London's Creative Minds Gather to 'Unslop' AI at the Gerety Awards Event
On 21/11/2025, the Gerety Awards hosted a full house at VCCP London for a direct, no-nonsense conversation: how do we stop AI from making dull work and start using it to create meaningful ideas?
Moderated by Nicola Kemp of Creativebrief, the panel featured Ciara O'Meara (VCCP, The Unicorn Union), Valentina Culatti (Snap Inc.), Thea Slevin (Not Just Any), and Mark Eaves (Gravity Road). It was an open session with a simple goal-make better work, not faster sameness.
Why this matters for creatives
AI can speed production, but speed without taste creates noise. The room agreed: the difference-maker is still human judgement-taste, cultural intuition, and lived experience.
AI isn't the problem. "Slop" existed long before it. The industry's job is to stop copying the past and use AI to explore sharper ideas with clearer intent.
Key takeaways from the panel
- Wisdom over speed: Or as Mark Eaves put it, AI may accelerate the work, but wisdom gives it meaning.
- AI is a lens, not a leader: Use it to test, stretch, and sharpen ideas. Don't let it set the brief.
- Culture first: Relevance beats novelty. Start with insight, not prompts.
- More voices, better work: AI can lower barriers so more people can contribute to the creative process.
- Resist the copy-paste past: Avoid training ideas on yesterday's winners. Find fresh references.
Practical ways to "Unslop AI" on your team
- Write the why before the prompt: One sentence: who it's for, what they should feel, and why it's timely.
- Create a taste checklist: 3 cultural references to aim toward, 3 red flags to avoid (tone, tropes, clichés).
- Human-led workflow: Concept by humans → AI for options → edit back to clarity and intent.
- Design guardrails: Usage rights, crediting sources, and sensitive-topic rules-make them visible in your brief template.
- Prototype fast, test with real people: Small rounds, quick feedback from the audience you're trying to reach.
- Measure originality: Look for repetition across outputs, and retire prompts that produce lookalike results.
- Broaden participation: Pair seniors with juniors. Invite non-traditional voices for review rounds.
Moments that stuck
Mark Eaves emphasised the rising value of judgement: tools are everywhere, taste is rare. That's the creative edge.
Lucía Ongay, co-founder of the Gerety Awards, summed up the energy in the room: "AI will change the way we create, but it doesn't change why creativity matters. What we heard in London is that the industry doesn't fear AI - it fears sameness. The real opportunity is to use AI to bring more perspectives, more originality, and more humanity into the work."
The community and the wins
The night also celebrated London's Gerety Award winners, who took the stage to collect their statues. Past jury members, partners, and collaborators from across the UK turned up-proof of a growing community committed to better ideas and better standards.
Thanks went to Pippa Bhatt for her pre-Christmas energy and to VCCP London for hosting a room buzzing with creatives, strategists, brand leaders, and emerging talent.
If you're a creative, try this next week
- Rewrite one live brief with a sharper "why" and a stricter taste checklist.
- Run a 60-minute AI studio session: 20 minutes ideation by humans, 20 minutes AI options, 20 minutes human edit.
- Replace one tired reference with a source outside your category-music, subcultures, local stories.
Keep going
Explore the award's perspective and past winners at the Gerety Awards.
Want structured, practical upskilling for your team? See AI courses by job and this focused stream on prompt engineering.
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