Matthew Kershaw is VP Strategy at D-ID. He has a 20-year background in digital media and content marketing, including running MTV Digital. He has been working in AI for 5 years, helping businesses identify and exploit the extraordinary opportunities it presents.
Who is your digital hero?
My hero is Richard Hale, an amazing digital-based Creative Director, but so much more.
We met at BBH where he was a spark of energy, and always worth chatting to if you were stuck. He went on to work in-house at Google as Creative Lead and then Bacardi, spearheading their digital transformation.
What have they done to win hero status in your eyes?
Rich is just a relentlessly positive person, full of ideas but also with the critical thinking needed in digital – where just because you can do anything, doesn’t mean you should.
He also has a real passion for education. He is amazing at fostering cultural and behavioural change, empowering teams to think and act differently. Particularly helping people to adopt AI techniques and processes, which is so needed right now.
How has their heroism helped drive digital?
Innovation is really in his DNA. He has pioneered design methodologies that make ideation, prototyping, and problem-solving quicker and more impactful – and shared that knowledge.
He’s a great teacher and facilitator, so he’s helped many organisations move faster and smarter and had a deep impact on people, personally and professionally (me included), driving innovation in digital marketing.
What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
Generative AI has the potential to revolutionise digital marketing, but too many of us don’t know how to use it effectively. Teams remain paralysed by complexity, unsure of where to start. The knowledge gap is glaring.
So I think we need a hero to help us demystify the tech and make it work for marketers. Industry-specific training that is practical, accessible, and transformative.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I’m no hero but my most hero-like achievement is in my ability to engage with the latest tech.
5 years ago, when everyone was laughing at the early output of tools like DALL•E and GPTs I could see that AI’s ability to create content was only ever going to get better, eventually competing and even beating what a human could do. That was something that I wanted to be a part of, so I pivoted my whole career around it.
Turned out to be the best gamble I’ve ever made.
