Recently, The American University of Rome was pleased to host Fabrizio Caperna, award-winning Creative Brand Director at T&P, for a lecture on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), creativity, and advertising.
Caperna, whose career is distinguished by his ability to merge ideas and technology to deliver groundbreaking campaigns, shared his perspective on the evolving role of AI in the industry. While acknowledging AI’s growing presence in marketing and communications, he made clear that its power lies in supporting - not replacing - the creative imagination that only humans can provide.
“Artificial intelligence can drive production and efficiency,” he explained, “but true innovation, personalization, and cultural relevance remain uniquely human contributions.”
To illustrate his point, Caperna presented the widely acclaimed Snickers José Mourinho campaign. In this initiative, consumers interacted with Mourinho’s digital persona, receiving witty and motivational responses crafted through the integration of eight AI systems. Yet, Caperna emphasized, the creative vision - the humor, tone, and cultural resonance - was designed by human strategists.
For Caperna, the most effective campaigns strike a balance, blending AI’s capacity for production with human creativity, strategic insight, and authentic storytelling. Technology, he argued, must always serve as an enabler of human ideas rather than their replacement.
Caperna closed by encouraging AUR students to embrace the rapid evolution of digital tools while holding fast to curiosity, humility, and a willingness to step beyond their comfort zones. These, he stressed, are the qualities that will define the next generation of creative leaders.
Student Assistant, Caroline Baldwin, contributed to this article.