Need some advice?
__In an era increasingly marked by specialized thinking, Nick Law of Accenture Song offers a thought-provoking perspective: creativity is fundamentally about forging connections. __Speaking at the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity on the opening day, Law challenges the artificial divisions that fragment industries and intellectual pursuits alike. __Inspired by C.P. Snow’s landmark “Two Cultures” lecture from 1959, he contends that the separation between science and the humanities constitutes a practical, intellectual, and creative loss for society.
Creativity is connection, Law asserts with conviction. This straightforward yet profound statement cuts through the clutter of ongoing creativity debates. By its very nature, creativity involves taking existing elements and merging them into something new—a process of connection that becomes increasingly elusive as our professional landscapes become more specialized and insular.
True innovation, Law suggests, arises at the crossroads of seemingly contradictory forces. Take, for example, Steve Jobs, who famously integrated design and technology to create some of the most valuable consumer products in history. Jobs defied the notion that science and the humanities were opposing forces, weaving together industrial design, human interface design, software engineering, and materials science into a unified creative environment.
Similarly, advertising legend Bill Bernbach transformed the industry in the late 1950s by pairing copywriters with art directors, fostering a productive tension between words and images that led to iconic campaigns. This organizational shift sparked a creative revolution—not simply because people exerted more effort, but because a new and powerful connection was formed.
Law identifies three crucial connections that shape modern creativity:
Business and Customer
The product acts as the bridge between business goals and customer needs. Companies often stumble by either crafting excellent customer experiences that lack a viable business model or producing business-driven products that fail to captivate consumers.
By focusing on the product as the convergence point, firms can make what the customer values valuable to the business. Makes sense, right?
Performance and Brand
The industry has split into two factions—brand marketers, who tell stories and understand positioning, and performance marketers, who grasp data and technology.
This division creates an hourglass effect, neglecting the vital middle ground where customer decision-making takes place.
As Law observes, If you understand something, you’re more likely to feel something. And if you’re feeling something, you’re more likely to act.
Efficiency and Humanity
As artificial intelligence reshapes creative industries, balancing technological efficiency with human insight becomes imperative.
The interplay between these seemingly opposed elements will define the future landscape of creativity.
“Work with freaks and make scary stuff.”
Nick Law, Accenture Song
One of Law’s most striking insights concerns the disconnect between industry divisions and consumer behavior. While companies wrestle with internal separations, consumers do not engage with brands through distinct lenses of performance or branding. Instead, they move through an onion pattern, seeking insights from external sources like Reddit, YouTube, and social media. Brands have vacated the middle ground where genuine understanding occurs.
Law’s perspective on human cognition adds a further layer to his argument. He highlights systematizing (comprehending causality and systems) and empathizing (grasping others’ thoughts) as humanity’s two significant cognitive strengths. Creative individuals excel at improvisation because they can anticipate others’ reactions—they possess a theory of mind. True innovation hinges on integrating these diverse modes of thought.
The challenge is formidable. If connecting these opposing forces were straightforward, Apple’s seamless integration of hardware and software wouldn’t be so distinctive, and Bernbach’s creative revolution wouldn’t have been so transformative. Achieving this requires structural changes in corporate operations and a cultural shift in how different specialists perceive and value each other’s contributions.
Law’s message resonates clearly: creativity transcends aesthetics and craft—it’s about uniting disparate ideas. In a world increasingly focused on specialization, those who can bridge these divides wield genuine creative influence.
Written, edited, photographed by: Reto Bloesch, Patrick Weiss, Stefan Jermann