Nicole Granese is chief strategy officer for Omnicom, a global agency network of some of the most influential marketing and advertising agencies in the world. She took to the stage at the University of Mississippi to talk about the changing nature of creativity – one that requires brads to understand cultural trends.
One of the standout examples Granese shared was Barbie’s transformation. The iconic doll brand faced declining sales, especially among millennial moms who found Barbie outdated and out of touch. To address this challenge, BBDO, one of the marketing agencies owned by Omnicom, sought to reverse this trend by revisiting Barbie’s original purpose.
“We reintroduced Barbie with a new foundational idea—with Barbie, you can be anything. This creative direction reminded moms of Barbie’s empowering message, transforming the doll from a stereotypical figure into a symbol of limitless possibilities,” Granese said.
As a result, Barbie shifted from a 16% sales decline to an 8% increase year over year in that first year. “We didn’t just tell people Barbie was different. We showed them, and that’s where creativity works best—when it reshapes perceptions,” she said.
Combining creativity with comedy is another path to success, according to Granese. The Snickers campaign, “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry,” is a prime example. By playfully illustrating how hunger affects people, Snickers managed to bring humor and relatability to the brand.
“Every time someone sees your brand, there’s a chance to make them smile, laugh, or simply stop and engage,” she said. Beyond the TV ads, Snickers printed words like “Grouchy” and “Loopy” on their packaging, adding a fun twist that engaged consumers at every touchpoint.
Granese credits the campaign with taking the brand to the number one spot in its category.
For AT&T, Granese’s team broke new ground by reuniting the cast of the TV Show The Office in a campaign targeting business decision-makers. The result was AT&T’s most successful campaign in over 150 years, achieving over 2.3 billion free media impressions.
“It wasn’t just about an ad; it was a cultural moment. People were talking about it because it was unexpected and memorable,” she said.
Granese believes in the power of creativity to transcend traditional advertising. “If people don’t see your ad as an ad, but as something they enjoy, you’ve achieved something remarkable.”
But creative media is not immune to the headwinds created by artificial intelligence (AI). Despite concerns that AI might replace human creativity, Granese sees it as a vital tool to increase creativity. “AI helps close the gap between ideas and execution.”
She said her team uses AI to streamline research and gain insights faster, allowing more time to focus on crafting campaigns.
“We’re using generative AI to summarize large reports in seconds or kickstart competitive analysis. It doesn’t replace us; it frees us up to be more creative and strategic,” she said.
Nonetheless, Granese said her team is always thinking about the risks since they use AI to analyze specific client proprietary data. “It is important to make sure that the information is private, and it doesn’t end up in the public domain training algorithm that a competitor might have access to.”
There are a lot of content creators, including Granese, hoping humans will always be essential to the creative process, no matter how powerful AI becomes.
“We’re all bombarded by content every day. If you want your brand to matter, you have to make people feel something. Creativity does that.”
