Ryan Paulson presenting a Creative Friction workshop at McCann New York

“The future of your creative department is here.”

Rob Schwartz · Former CCO and CEO, TBWA Chiat/Day

“Ryan helps creative people use technology to deepen and enrich their personal creative process, making intelligence a weapon in discovering the idea that inspires them most.”

John Patroulis · Former Global Chairman of Grey, CMO of Tools for Humanity

What is AI for in a creative organization?

If we use AI to add friction instead of trying to remove it, we can push our creativity and become better thinkers without letting it think for us (and you can tell a human wrote this because that was a run-on sentence, apologies to my fourth grade teacher Ms. McDowell who definitely taught me better than that).

Ryan Paulson
Former CCO, Dentsu Creative New York
BBH · McCann · Droga5 · Mekanism
Workshops run for McCann New York and VCCP

Ryan Paulson opening a Creative Friction workshop in front of the title slide Ryan Paulson working through a brief with a participant Small-group session
"Everything you shared was so helpful and has changed my perspective on using AI to concept for creative."
Senior Art Director, McCann New York
Book a session

Workshops run at McCann New York and VCCP, 2026

What I offer

Workshops

Teams bring live briefs. I guide them through 6 modules from strategy, ideation and presenting through giving better feedback.

Tool Building

Your AI tools should have the digital DNA of your agency or company. Otherwise, you're really just borrowing the point of view of the model maker.

Forward Deployed Creative

I embed on an account and help build tools and processes while we work on the actual work. The tools stay with the team afterwards.

Speaking

"Against Frictionless AI," "How Directing AI Made me Better at Directing Humans," and "Digital DNA" are available as 60-minute or 30-minute keynotes. Ideal for agency leadership or brand summits and conferences.

What people have said

What creative leaders say

Elena KnoxVCCP
"I learned more in 2 hours than I had in 6 months."
Rob SchwartzFormer CCO and CEO
TBWA Chiat/Day
"You may not have figured out AI yet, but Ryan Paulson has."

What participants say

Verbatim, from post-workshop feedback

Creative DirectorMcCann New York
Feedback form, Aug 2026
"The biggest unlock was realizing I can have AI question me, instead of always being the one asking it questions. That feels much more useful creatively because it makes me use my own brain and judgment."
StrategistMcCann New York
Feedback form
"Getting AI to question me on my ideas. Push me to tighten. That was an amazing breakthrough for me."
Creative participantMcCann New York
Feedback form
"...a functionally helpful counterpoint to the hurtling demand for more/faster/cheaper. It lands nicely."
Creative DirectorMcCann New York
Feedback form
"The frameworks like Protect / Push / Drop were some of the most useful CD-level guidance I've heard in a long time. There's real gold in that material. I actually wish more GCDs and ECDs had been in the room for that conversation."
StrategistMcCann New York
Feedback form
"I love giving AI a role beyond 'give me an answer'. I also LOVED the idea of visualizing the 'tired tropes' to help creatives get to somewhere unusual."

Who am I?

Ryan Paulson

Ryan Paulson is the former Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Creative New York, with leadership roles at BBH and McCann, and previous experience at Droga5 and Mekanism. His portfolio includes work for Google, Samsung, Mastercard, Chase, Pepsi and Verizon.

He has spoken on AI and creativity at the University of Wisconsin's Master of Science in Design + Innovation program and the UNC School of Journalism and Media, and taught at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Denver Ad School, Parsons School of Design, Adhouse and Miami Ad School.

Through Creative Friction, he trains creative teams and builds systems that use AI to challenge their thinking and help them develop sharper, more original ideas.

Ryan Paulson
Ryan Paulson walking a team through a prompt on screen Participants working a live brief Ryan Paulson working directly with Creative Friction workshop participants