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Originally published on Little Black Book

Hakuhodo strategic creative director, Koji Suzuki, on why only humans can turn the impossible into possible

AI has many blind spots. The case of Japanese two-way baseball player, Shohei Ohtani, demonstrates this. Shohei is a global aspirational figure who can pitch as well as bat. But if we had asked AI whether pitching and batting together at professional level is possible before Shohei came along, it would almost certainly have told us that it is impossible.

That’s because AI can only use data that already exists. It is not designed to provide unprecedented answers. Shohei Ohtani’s pure and strong aspiration made the impossible possible and allowed him to achieve something that had never been done before. So while some say that AI will take creativity over, I believe that the crucial key to creativity is aspiration – something that AI will never have and a privilege reserved only for humans.

I see aspiration like a musical instrument that everyone has in their bodies, and that digging into it will lead to ROCKING THE WORLD with creativity! It’s a strong and positive motive that comes from a person’s core. This force, when utilised correctly, has the power to bring about fundamental change and impact the world.

Aspiration can be divided into several aspects: Individual, Couples, Society, Brand and You. For example…

Individual: Rather than communicating its functionality, a cosmetic brand empowered people by showcasing each and everyone’s individual aspiration as ‘unapologetically me’.

Couples: A condom manufacturer brand created a service capturing couple’s aspirations, finding that they want to ‘enjoy the greatest pleasure and strengthen the bond with their partner’.

Society: A new service was created for people with physical disabilities following their aspiration to ‘enjoy fashion from their favourite brands just like everyone else’.

Brand: A food product brand that not only tried to increase its sales but had an ambitious aspiration of ‘bringing the country’s food industry to the next level with its product’.

You: A revolutionary new product was created where many individuals with uniquely different aspirations teamed up just like a great rock band would do.

However, aspiration often requires a lot of time and effort to make it really happen. This is not just a one-time, short-time campaign but it’s about building game-changing new systems or services which could take up to a year or even decades to truly change the perception and habit of people.

The most exciting thing is that your aspiration has potential to change the world and if we work together as a band, we can really rock the world. So, creators, let us ask this question. What is YOUR aspiration?

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