Ronita Mukerjee is a client leader at Landor who specialises in building brands shaped by bold ideas, human truth and meaningful transformation. She has led award-winning work across organisations such as ISB, India Gate Basmati Rice, Google India, Tata Cliq Luxury, Camlin, Taj Hotels, Diageo, and Tata Consumer Products. A WPP Stella mentor and author of Lockdown Musings, she is deeply committed to creativity, culture and developing future women leaders. Grounded by her practice of Heartfulness meditation, Mukerjee champions imagination as the irreplaceable human force behind original branding, a perspective she elaborated on in her conversation with Shivangi Agarwal of The Himalayan Times ahead of BrandFest 2025. Excerpts: Your session explores the idea that AI can imitate but not imagine. How do you define 'originality' in the context of modern branding? Brands that not only do the job, but also move you in some way are built on human truths, bold ideas and courage. Think of Patagonia, they sell high quality outdoor products but also have a strong commitment to the betterment of the environment which makes them stand out, and stand for something that is meaningful and memorable. Many brands today gravitate towards safe, predictable solutions. From your experience, why do you think this 'sea of sameness' has become so widespread? Look, sometimes 'safe' is a business decision. Brands sometimes don't want to stand out and I call it the fear of standing out (FOSO). Having said that, safety can also be memorable. This is where the power of imagination comes to play. And sadly, with growing AI adoption, we are merely imitating and repeating patterns. AI has transformed creative work in major ways. What do you think brands risk losing when they rely too heavily on AI-generated ideas? AI mirrors back what we feed into it. It cannot look into the unimagined and unseen future. If you only rely on AI generated ideas, you risk missing the breakthrough ideas that come from human imagination. You talk about the human spark behind breakthrough ideas. What qualities or processes help teams nurture that kind of intuition and emotional insight? Curiosity to know more is important. It is equally important to step beyond your immediate world. For example, I don't read as much about brands as I do about geo-politics and travel. It broadens your thinking and then when you least expect it, your mind starts connecting the dots in new and exciting ways! For brands trying to stand out today, what practical steps can help them cultivate originality without losing strategic discipline? That's what I will be talking about. The elements of originality according to me are insights, varied perspectives, powerful stories and courage to pursue. At BrandFest 2025, what is the key message you hope participants will take away about the role of human creativity in an AI-accelerated world? Assign clear roles to AI and HI. AI can imitate but it cannot imagine.