Marie-Celine Merret and Vinne Schifferstein.
Marie-Celine Merret and Vinne Schifferstein have launched MC&V AI Creative Production, an AI-native production company.
Merret and Schifferstein previously established Monks in Australia and New Zealand, before reuniting at Clemenger, where they built MADE THIS.
Merret told AdNews that the plan is to help brands along to see where they can actually drive the most ROI from AI.
“It's not about replacing everything, It's about understanding where AI can slot in, and being able to bring them on the journey," Merret told AdNews.
"The right talent can actually elevate and achieve whatever they want to do, and go beyond what we think is possible for a budget.
“Lots of big visions can actually now be brought to life through AI.”
Merret spent 15 years working in agency and production roles across New York, Paris, and Sydney, while Schifferstein has accumulated 22 years of experience in agency and marketing roles across Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, London, and Sydney.
“There’s a lot of noise around AI, but many clients and agencies have been disappointed by the reality,” said Merret.
“We’ve been in the trenches, solving real production problems under real timelines for real clients. Beyond producing high-end AI work, we’ve built long-standing relationships with specialist AI artists worldwide.
“Practitioners with deep roots in animation, filmmaking and visual craft who we’ve developed, tested and delivered with repeatedly.
“Our role is to protect ideas from bad AI decisions and ensure the work holds up creatively, commercially and reputationally."
Merret told AdNews that people are starting to experiment and use it to generate simple things.
“We're now at an infliction point with the tools, and a lot of the talent is where they can really go into full production workflows and achieve production grade quality content,” she said.
“Last year, we've seen the Australian market really turn around to AI and open up to it. When we started this two years ago, there was still a lot of hesitation around it. So the last year has accelerated in terms of adoption, acceptance and wanting to dive in.”
For more than two-plus years, they have delivered live campaigns, hybrid AI and live action productions, content systems, and production workflows for a range of brands such as Adidas, KFC, Afterpay, Samsung, Uniqlo and Schweppes.
“When we spoke to the industry, we heard the same thing again and again: enough generalists, enough hype, enough spec work,” said Schifferstein.
“Both clients and agencies told us they couldn’t find experienced operators who really knew how to turn AI into high-quality, commercially deliverable work - at speed and scale, on time and on budget - without compromising on creativity and craft.”
Schifferstein told AdNews that clients are also better at articulating their own ideas, because they also use the same tools.
“They now brief their agencies with a much clearer vision, because they can visualise what they have in mind,” she said.
“Strategists can already visualise their thinking to the creative teams, who can then start their creative development process with something tangible in mind already.”
MC&V are also founders of the AARON Awards, dedicated to celebrating the craft of AI in advertising.
“With new practitioners emerging all the time,” said Schifferstein.
“the awards have been a brilliant platform for staying connected with this vibrant community. It’s yet another way we’ve been able to access the world’s leading talent; the roster of judges alone is absolutely world-class.”
Prior to their official launch, MC&V has delivered work in partnership with Apparent, Block (Kitchen Warehouse), Emotive (Weis), and Springboards.
“MC&V get it. They don’t just understand AI, they understand ideas, production and pressure,” said (Eastern) Block head, Josh Mullens.
“They bring in the right specialised talent and know how to push the technology hard without breaking the work. That combination is rare and we love working with them.”
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