The Unblockable Brand: Experiential and Innovation in a Post-AI World

Let’s be honest, we’re all a bit tired. Tired of the endless scroll, the clamouring pixels and the nagging feeling that half of what’s coming your way has come straight from a bot. And what do you do when you’re tired and a bit overwhelmed? You withdraw and lose patience.

So it’s no surprise that ad-blockers are up, trust is down (an issue far bigger than the agency world), and the term “AI slop” has entered our lexicon faster than you can say “why has she got seven fingers?”

It’s a big problem for brands and agencies when almost half of the population is actively blocking your primary channels, and the messages that do land are often met with scepticism. When the old ways of brand communication are crumbling, as we realise those messaging houses built on pillars of trust and authenticity are showing signs of subsidence.

This might seem like a strange perspective from T&P. After all, we’re “an integrated agency with AI at our heart.” We use it every day. But that means we have a pretty clear-eyed view of the possibilities and pitfalls of a technology as potentially transformative as the invention of the internet.

Because AI’s impact goes beyond automation and information overload. It’s fundamentally reshaping our perception of what is real, with a side order of “why should I bother reading it if you didn’t bother writing it?”

This isn't just a crisis of attention; it's a full-blown crisis of trust. And that signals a profound shift in how we engage people. Because increasingly they won't trust what they're told, but they will trust what they feel. This pivot - from "told" to "felt" - is the key to unlocking the unblockable brand. It means showing up in the channels people can’t block, in a way that means they wouldn’t want to block even if they could.

Experiential: The Antidote (with an AI Multiplier)

So, is experiential the antidote? In a word: yes. And another: no.

By its nature, experiential is real. Unfakeable. Multisensory. There’s no doomscrolling when you’re genuinely engaged, no cynical eye-roll when you’re deeply immersed. Experiential delivers wholesome engagement, reaches the feels other channels can’t reach, and delivers content infused with valuable emotional contagion.

But it’s not the antidote, because AI is already reshaping experiential: a not-so-secret sauce that lets us do things we couldn’t do just a few years (sometimes months) ago.

Take our work with Argos on Trevor’s Dreamworld. We popped up amongst busy Christmas shoppers in Manchester and used AI to turn our green dino-pal into a fully conversational video AI experience. From scripted ads to a fully interactive, responsive character who cracked jokes, asked questions, and created a personalised gift list for each shopper based on hobbies, age, budget and more.

​Watch the video, it’s lovely.

The best bit is the young lad asking ‘How did he know!?!’ That AI-enabled interaction has created a core memory – something as powerful as millions spent on traditional ads and media. You can’t block a feeling. And, thanks to emotional contagion, we all feel a bit of what he felt in that moment.

AI vs. AI: Who’ll win?

There’s a funny paradox here: using AI to fight AI’s downsides. We’ve all experienced the impersonal "personalised" ads that follow us around from site to site, trying to sell us the product we just bought. They’re the kind of thing that deserve to end up in an ad blocker. Unlike a personal telling off from José Mourinho.

Our recent (cough Cannes-awarded cough) campaign for Snickers, 'Mourinho’s Own Goal No Nos,' is a prime example. A simple WhatsApp interface let people tell us about their friends’ mistakes. They then received an AI-generated message, featuring an authorised clone of José, giving them a personalised, specific dressing-room dressing down. That’s not just an ad; it’s modern-day magic, harnessing tech for wonder. More importantly: it’s the type of comedy gold that reinforces friendships. It bypasses blockers and arrives in a completely different way to hit you in the feels.

The "&" Factor: Human & AI Synergy

Stand by for a fast-emerging cliche: it’s not an either/or scenario; it’s human and AI. That can mean freeing up time by automating tedious asset formatting, or enabling hyper-personalisation at scale and world firsts.

AI slop? No thanks? AI as a platform to achieve new ways of delight and amazement? I’m in.

The goal? To future-proof your brand. To give CMOs a great answer when the CEO asks ‘where’s our growth coming from?’ And we can do that by creating core memories and feelings that transcend blockable channels and cynical audiences. In a low-trust, post-truth world, the unblockable brand isn't built on what you say and how many times you say it, but on what you make people feel and what they do as a result. And with AI as our co-pilot, the possibilities for creating those unforgettable, unblockable experiences - and the unblockable brands they build - are truly limitless.

Read more from T&P here.