Kurt Burnette’s new adventures in AI
Seven's former chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette spent 30 years in the media business, where he saw the role of digital technology grow to impact every aspect of the industry. His next venture is about using AI to help break down barriers of entry that were once cost prohibitive.
Kurt Burnette
Kurt Burnette has been watching Cre8tive AI studios closely for the last few years. Started by two friends of his, the company was working for financial institutions, creating algorithms for trading and making short form video for socials.
He saw an opportunity to widen the scope.
“To be solving different problems for different sectors of the industry outside of finance. Into advertising, but also into other areas.”
He joined the company as AI brand consultant — which he explains is basically the chief customer officer — and started repositioning the company.
In a nutshell: Cre8tive AI is about using artificial intelligence to “enable businesses to create parts of content that might be too expensive to make if they do it in the traditional way. ”
Kurt Burnette
While at Seven, and working with AWS, Databricks, and Salesforce, Burnette saw the way AI was increasingly used as a tool across all elements of the business.
“I really see an opportunity,” he tells Mumbrella. “We’re working with movie houses who are doing pitches, studios who just make general ads. We’re also working with tourism bodies like Dubai Marina, real estate bodies who are doing big developments.”
Burnette said his clients are “people who are looking to sell something, where there’s currently nothing to show.”
He points to their work with Dubai for a marina project. “Dubai Marina. That doesn’t exist. But they wanted to create something that they could then sell to other people to say, ‘come in, because this is what it’s going to be.'”
Burnette says they are using up to 30 different AI tools at any one time. The goal is not to create an entire project using AI, but to lower overall costs and open up possibilities.
“Our objective is not to compete with a big production or creative house,” Burnette says, saying he expects most of the business to come from small to medium-sized enterprises and marketing agencies. He says the AI models used have no gender bias, and do not breach copyright.
Not real
“It’s not taking out humans,” Burnette says. “It’s enhancing the opportunity that exists for clients and agencies. Agencies, media, creative, whatever it is.
“Because, you know, there’s so many opportunities where work is not getting greenlit because it’s becoming too expensive. Imagine if you could take out 40% of the cost, which enabled work to get shot.
“We can deliver incredible drone shots coming through New York cityscapes that could be dropped into an existing traditionally shot creative.
“Those are the sort of things where we see opportunities to help enable work get done.”
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