Sea Of Sameness: Why Advertising's Safest Strategy Is Killing Creativity

"Today's planners and buyers are juggling fragmented audiences, new channels, shrinking resources, AI pressures, and clients demanding both scale and precision. In this environment, the easiest response is often the most practical: reuse creative, standardise formats, and optimise what worked last quarter. But easiest doesn't mean best, and doing the same thing over and over again, expecting better results, is the definition of insanity."

"Across industries, data-driven decision making, globalised inspiration and risk aversion has created what Murrell described as a "sea of sameness." And you can see it everywhere - from the overuse of "Bondi" in beauty brand names, to the sea of blue and black across streaming platforms, to the rise of clean, non-descript sans-serif branding that makes entire categories feel interchangeable."

"Advertising is not immune. You can scroll any feed and the patterns are obvious. Campaigns are designed to work everywhere rather than somewhere specific. Creative is developed to be platform-agnostic rather than platform-native. Assets are scaled across formats rather than crafted for context. The result is work that is efficient, but forgettable."

Modern advertising faces fragmented audiences, new channels, shrinking resources, and AI pressures while clients demand both scale and precision. Agencies must operate as complex engines under increasing performance expectations. The practical response often becomes reusing creative, standardizing formats, and optimizing what worked previously, which can repeat the same approach without improving outcomes. This pattern contributes to an “age of average,” where products, spaces, and faces look similar. Data-driven decision making, globalized inspiration, and risk aversion create a “sea of sameness” across industries. Advertising mirrors this through platform-agnostic campaigns, scaled assets, and work designed to function everywhere rather than in specific contexts, resulting in efficient but forgettable creative.

Read at B&T