AAG 18th Gong Gong Awards held in Accra
The 18th Gong Gong Awards was last Saturday held Saturday in Accra with a call on businesses to integrate AI in their operations to improve efficiency and productivity.
An initiative of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), the programme was on the theme “The Creative Convergence: Human Craft and AI in Advertising.”
Speaking at the event, the President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), Mr Andrew Ackah, said the awards encouraged agencies to improve their work and produce more innovative campaigns in the future.
He stated that agencies invested considerable time, resources and effort in working with clients to develop campaigns capable of influencing consumer behaviour, making recognition an important source of motivation.
He said the awards provided an important platform for recognising the hard work and creativity of advertising professionals
Mr Ackah also announced plans to expand the Gong Gong Awards to include advertising agencies from other African countries as part of the Association’s long-term vision.
According to him, the expansion would expose Ghanaian agencies to stronger competition and encourage them to raise the quality of their creative work to international standards.
Touching on the use of AI he explained that AI had become an important tool in the world of work and must be deployed by businesses.
The Senior Vice President of Publicis West Africa, Mr Anand Badami, urged Ghanaians not to see Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a replacement of human beings but embrace as a tool to enhance human capabilities and improve productivity
He said people must begin to view AI as a transformative technology capable of improving efficiency, and impacting the quality of creative work.
Mr Badami attributed Publicis West Africa’s outstanding performance at the awards partly to its effective integration of AI into its creative processes.
He noted that the rapid advancement of AI made it necessary for workers to continuously learn, adapt and master emerging technologies to remain relevant in the changing workplace.
The Vice President warned that professionals who refused to adapt to technological advancements risked being left behind, while those who embraced AI could use it to improve their skills, productivity and creative output.
Despite the growing capabilities of AI, he stated that human intellect, creativity and the human spirit remained essential and were areas the technology could not fully replace.
According to him, Publicis trained its employees in the use of AI while maintaining clear guidelines to ensure that the technology was deployed responsibly and remained complementary to human creativity.
Publicis West Africa emerged as the Agency and Brand of the Year after securing numerous awards across Craft, Brand Experience and Content, Digital and Technology, Media, Integrated Campaign, and Purpose and Impact categories.
It also won Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.
BY PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG
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