Creative predictions 2027: Less polish, more taste

If 2026 was the year the creative industry figured out what artificial intelligence (AI) could make, 2027 may be the year it has to figure out what is actually worth making.

As AI makes creative work faster and easier to produce, Singapore's creative leaders expect the advantage to shift away from execution alone. Instead, taste, judgement, cultural relevance and the ability to create something people genuinely care about could become far more valuable.

Consumers are already showing signs of being discerning about what AI produces. DoubleVerify's "2026 global insights: Media quality in the age of AI" report found that 47% of Singapore consumers would think negatively of a brand that used AI to create ads that appeared low quality, uncanny or unnatural. By comparison, 45% said professionally produced AI-generated ads would positively affect their perception of a brand.

For agencies, that raises a bigger question heading into 2027: when almost anyone can make something that looks good, what separates work that is merely well-made from work people actually care about?

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE spoke to five creative leaders in Singapore about what they expect from the year ahead, what AI will expose rather than replace, and why being human may become the industry's biggest advantage.

Don't miss: What media agencies are prioritising in 2027

Pat Law, founder, GOODSTUPH 

In 2027, AI will make everything look finished, so polish stops mattering and taste becomes the whole job. Local wins. Generic global work now costs nothing, so it's worth nothing. A kopitiam joke hits harder than a stock sunset.

We will stop hiring hands. We will hire heads that happen to have hands.

And the new generation entering our industry has watched us trade sleep, marriages and Sundays for a metal cat. I don't think the maths works for them. A trophy does not pay their rent. They want a life, and AI hands them one.

They'll churn in four hours what took us four nights, then log off. They will log off. And I think that's a very good thing.

Gonzalo Olivera, chief executive officer, McCann Singapore

In 2026, everyone talked about AI making more work, faster. In 2027, the conversation should evolve to who decides what deserves to be made.

AI can produce 100 ads in an hour, but it cannot fix a company that takes six weeks to decide what to say. That is where agencies should focus their creativity:

Bringing strategy, media, data, service and technology together to solve the problem behind the brief.

The scarce skill is asking why something should exist: what problem it solves, whether anyone would miss it if it disappeared. That means putting talented creative people closer to marketing decisions, rather than waiting for a brief.

Agencies will increasingly be judged by the decisions they improve, not the volume they produce.

Nicholas Ye, co-founder and chief creative officer at The Secret Little Agency (TSLA)

‘If AI can make or generate it, it’s already been done’ is what we are telling all our clients. So why work with a creative agency to come up something that’s already done?

2027 will be bringing out the very best of what it means to be human. So, we’re already baking in: raw cuts, named authorship, ideas that couldn’t have come from a prompt in all of the ideas and work we are presenting today. None of this rejects AI; most runs on it behind the scenes.

Let’s be the glitch. Let’s be stupidly-good.

Chan Woei Hern, head of creative, APAC, VaynerMedia

2027 is the year of the individual empire.

We’re watching YouTubers become entertainment empires and athletes move from endorsements to ownership. Creatives are next.

AI will make making easier, but making things people actually love will become more valuable, not less. As audiences fragment further around interests, taste, platform fluency and knowing how to earn attention become creative superpowers.

And that attention can become more than views. It can become an audience, IP, a studio, a business. Something you own. Even getting laid off might increasingly become the start of someone’s story, not the end.

Make things people actually love. Then build from the love.

Mateusz Mroszczak, chief creative officer, VML Singapore

AI isn’t killing creativity. It’s killing the hiding places.

For years, average ideas could hide behind expensive production, polished decks and armies of specialists. In 2027, AI will take that cover away.

When everyone can make something look beautiful, the idea itself is all that’s left. Weak thinking will be exposed instantly.

That is brilliant news for great creatives. The strongest will be able to prototype, sell and make ideas at a speed that once took an entire agency. Creativity won’t shrink. It’ll thrive.

To stay ahead, agencies need to stop protecting old processes and start backing people with taste, nerve and genuinely great ideas.

The mediocre should be worried. The brilliant should be ecstatic.

Related articles: 
2027 will see bigger budgets for marketers 
Global consumer spending via AI agents to hit US$3.35tr by 2030 
Global ad spend set to surpass US$1 trillion in 2026, APAC leads growth