AI, Storytelling, and the power of human emotion take center stage on Day 2 of MAD STARS 2025
Day 2 at MAD STARS 2025 brought bold ideas and big conversations. From exploring the creative possibilities of AI to reflecting on storytelling’s timeless role in human connection, the sessions pushed boundaries while grounding innovation in meaning.
The day opened with two provocative talks: “Creating Content in the AI Era: The Better You Understand AI, the Better Your Content Becomes!” by science communicator Orbit, and “Brainrot: Stupidity as Brand Connector” by Pancho Gonzalez, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Inbrax.
The day closed with an uplifting keynote by Alex Abrantes, Chief Creative Officer, North America, Iris Worldwide, and a MAD STARS 2025 Executive Juror: “Creative Intelligence Meets Human Emotion and Technology.”
AI may be the newest tool at our disposal, while storytelling is the oldest. For hundreds of thousands of years, stories have helped us understand, shape, and document human existence. In his keynote, Abrantes moved the conversation beyond what AI can or cannot do and asked what AI can create when it partners with storytelling. If AI feels cold, creative intelligence and human emotion can turn it into a source of connection, meaning, and entertainment — the foundations of advertising with the power to create change. Abrantes’s talk showed how imagination can make the impossible possible.
Between the opening and closing presentations, AI was explored from multiple angles. Alejandro Di Trolio, European Creative Chairman at Cheil, examined how to work with the algorithms we often fear to create ideas that improve people’s lives in “There is Anything More Human Than Algorithm.” In “It’s Not About the Sound. It’s About Who’s Listening: Culture, Curiosity and AI-vertising,” Erik Reiff, Founding Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Black Cat White Cat Music, showed how AI can be used as the spark for breakthrough ideas by aggregating global culture and challenging its own answers.
Nino Gupana, Global Creative Specialist at Our LEGO Agency of The LEGO Group, tackled “Artificial Intelligence, Natural Stupidity.”
The day wrapped up with the annual Networking Party at OASE BUSAN, overlooking the beautiful sea of Busan. It was a chance for everyone — from senior leaders to first-time attendees — to connect.
The MAD STARS 2025 Awards results will be announced tonight Friday, August 29, at the Awards Show at SIGNIEL BUSAN, followed by the Closing Party, an opportunity to celebrate, relax, and bask in the joy of attending one of the world’s fastest-growing advertising festivals.
