Rhoda Sell of AI-driven advertising firm Automated Creative takes the pen to tell Ambition A.M. what it takes to solve personal frustrations with an innovative business model.
Every week, Ambition A.M. passes the pen (or keyboard) to a founder eager to share the unfiltered stories fuelling Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit.
This week, we pass the pen to Rhoda Sell, chief operating and founding director of AI-driven advertising agency Automated Creative.
Sell, who is building her business in a world that’s becoming increasingly driven by tech – and advertising – tells us a little bit about what she’s learned so far and what she plans to put into focus next.
Why did you start your business?
Putting together an ad campaign is fun – especially coming up with big ideas. However, what’s frustrating is seeing creative decisions being made without solid audience data and – even worse – having to manually create multiple versions of the same ad for hundreds of placements and platforms.
We knew there must be a way to solve these issues with tech.
Consequently, Automated Creative was born – out of frustration!
Rhoda Sell
All the founders had worked in the advertising industry and we knew first-hand that aspects of the job could be improved. I was freelancing as a content director, but I’d worked with (co-founders) Alex and Tom before and they needed someone with organisational skills, which is what I love to do!
None of us had a tech background, though, and when I came on board, the business was no more than a concept.
We were able to move from an idea discussed around a kitchen table to a product relatively quickly. Industry reaction to what we were doing was positive because we knew firsthand the problem we were solving—we’d all been there.
What is your biggest accomplishment (to date) as a female founder?
Since its inception, Automated Creative has been profitable year over year, which is a terrific achievement, especially considering we worked through the pandemic.
We’re also competing in a space that’s chock full of private equity-funded businesses focused on technology or automation, who have access to a lot more resources than we do.
I kind of see us as their indie rival. We may be a tech-enabled platform, but we have the heart of a creative advertising agency and bring that human consultancy and expertise to what we do.
We still live and breathe creatively and care deeply about making great ads that deliver valuable commercial outcomes, over-creating rubbish online ads at scale, and hoping some will stick.
What do you hope to achieve next?
We’re at an interesting point in time now: AI – and notably GPT tools – is allowing us to do even more with less coding time so we’ll be able to build in even greater efficiencies.
Ultimately, we’re excited about where AI can take us and how data and creativity can complement each other. The advertising industry relies on billable hours, which will be heavily disrupted by efficiencies in automation.
I think our focus on giving that efficiency back to brand clients, as well as adding value around better creativity, performance and insight, is where the industry needs to go.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
We’re up against some pretty big competitors, so we want to keep punching above our weight and get to a position where we can grow while maintaining our values.
It’s tough when you’re pitching against bigger tech firms who have the advantage of economies of scale and can afford to cut their costs in an instant. We’re fighting the good fight, and I’m hugely proud each and every time we win a client against one of these businesses.
How do you define success?
Enjoying your job and looking forward to coming into the office every day. There has to be a certain level of challenge, but this needs to be balanced with respecting everyone’s mental wellbeing.
From this perspective, AI and the automation of menial tasks could be a huge step forward for the creative and ad sectors, which are already struggling with burnout and churn.
This is a massive issue for London. One in seven jobs in the capital are in the creative sectors, which are worth over £50bn to the city’s economy.
While the ad industry is often seen as glamorous, the reality is it’s a career that comes with a lot of pressure.
Rhoda Sell
Last year NABS (the sector’s support charity) reported that demand for its mental health and wellbeing services rose by 49 per cent.
A recent survey from The IPA, Adland’s trade body, found that 78 per cent of employees felt workplaces could do more to support their mental health.
These statistics are worrying and demonstrate the need to find new ways of easing the strain on people’s workloads – I hope this is one area where technology can be a force for good.