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Imagination is the New Currency

AI is reshaping how brands connect, create, and compete. Discover how this technology will redefine your approach to innovation and customer engagement.

Part one

By Ed Landon

10.15.2024

Summary:

AI is solving for “how” (how we do things), unleashing the imagination of millions of teams to discover the “what” (what new experiences can be created). As novel, personalized experiences continue to emerge, consumer expectations are steadily rising to new heights. Are Brands prepared?

A New Era of Technology

Almost every tech leader we talk to is looking for an AI magic bullet: What should our AI strategy be? How should we go about implementing this new technology? What should we be doing to prepare?

In the midst of this confusion, some major brands will thrive, while others will hold on to their old ways and fail to properly adapt.

My goal for this series is to start drawing out the map to navigate these questions. Through collaborating with the brightest minds in AI at companies like Salesforce, Dropbox, Grammarly, we’ve helped write the playbook on what AI means for big brands and how to stay ahead of the curve.

Before we get into the details, let’s take a look back at the last few years…

AI's Three Catalysts

AI has sparked three major catalysts, each with its own unique implications:

Knowledge Tools (2022+): ChatGPT was the entry point for most, and tools like Perplexity have put a universe of knowledge at our fingertips. These tools are revolutionizing how we learn, solve problems, and generate new ideas.

Creation Tools (2023+): Tools like v0, suno, and countless others are crushing the skill gap. Anyone can produce professional-level content—from art to code—in seconds. As creation becomes more accessible, the traditional barriers to digital craftsmanship are falling away.

Agents (2025+): Agents are beginning to gain steam, erasing the need for humans to act like APIs. These agents will complete tasks for us, essentially eliminating time as a constraint for entire categories of tasks.

Each of these catalysts have their own implications, but they also interact with one and another in ways we’re only beginning to experience.

The power of ai tools

AI expands what we want to do. With knowledge at our fingertips, curiosity has no limits. Understanding complex topics is now just a prompt away. Our imaginations are unbounded.

AI expands what we can do. The gap between aspiration and capability is shrinking rapidly. Skills that once took months or years to master are now accessible to anyone, immediately.

We can do all of these things faster. "Too complex" or "too time-consuming" are antiquated excuses. AI agents are eliminating time as a barrier to action.

It sounds simple, but the implications are massive: if people can do more, faster, and with fewer obstacles, then it is inevitable that they will do more.

We can view this in two ways:

Brace yourself for a flood of new competitors in every market. Barriers to entry are vanishing, opening the floodgates for newcomers in your industry. There will be exponentially more players in the market. This isn't a minor shift – it's a complete transformation of the competitive landscape.

Customer expectations are about to skyrocket. Our present design benchmarks are quickly losing relevance. AI is ushering in an era of personalized, adaptive interfaces. Static websites are out; generative UI and AI-assisted UX are in.

The Future of Brands in the Imagination Era

Millions of new creators and teams will be fundamentally reimagining how to serve the communities you serve.

At LCA, we call this the Imagination Era. Products will need to amplify the imaginations of the communities they serve.

Ideas are unbounded. Creativity is the secret sauce.

In the next piece, we’ll dive into how brands need to build in the Imagination Era.