NORTH STAR INTERVIEW: Pip Bingemann (co-Founder, Springboards.AI)
A man, on a mission, and a Springboard...
This is Pip Bingemann. Normally when I speak to him, it’s late his time being in Oz, and he’s usually got new dad duties to fulfil, despite all that, he’s a constant ray of sunshine. Founder of Springboard (Springboards.ai), the tool that’s taking the agency world by storm, he gave me 10 minutes to explain what’s coming with the tool that’s got a lot of people talking…
An agency-bod at heart, Pip’s career spans crafting brand strategies to launching global campaigns, Pip's energy for innovation is as boundless as Falcor, the dragon-dog he’d gladly call a pet(!). If Pip were a vending machine, it would dispense compliments—”because everyone deserves a pick-me-up on stormy days”. Which is Pip all over, sparklingly, and infectiously, positive. Pip is a powerhouse of creative solutions and he’s creating a tool that’s making a lot of agency folks sweat and smile at the same time…
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THE INTERVIEW
Describe what Springboards is and does in a sentence.
Springboards is the AI + Human creative tool designed to inspire and accelerate creative minds. It works by throwing a heap of inspiration at people to help spark ideas in their heads.
There are currently nine focus areas, from strategy to insights to execution (see six below). It really feels like a game-changer in a lot of respects - and I don’t use that term often! You can go from one line to a TV script in around 10 minutes. Put people’s minds at rest; how will this not be abused by folks to cut swathes of headcount?
Like most technology and ideas you cant stop how people use them but in saying this we have designed springboards to try and NOT give you the answer but instead specifically designed as inspiration. Sure we can throw a thousand ideas at someone BUT they are just that, sparks of inspiration. It still requires someone in control who know what great work is, what will connect, what’s different and how to put their own craft into it to make it great.
When we talked, you described the tool as helping people ‘start from good’ and then improve on ideas; this takes a specific knowledge and a rigour of thinking, right? Is this something you specifically set out to fix about the industry?
Yeah 100% we want this tool to be a starting place but to then elevate the work it takes knowledge but more importantly craft. I don’t think we need to fix craft in the industry, its everywhere BUT I do think that as AI lifts the floor of what is good there is MORE pressure on agencies to continue to push great creativity. This means the whole industry needs to focus on development more than ever. If we’re honest, the ONLY thing the ad industry has ever sold is talented people and if we don’t STEP UP our focus on training and development then the industry does come under increasing pressure.
And what’s been updated for V2?
Everything! The entire tool was rebuilt from the ground up, the backend, how it works. The interface is completely different built with human collaboration front and centre, how we benchmark build variation and continually improve the tool, new springboards new models new everything.
And how has the market changed since V2?
There’s two speeds going on. The speed at which genAI technology is evolving and improving which is mind blowing. I think the LLM side has slowed down and plateaued a bit with the big changes now coming in the application of these tools vs the foundational models getting better. On the image side we have seen competition heat up a lot but the biggest improvement area has been in the genAI video layer which has seen huge improvements. Then there is the industry specific layer which has been WAY slower, there’s been an explosion in AI ‘experts’ and consultants but from what i’ve seen most people are still trying to keep up with the technology changes and still haven’t worked out how to harness it effectively.
I’d agree with that. In your opinion, what do people get wrong when they think about AI and creativity? The arguments are raging online…
It depends on what side so I’ll provide one for each! For the ‘AI maxi’s’, as I call them(!), AI won’t solve everything, it wont lead to the best creative work, it won’t replace people. Its not truly creative in a way that a human is creative. Then there’s the ‘AI hater’s’. AI can be creative. The quicker you learn this the better! The thing i find the most frustrating is how quickly some people are to disregard AI’s ability to be creative based on their very limited interaction with chatGPT. ChatGPT is a bad product – it’s not the benchmark and if you’re forming an opinion based on that then you need to play more. As with most arguments there is truth on both sides.
You’re aiming the tool at agencies rather than brands for some pretty specific reasons, not just your love for the craft. What are they and why did you choose this route?
The main reason is because we understand them. We grew up in agencies, created lifelong friendships and relationships here and honed our own craft in agencies. We know how they work, the pressures and how we can help.
You’re going subscription with this which I think is a smart move. Can you explain the model and the costs? I think people will be blown away that this doesn’t cost more.
It’s a monthly subscription fee. We price each market differently as we believe in value based pricing (which the whole industry needs to move to!). We aim to be around the cost of 1-3 billable hours for a months access (depending on how many seats). The promise is for the cost of 1-3 hours we will save you 40. Saving hours isn’t about people reduction though…it means there is more time to push the boundaries on your ideas and perfect them.
You’re also talking with agencies large for custom versions that are built on agency philosophy, previous work output, etc. What are the considerations when creating different versions for people? With a lot of AI tools, how are you ensuring you stay in the picture long-term?
The considerations start with the agency. Their philosophy, people, process and work. Each one is built from the ground up! Staying in the picture long term is the easy and the hard part. You just need to keep providing outsized value and constantly stay ahead of the curve (the hard part!)
Do you ever see Springboard being wide open and not just focused on agencies? I know a lot of people will want to have access to this!
Argh no idea! Its hard to say without having a crystal ball but if we did probably not in it’s current state. The tool is very much focused on an agency process at the moment.
Roger that. When we did the world’s first live demo, we had it think about TBD Conference, and the tool offered suggestions for some social content. We were both surprised it came back with the official hashtag we use (#TBDconf). How much of what’s already out there about a brand does the tool take into account? Does it create a branded bubble, as it were?
It doesn’t and to be honest I don’t know how much it knows, but I know it always surprises me. These LLM’s are big black boxes and their training data is constantly shifting.
It’s a funny time for the world, and it’s only getting funnier and more sensitive by all accounts. How do you ensure Springboards.ai is culturally aware/sensitive from the off? Has it been misused/abused?
That’s a tough one because we are not here to tell people what is right or wrong. Instead, it’s about giving creatives the best possible tools and trusting them to use their judgement. That said, we take feedback seriously, so if something we build gets misused, we don’t just shrug it off. We course-correct, adapt, and make sure the platform stays a place where creativity thrives without stepping into bad territory. Luckily we haven't had any negative feedback so far!
Also, how do you ensure creative authenticity? Are there any checks for copyright, or is that on the user's onus?
There is no way to guarantee this. We cant check for copyright on everything that is outputted out of the tool but we haven’t trained our tool on anyone’s work AND we keep people in the driving seat to see where the tool sparks an idea in their own mind.
One thing I don’t see, but assume you can paste in, is data insights/sets. Any plans to push in any live data streams etc to make a more reactive or proactive element that might feed into the larger ecosystem or wider world?
We are playing with a few ways to do this at the moment. There’s nothing live today but there will be in 2025.
Give us some idea of where Springboards might go next. Training? Education? Critiquing work?
This might sound weird but we are moving further away from AI as we develop. At its core, Springboards is about inspiration and sure inspiration can come from AI but its by no means the only place - so wherever inspiration lives, we will explore.
Apart from booking a demo, what’s your best recommendation for C_NCENTRATE readers to have a more successful 2025?
I’m not going to give advice about a single year. Some years f*cking suck and no matter what you do, sometimes you can’t do anything about it. We had a horrible 2021 where everything went wrong and nothing we did could make that year easier or more successful. What I will say though is that bad times pass and that plodding through it, getting up, working on new things, experimenting, playing, getting involved in communities that interest you, saying yes to people and helping others all adds up to not a successful year but hopefully a successful decade.