In a conversational session with Brandcenter students, industry veteran PJ Pereira shared insights that spanned the intersection of artificial intelligence, creativity, and personal growth at a recent Friday Forum. Co-founder of the award-winning agency Pereira O’Dell and Chief Creative Officer at Serviceplan Americas, Pereira is no stranger to pushing creative boundaries. His diverse achievements include pioneering innovative approaches in tech, entertainment, and advertising. Beyond the boardroom, he is also a novelist, martial artist, and recent recipient of Adweek’s AI Champion of the Year award for his work advocating for ethical AI in advertising.
Pereira sees AI not as a replacement for human creativity, but as a tool to empower and expand human creativity. “You can be more than what you think,” he advised, urging students to explore the technology’s possibilities. Pereira showcased a selection of his work, including music videos he created from scratch—right down to the music, video shots, and backdrops—with the assistance of AI. This approach enabled him to produce high-quality ideas and underscored his view that “with AI, we can afford the unaffordable.” According to Pereira, AI democratizes the creative process by allowing creators to bring ideas to life without massive budgets or teams. He also posits that AI “can change the unchangeable,” using new technology to shift perceptions, reimagine norms, and rewrite conventions in advertising and beyond.
Pereira did advocate that students stay true to oneself. “You should always keep doing ‘your thing’ and don’t change or conform,” he said, reminding students to stay grounded in their personal styles and creative visions despite changing trends or pressures. He illustrated this point with a story about a Levi’s commercial he developed using a Brazilian song and AI tech—a project that, while ultimately turned down, taught him invaluable lessons he could apply to later projects. It was a prime example of how trying new approaches, even those that might not lead to immediate success, can be a stepping stone for bigger achievements. “You should try everything,” he encouraged, reinforcing the importance of experimenting and not fearing failure.
Pereira also advised students to “learn something new and become the most experienced in the room.” He shared a story about an intern who learned AI alongside him and quickly became the go-to person for AI questions. Although she had no previous experience in AI, her willingness to explore it early on made her invaluable. He also mentioned a young, self-taught 17-year-old who reached out to him to learn about music video production. The mentorship resulted in a music video that rivaled professionally produced works.
His final insight was that “no creative idea has to die if you learn these things.” By embracing new technology, creatives can find ways to realize even the most ambitious concepts, without relying solely on traditional methods or external validation. It’s a powerful perspective, especially in an industry where many innovative ideas never make it to production.