Why So Many Brands Look Alike—and How Strategic Creativity Changes That

Artificial intelligence has made content production more accessible. Today, a marketing team can generate ideas, write scripts, create images, and develop assets in a fraction of the time these tasks once required.

This ease of production has brought significant productivity gains, but it has also raised a new question for brands: what makes a company stand out?

The problem is not the volume of content available, but the difficulty of finding ideas that set a brand apart amid so many similar messages. For B2B companies, this deserves particular attention: products with longer buying journeys require communication that can simplify concepts without sacrificing accuracy. When the response to this challenge is simply to produce more assets, a brand risks expanding its presence without strengthening its identity—and becoming generic.

The problem starts before production

Imagine, for example, two technology companies that need to explain a similar solution to the same audience. Both use artificial intelligence to speed up production, develop clear, focused scripts, and invest in visually polished videos.

If both draw on the same references, use similar arguments, and follow the same aesthetic trends, the results may look very much alike, even when the execution is solid. That is because the quality of the execution cannot replace the quality of the idea.

This is where part of the solution begins: before deciding how to animate a message, you need to understand what must be communicated, why it matters to the audience, and what perspective the brand can offer. Without that clarity, production risks focusing on how the message looks rather than solving the communication challenge behind it.

What sets a brand apart is the relationship between concept, narrative, and visual language.

All these elements lay the groundwork for pre-production. When a brief arrives, it is not yet fully developed. That is one reason we advocate co-creation between the production company and the client: dialogue helps define the approaches that will lead to the best result. In these cases, the chosen design helps shape the thinking behind the final video.

Creativity needs to be part of the process, not an afterthought

When creativity is treated as a stage that begins near the end of the process—little more than packaging for an already finished product—the team usually receives a fixed brief and must find a visual solution for a message defined in advance, with no room for discussion. There is still room for good ideas, but some of the creative potential may have been constrained before production even begins.

A more consistent approach incorporates creative thinking from the moment the problem is defined. That means:

• Examining the communication context;
• Understanding the audience's questions;
• Identifying what makes the solution relevant;
• Exploring different ways to express that value.

Only then does the team choose the most appropriate narrative and visual elements. This process also helps establish criteria for evaluating an idea. Rather than asking only whether the video looks polished or modern, the discussion can focus on whether the animation clarifies the concept, whether the narrative holds attention, and whether the message supports the communication objective.

Creativity is then fostered through a structured way of working. This gives the client and the production company a shared direction. Artificial intelligence can contribute by speeding up repetitive tasks and helping teams explore alternatives. The most meaningful gain, however, comes when the time saved is invested in what requires strategic thinking: understanding the context, developing ideas, and making better choices.

At Thanks, we believe a reliable audiovisual production operation needs to combine a structured production process, technical quality, and creative thinking. The goal is not to deliver more videos, but to develop communication solutions that make sense for the brand and for the people who need to understand its message.