Columbia Bank [NASDAQ: COLB]

In 1999, I was a design student hearing my teacher rave about Adobe’s newest software, a bold challenger to QuarkXPress. Already immersed in Photoshop and the early energy of the dot-com boom, I watched firsthand as technology reshaped creativity, language and the way we worked. Two decades later, in 2025, the vocabulary has only grown louder, like chat-bots, algorithms, NLP, LLMs, deep learning, prompts and even “training,” which still makes me think of the gym. As someone who has led branding teams for 20 years, I’m struck by how seamlessly these innovations now thread through my daily workflow, elevating rather than replacing what we do. AI has become a powerful creative partner, an orchestra waiting for direction and in my recent work leading a major bank’s name-change rebrand, its impact was undeniable. As General Jack Beringer quips in WarGames (1983) “I need some machine to tell me that?” Today, the answer is a confident yes.

1. Idea Generation

With automated content creation, it’s much faster to decide what best suits your target audience simply because of the sheer number of choices delivered at speed. This, in turn, can boost predictive audience behaviors. Its expansive, never-ending algorithms can even advise you to make sound decisions based on historical contextual data whereas before, you’d just shoot in the dark and hope for the best outcome.

2. Trend Predictions

As a brand strategist, it’s crucial to stay ahead of time and create timeless identities for organizations. Where one used to spend hours researching trends across multiple sources, AI now compiles everything into one quick answer analyzing massive amounts of past and real-time data, spotting patterns, connections and anomalies that the audience might overlook and using those insights to predict habits, design trends or brand shifts. This helps you avoid developing dated brand assets.

"Having guidance from an intelligent source helps leaders construct their thoughts positively and with less margin for error in communication or conflict resolution."

3. Improve Efficiency with Self-Serve Tools

Recent innovations like Adobe Express allow you to lock in brand assets within layouts and enable multiple users to access self-serve template systems to create on-brand work. This is a powerful tool because it saves both company dollars and manpower. In organizations where thousands of associates have content creation demands, marketing departments can quickly become overwhelmed. Locking brand assets in templates and allowing multiple users to create content in real time is a game-changer. No more policing, now you can rely on intelligent tools to do the rest.

4. Brand Governance

Locking in brand assets using tools like Adobe Express also means fewer knocks on the doors of legal and compliance departments. Once your team reviews and approves the template systems, anyone can use those templates worry-free, knowing brand governance is in place. This prevents trademark issues and brand dilution.

5. Improved Leadership Skills

In a tech-augmented reality, advice from a bot can go a long way. Having guidance from an intelligent source helps leaders construct their thoughts positively and with less margin for error in communication or conflict resolution.

All you have to do is ask, and it will tell you exactly what to say and what not to say. In HR, where every word can be career-changing, don’t think twice before consulting a chatbot. AI, with its elevated reasoning and logic gathered from countless use cases, will tell you if you’re on the right path, if your tone is appropriate and if your argument will succeed. It becomes your legal aid, advisor, friend and assistant all at the same time. An intelligence you can trust.