Designing 2050: “We Need Collaboration and a Belief in the Impossible”
From the cost-of-living crisis and war tensions, to climate change and more, there is too much doom and gloom surrounding the future. Without drastic change, experts claim that by 2050 millions could be without food, rising seas will wipe out cities across the globe, air pollution will be at lethal levels, technology will breach our privacy, cyberattacks will increase…the list goes on.
It's bleak, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Creative thinkers, advertisers and brand strategists have the ability to create real change. So, in this series, creative agency 2050 London calls for the creative industry to step forward and offer an optimistic view of what 2050 can be through positive visionary thinking and some crazy ideas that can change things.
In this interview, LBB’s Sunna Coleman speaks with Julian Douglas, international CEO and vice chairman at VCCP, who places emphasis on collaborative effort, blending nostalgia with modernity, and considers a trip to Mars.
LBB> What is your greatest wish for 2050?
Julian> I worked out that I'll be 74 then… So apart from that being terrifying, my greatest wish is to be alive and still enjoying life with my family and friends in a world that hasn’t burned to the ground, been flooded by rising sea levels or been taken over by robots.
I'm also hoping by then that Man City have won an unprecedented quadruple. It might happen this year - who knows!
LBB> What crazy, fun, creative business ideas do you have to help make that happen?
Julian> I inherently love things that bring people together and give people real-life multi-sensory experiences where they really get to enjoy themselves with each other. I think that the way to tackle the challenges that we face tends to be through collaboration, whether that's for the environment, for mental health, for diversity - anything.
All the things I've been part of where we've made any meaningful difference have tended to be based on getting people together. I set up Lucky Voice karaoke almost 20 years ago with the mission to make the UK a happier, livelier place by getting people to sing more which I believe has been achieved with around 16 bars around the UK now. Through collaborative action and collective effort, you can achieve pretty amazing things. But it does need to have a sense of creativity and belief in the impossible at the heart of it.
I've got one idea at the moment that's all about jelly, but I can't say too much. I saw an article talking about how human beings get bored of things we are too familiar with but are wary of things that are too new and different. So the perfect balance is the most advanced, yet accessible thing. And I also came across the fact that the most nostalgic food for people in the UK is jelly as it evokes childhood. So I haven’t quite figured out my idea yet but something’s cooking…
LBB> How will the advent of AI shape the creative industry? What will the role of human creativity be? Will we all lose our jobs?
Julian> I'd say technology in general is a great accelerator. It works hand in glove with the most creative people who will be drawn towards technology to help them achieve more. The best people I've worked with tend to have an insatiable curiosity. I love the quote from Picasso: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
I think AI will allow us to experiment and push more boundaries. You can explore things that you couldn't even think of before. That's really a remarkable thing. It used to be that you were only limited by your imagination but now there are tools that can help to expand your imagination. That's madness. It's not human versus computer. It’s human plus computer. The question is, will we have human powered computers or computer powered humans?
Some people will lose their jobs, for sure. But there will also be loads of new jobs created that we can't even imagine. I've been in this industry for 27 years and I would say that probably half the roles in the agency today didn't exist when I started. You didn't have data analysis or motion graphics. Many people are in roles that didn’t exist all those years ago. So yes, some roles will become redundant, but new roles will massively appear.
LBB> And what about the planet? How can we influence more people to take action against climate change?
Julian> It will take a novel solution. You'll always need something new to fix an existing problem, which means creating is at the heart of it. You’ll either need to look at the problem in a different way or find a substitute way of solving it or doing it differently. Our industry is filled with people who have the talent and specialist skill set to come up with new stuff and to be inherently creative. So I think we're well placed to help come up with the solutions.
LBB> How will we spend our money? Will it all be through digital experiences and cryptocurrency?
Julian> I think how we spend our money might change. So we probably won’t have cash or cards. I went to China pre-covid and you couldn’t use cash or cards anywhere - you could only use your phone or your face. So I think the way that we buy stuff will change but what we buy will remain the same. You will always spend your money on things that you need and things that you want.
LBB> What else do you think will happen?
Julian> I reckon there'll be interplanetary travel. There will at least be space stations that we can go to by 2050. There will be life on Mars. I reckon Bowie’s vision will be realised.
LBB> Would you go there?
Julian> Hmm… maybe not on the first trip!
LBB> So, are you feeling optimistic?
Julian> Absolutely. There's so much to be excited about. Every individual has the opportunity or the chance, however small, to change their own life and to change the world. So in the future, as technology improves, I think that’ll only become more the case. As an optimist, I'm positive and I hope and believe that the really talented ones will change it for the better.
