I used to work in retail I'll be fine so you know it felt really heavy."
Sound familiar? You’re not alone if your brain’s been making exit plans just in case.
Faced with this reality, Renee’s team made a clear choice: "Following that was a real call to action for us as an agency to go this is happening we can either be part of it or we can accept that our business will shrink considerably and so our decision was to really lean into it and to understand it and to debate it as a group around where it should be applied and where it shouldn't be applied and the ethics of that."
You don’t have to be an overnight expert — but staying curious and engaged makes all the difference.
Yes, AI is unsettling — but it’s also unlocking unexpected opportunities. Renee shares: "We launched an AI production company in October with Endeavor Group as the founding client and what we have seen from that business has really propelled the skill sets of the agency forward we have created new roles we have bought roles that were offshored to Vietnam so finished art retouching back on shore to higher value creation roles in that model."
It’s not just about losing jobs — it’s about reshaping them.
This isn’t a one-and-done shift. Renee is upfront: "It's been a huge change management though I think everyone needs to acknowledge that it's not something that we will just pick up and it won't continue to change our jobs."
They didn’t sugar-coat it for their people either: "We took out everyone that manages someone at Howatson+Co offsite for two days and did a change management course with University of New South Wales AGSM practice to let everyone mourn the fact that how we do our jobs today will be very different tomorrow and even more different in a year's time."
Permission to grieve the old way of working? That’s how you keep the human part of work human.
If you’ve been struggling to keep up — that’s normal too. Renee says: "Even how we train people in how to use it my naivety around that was well we'll just do an AI module when people join but every day there's a new thing and so we can't - it's not a set and forget so we've had to totally relook at hiring strategies and how we do training and development."
Amid all this, Renee holds onto one thing with conviction: "We're certainly seeing AI applicable at the efficiency part, efficiency and effectiveness part of our business but the high-end creative and strategic work is always going to be people it's always going to be that high value creation part of our industry will always be here it's my strong belief."
Truth is, the “good” part was always subjective. Renee points out: "Good - the good bit is the hard bit right because we've always had for years agency's definition of good versus a client's definition of good can be different as well."
And it’s even murkier now: "I was reading something the other day around how if we look at what younger people are consuming the quality of content that they're consuming is actually terrible right it's all the stuff we've talked about with social media - people who claim they're experts are not, there's a lack of rigour and robustness to stuff that's being said, production values are iPhone."
But AI could help cut through the noise, too: "I think with the ability to produce more content gives the ability for personalisation so instead of being targeted with thousands of messages that are no longer relevant for me I can now be seeing things that are totally relevant for me because it costs no more money to produce a thousand assets or one asset so I would hope if applied well we should be getting to a really great spectrum of epic personalisation powered by AI and then hopefully distinctive storytelling that cuts through all of that as well."
It’s not just the ad world. Sharon shares how AI can even show up in therapy: "A client was telling me you can even say 'I'd like you to answer like a CBT therapist would.' Like you can train it to answer in the way that you feel you need... it goes I'm so sorry you feel that way and like oh that sounds really hard I'm like it does it is hard it's really great it's actually fantastic."
But, she reminds us, there’s no replacing real human connection: "It's important to be aware of the limitations with that as well... you can't - it's that connection it's that physical people body language and there's also that rapport that you need."
So, if you’re sitting there thinking “bloody AI, is it normal to have no idea what good looks like anymore?” — yes. It’s normal. It’s human.
The work will keep changing. But what makes work good — thoughtful strategy, meaningful ideas, deep human connection — hasn’t gone anywhere. Lean in. Stay curious. Hold onto the bits of creativity that can’t be coded. And remember — you’re not meant to have it all figured out right now. None of us do. And maybe, that’s okay.
.png)
Renee is responsible for client and agency leadership at Howatson+Company. She specialises in running large, integrated clients both locally (Allianz, Samsung, CBA) and globally (Marriott International, IBM, Microsoft, Google) having worked in leading agencies in Australia and New York like M&C Saatchi, CHE Proximity and Anomaly. Renee has a unique skill set having worked in various capacities including consulting, media, customer experience and communications. She has birthed, built and grown brands and is at her best with complex challenges to solve. Renee is also a mentor at the Trenches, a qualified Mental Health first aider and has been recognised by Campaign Asia as a Woman to Watch and by B&T on their Women in Media Power List. As a mother of two young girls, Renee is a passionate advocate for diversity of all forms and is constantly tired.
For the past 13 years, Sharon has worked as a Psychologist, aiming to authentically connect with people to help them feel safe and heard. She believes, if we can gain insight into why we might think, feel and behave a certain way, we can make more sense of our current lives and then, with a growth mindset of self-compassion instead of a fixed mindset of shame, we can consciously implement positive change. Sharon has a holistic approach, she is informed by Existentialism, Neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory and Attachment Science. Sharon believes if we can accept that the behaviours we developed as children were necessary for our survival and if we can understand that all the emotions we feel provide insight into our deepest values, we can live purposeful and meaningful lives. Sharon is currently working on an online program called Taking Up Space. The program empowers women who tend to default to people pleasing behaviours. The program focuses on building insight into ones behaviours, developing emotional competence (learning how to regulate and learn from all emotions we feel) as well as building courage to integrate these insights into our everyday lives so that we can live more authentically. Sharon is also a contributor to Newspaper articles (Sydney Morning Herald), Radio (ABC) and TV (Sky News, Channel 7 Sunrise), and is the Psychologist for eHarmony Australia.
Andy Wright is happiest in a well‑worn baseball cap. As founder of Never Not Creative, he rallies a worldwide community determined to make the creative industry kinder and fairer. He also steers Streamtime as CEO and co‑chairs Mentally Healthy. Different titles, same purpose: brilliant work should never cost anyone their wellbeing. Never Not Creative was born when Andy decided it was time to stand up and make the industry a better place. What started as one person calling for change has grown into a movement that shares research, sparks honest conversations, and builds practical tools that help teams thrive. Andy’s rule of thumb: protect the humans and the great work will follow. Picture a studio cat giving you a gentle nudge to stretch, breathe, and log off before the midnight oil even thinks about burning. Off the clock, Andy is dad to three energetic kids, husband to one exceptionally patient partner, and a loyal Everton supporter (character building, he insists). Whether he is championing healthier workplaces or cheering the Toffees through a tense ninety minutes, Andy believes creative success should leave everyone standing a little taller, not lying flat from exhaustion.
