Finding your centaur: getting creative with gen AI
22 April 2025 – Leading creatives, strategists and marketers from across Asia Pacific and the Middle East reveal how they are using generative AI — and how they think it will change the industry — in a new report produced by Contagious and WARC, in conjunction with TikTok.
The race to understand and implement generative AI is happening all around the world. But there are few better places to watch the transition play out than Asia Pacific, where consumer enthusiasm is almost three times higher than in the US and Europe, according to a survey conducted by Adobe. In the Middle East, the UAE and Saudi Arabian governments have embedded the new technology in their strategic visions for the future; and in markets like South Africa, brands have used AI to find efficiencies amid an economic turndown.
With a new suite of generative AI tools designed to help agencies and marketers find and scale ideas faster, TikTok partnered with Contagious and WARC to learn how brands and agencies are using the technology to augment, rather than replace, human creativity.
Finding your centaur: getting creative with gen AI combines in-depth interviews with industry experts with Contagious and WARC’s bank of knowledge and expertise to analyse the impact that generative AI is already having on the creative process, and what it could mean for marketing and advertising in the future.
The report covers:
The technological and socio-economic factors that have combined to create a need for speed and scale in marketing, and how generative AI can help.
How generative AI has helped brands find insights, create campaigns and produce solutions such as Traveloka’s AI avatar that reduced the company’s cost-per-follow by 22%, and McDonald’s ability to repurpose content at scale and enhance app traffic.
How brands and agencies are building their own generative AI models and implementing processes to harness the technology.
The limits of generative AI, such as bias and quality of output.
What marketers, strategists and creatives may have to learn to thrive in a post-AI world.
Why generative AI could be the can opener for the data age by bridging the gap between analytics and personal experience leading to a renaissance in creativity.
Andy Yang, Global Head of Creative, TikTok, says: “Today’s audiences, especially those on TikTok, demand personalised content that speaks to their diverse interests. The key question is
how do we leverage new technology to create the quantity that meets this demand without compromising the quality that builds resonance with audiences?”
Alex Jenkins, Managing Director, Contagious, added: “Generative AI is an opportunity that feels like a challenge because it’s undefined. Anything with truly creative potential has no instruction manual because the opportunities aren’t limited — they’re vast and waiting to be discovered.”
Read the Finding your centaur: getting creative with gen AI report for free, and learn how generative AI can help ideas reach more people,
