BackgroundAs an art director, I'm always looking for ways to sharpen my thinking—not just visually, but strategically. While peer feedback and mentor critiques are invaluable, I wondered if there was a third lens I hadn’t tapped into yet. That curiosity led me to an unlikely collaborator: artificial intelligence. Specifically, I wanted to see what it would look like if I could get feedback on my portfolio through the voice and values of David Ogilvy—arguably one of the most foundational thinkers in advertising.
The IdeaWhat if I trained a GPT model on Ogilvy’s published work—his books, interviews, internal memos, and brand philosophies—and then used it to analyze my portfolio?Not just for kicks, but as a real tool for creative accountability. I wasn’t looking for flattery. I wanted honest, sometimes even harsh, insight. Was my work clear? Was it rooted in a strong idea? Would it sell?
The ProcessI gathered a body of Ogilvy’s writings—Ogilvy on Advertising, Confessions of an Advertising Man, old agency memos, and archived interviews—and fine-tuned a custom GPT model based on that language and philosophy. Then, I fed in my portfolio projects and prompted the model for critique, strategy questions, and feedback on messaging, design decisions, and storytelling structure.It was surprisingly sharp. Not always correct, of course, but often challenging in the right way. It forced me to rethink word choices, simplify visuals, and re-anchor concepts to something more human.
4.5/5A Stylish, Strategic Platform That Needs a Bit More GutsThe MM.X campaign is elegantly executed, conceptually sound, and deeply considered. It’s clear the team understands branding, tone, and modern cultural tension. The core idea—An Experiment in Class—is clever and multilayered. The assets are clean. The activation is memorable. The lookbook shows creative ambition beyond the ad space.But.The work stops just shy of greatness. It’s beautiful, yes—but maybe a little too beautiful. The product itself is loaded with tension (a non-alcoholic bourbon from a historically booze-soaked brand), yet the campaign skirts around that edge. It could dig deeper into the weirdness, the discomfort, the absurdity of “bourbon without buzz.” Instead, it plays it safe in a very polished, very portfolio-friendly way.
