Every time the industry embraces a new trend, something interesting happens: its opposite starts to look rather appealing.
As Taylor Swift might put it, every hero has an anti-hero. And in media, film and advertising production, the relationship between the two is often where the most interesting creative opportunities emerge.
In 2024, AI was everywhere. It was changing how we generated ideas, produced content, personalised campaigns and thought about the future of creative work. The pace of change was extraordinary, and for anyone working in production, the possibilities were difficult to ignore.
But here’s the thing. The more digitally connected, automated and on-demand our lives become, the more valuable the experiences that feel tangible, human and genuinely different can be.
While the industry looks ahead to the next technological breakthrough, there’s a compelling case for looking at what audiences are rediscovering right now: magazines, cinema, physical keepsakes and experiences that can’t quite be replicated on a screen.
For film-makers, production companies, agencies and advertisers, this isn’t a reason to resist innovation. It’s a reminder that innovation can take more than one form.
AI is changing the production playbook
Was there a bigger conversation in media in 2024 than artificial intelligence?
AI has moved well beyond the experimental stage, finding its way into creative development, content production, campaign optimisation and audience engagement.
In Australia, audio partner Mamamia introduced ‘Sam’, a new addition to its voice-over talent pool. More than half of social creators reportedly use AI weekly to support their content creation. At Cannes Lions, 12% of entries reportedly incorporated AI.
For advertising agencies, the applications range from generating initial concepts and developing scripts to automating meeting notes, analysing competitors and monitoring campaign performance in real time.
For production teams, the potential is equally significant. AI-assisted storyboarding, pre-visualisation, editing, visual effects and content versioning can help teams explore creative possibilities, streamline repetitive tasks and adapt campaigns for different formats without starting from scratch every time.
Brands are also using AI to personalise messaging and offers, while customer-facing applications range from digital avatars to tailored product experiences. Video platforms are making basic creative tools more accessible, allowing advertisers to develop and adapt content without always relying on a traditional production setup.
And then there’s HeyGen, which promises an AI version of you that can speak 175 languages, move naturally and stick to the script. Personally, I’m still waiting for the version that remembers to unmute itself during meetings.
The opportunities are real. But so is the question of what happens when the tools become available to everyone.
If every brand can generate content at speed, every agency can produce multiple creative variations and every production team can automate more of its workflow, technology alone becomes a less convincing point of difference.
The real advantage will belong to those who know what to make, why it matters and how to make people care.
Because a faster production process doesn’t automatically produce a better film. And generating more content doesn’t necessarily give audiences a reason to watch it.
The countertrend: audiences still want something real
While AI dominated industry conversations, 2024 also offered some intriguing evidence that traditional media and physical experiences aren’t disappearing as quickly as some predictions might suggest.
Take magazines. Despite forecasts pointing towards continued declines in print, September 2024 figures showed magazine readership increasing by 7% year-on-year, with lifestyle titles up 8%.
For those of us who grew up in the ’90s, the return of Cosmopolitan to the newsstands was a welcome surprise. There was something wonderfully familiar about picking up a physical copy — and perhaps a little satisfaction in buying one for a younger generation that has grown up consuming most of its content digitally.
Could print be enjoying a revival similar to vinyl?
It’s an interesting possibility. In a world where almost any piece of content is available instantly, the physical experience of choosing a magazine, turning its pages and spending time with it offers a different kind of engagement.
There’s no algorithm deciding what you should read next. No notification competing for your attention. Just the publication and the reader.
For advertisers, that creates a different relationship with the audience. For production professionals, it is a reminder that how content is experienced can be just as important as what it contains.
And print isn’t the only example.
The big screen still has a role to play
By September 2024, Australian cinema audiences had increased by 15% year-on-year, despite the average Australian household having access to at least 6.6 screens.
At first glance, that might seem counterintuitive. Why leave home, pay for a ticket and watch a film at a particular time when streaming services offer so much entertainment on demand?
Because cinema isn’t simply another screen. It’s an experience.
The scale of the image, the quality of the sound, the darkness of the room and the shared reactions of an audience all contribute to how a story is received. A carefully constructed cinematic moment can have a very different impact when experienced collectively, without the distractions of everyday life.
For film and television production, that distinction matters.
Great cinematography, sound design, editing and performance aren’t just technical achievements. They’re tools for shaping an audience’s emotional response. The cinema environment gives those elements room to work together in a way that can be difficult to reproduce on a mobile device.
The same thinking applies to advertising production. A beautifully crafted television commercial can still deliver scale, emotion and brand impact. A well-produced film can still command attention through its storytelling rather than relying on an endless stream of shorter edits.
None of this means digital video is less valuable. It means the industry should be careful not to confuse the growing number of ways to distribute content with the disappearance of the experiences that made it powerful in the first place.
The challenge for producers isn’t to choose between cinema, television and digital. It’s to understand what each medium does best and create work that makes the most of it.
Less technology, more intention?
Another countertrend emerged in the form of the so-called ‘dumb phone’.
