Jean-Pierre LaCroix is the president and founder of Shikatani Lacroix Design and the author of ThinkBlink Manifesto: Creating Deep, Lasting Emotional Brand Connections in the Blink of an Eye. During his long and successful career as an innovator, designer, strategist, and transformer of brands for growth, Jean-Pierre — who goes by JP for short — has pioneered the use of neuroscience and virtual reality to gain insights about branded environments and was one of the first individuals to use in-store digital signage and gesture motion UX to engage with consumers.

On this episode of On Scope, the design legend joins host Mike Berberich in studio to discuss what brands misunderstand about good design and why the craft of design often ends up on an organizational island. During a lively and informative conversation, the duo covers a lot of ground, including:

• The reasons why so many brands and marketers have begun to underestimate the value of good design
• JP’s thoughts on the minimalist design trend and its effects on brand differentiation
• How marketers can be better partners to their design teams

On “This Week in ANA Magazine,” magazine editor Matthew Schwartz joins Mike to discuss a new piece on the growing data skills gap in marketing. Mike and Matthew break down why the gap is growing, what marketers can do to make themselves more data savvy, and how artificial intelligence (AI) fits into the picture.

Brand visual identity and human creativity both still matter. But you still need to make sure you’re leveraging AI to the best of your abilities throughout the marketing campaign lifecycle. For that reason, you need to check out the ANA’s Generative AI Essentials for Marketers Certificate Program. This series of six focused courses gives you exactly what you need to keep up with AI, including real-world practitioner experience that you can apply directly to your own work. Best of all, completing the courses will only take you 90 minutes. To learn more and register, visit us www.ana.net/AICert26.

Have an idea for a guest or topic that you'd like to hear On Scope? Let us know by emailing us at onscope@ana.net