The modern revival of the Nokia 3210 gave people the chance to step away from the constant demands of a smartphone and return to simpler pleasures, including another attempt at beating their Snake high score.
And yes, predictive texting still means tapping the same number multiple times to get the right letter.
HMD even released a Barbie-branded version in trademark pink, complete with a Barbie meditation app. Interestingly, the appeal wasn’t limited to nostalgic Millennials and Gen Xers. Gen Alpha also appeared among those adding these devices to their holiday wishlists.
There’s an irony here. A generation raised on digital technology is finding appeal in a device designed to do less.
For the media and production industries, the parallel is worth exploring.
We’re becoming increasingly capable of producing more versions, more formats and more content than ever before. Yet the abundance of choice can make it harder to decide what genuinely deserves an audience’s attention.
Perhaps the next stage of innovation isn’t always about adding more. Perhaps it’s about making more deliberate choices.
In production, that might mean fewer but stronger creative executions, more considered storytelling or a greater emphasis on the details that make a piece of work memorable.
It might also mean using technology to free up time for the creative decisions that matter, rather than allowing efficiency to become the sole measure of success.
The best production process isn’t necessarily the one that produces the most assets. It’s the one that helps the right idea reach its full potential.
Taylor Swift and the magic of being there
If there was one cultural phenomenon that captured the value of a real-world experience in 2024, Taylor Swift’s Australian tour was certainly a contender.
Those fortunate enough to secure VIP access proudly wore their printed tickets on lanyards, while others navigated their phones and digital passes to get through the gates.
In an era when tickets have largely migrated to smartphones, the printed version suddenly became more than an entry credential. It became a keepsake — a tangible reminder of an experience people had anticipated, invested in and wanted to remember.
That small detail says something about the relationship between technology and experience.
We might use digital tools to discover, purchase and organise almost everything, but we still place enormous value on the moments themselves. Being there. Sharing the experience. Having something to take home.
Taylor Swift’s broader approach to entertainment offers another useful lesson for advertisers and production companies. Her music videos, carefully developed visual identity and the worlds built around her releases demonstrate how creative work can extend beyond a single piece of content. Fans don’t simply consume the work; they revisit it, analyse it, share it and find meaning in its details.
That kind of engagement isn’t created by distribution alone. It comes from giving people something worth connecting with.
For brands, the opportunity is to think about content as more than an item on a media plan. A television commercial, branded film, social series or live activation can be part of a wider experience — provided the creative idea gives audiences a reason to engage.
And for production teams, it’s a reminder that the craft behind the content matters. The visual details, the sound, the editing, the performance and the overall creative direction all contribute to the world an audience is invited into.
Digital tools can help that world reach more people. They can’t guarantee that anyone will want to enter it.
What this means for the future of production
The debate about AI often makes it sound as though the industry must choose between embracing new technology and protecting traditional creative practices.
That is a false choice.
AI can help production teams work more efficiently, explore concepts and create adaptations for different platforms. Digital distribution can make content more accessible. New tools can help filmmakers achieve things that were once too costly or technically difficult.
At the same time, cinema audiences can grow, print can find new readers and physical experiences can become more desirable precisely because so much of life has moved online.
These developments aren’t mutually exclusive. They’re part of the same shift: audiences have more choice, and the value of a particular experience increasingly depends on what makes it worth choosing.
For Australian advertisers, agencies and production companies, that means looking beyond the novelty of new technology and asking more fundamental questions.
- What are we making? Is the creative idea strong enough to justify the investment, regardless of the tools used to produce it?
- Why will people watch? Does the content offer entertainment, emotion, information or an experience worth their time?
- Where does craft matter most? Which production decisions will make a genuine difference to the final work, and where can technology improve efficiency without compromising quality?
- How do we make it memorable? Can the idea create a connection that extends beyond the immediate viewing experience?
The answers won’t be the same for every campaign. A social video, a television commercial, a feature film and a branded documentary each have different objectives and production requirements.
But the principle is consistent: technology should serve the creative ambition, not become the ambition itself.
Bring on the next era
As the industry moves forward, it’s tempting to assume that the future belongs to AI, automation and an ever-increasing supply of digital content.
Yet the more sophisticated our technology becomes, the more important it may be to understand what makes an experience genuinely human.
The opportunity for film and television production is to combine the efficiencies of new tools with the enduring value of storytelling, performance, sound, image and emotion. For advertisers, it’s to recognise that a campaign’s success isn’t measured simply by how much content it produces or how many platforms it occupies.
Sometimes, progress means embracing the new. Sometimes, it means rediscovering the old. And often, the most interesting creative opportunities emerge from bringing the two together.
So here’s to the AI innovators and the old-school film-makers. The algorithmically optimised and the beautifully imperfect. The content that reaches millions through a screen and the experience that stays with us because we were there.
Every trend needs its countertrend. Every hero needs an anti-hero.
I’ll leave you to decide which is which.
Here’s to making less noise and more meaning. Bring on the next era.
