We found out what happens when you put your ego aside as a creative person — and it might completely change how you think about creativity.
A couple of weeks ago, we took our creative team offsite to Google for a one-day Creative Hackathon. The goal: create a scroll-stopping ad in a single day, and let the algorithm, not opinions, choose the winner.
“It was kind of stressful at first — to develop an idea and execute in one day,” said Itzik Cohen, Creative Director. “You’re used to layers of approvals with time for polishing. Here, you had to just trust your gut, and your team.”
What made the hackathon so intimidating was the realization that it’s easy to get comfortable hiding behind processes. With so little time, there’s nowhere to hide; you either make something bold, or you don’t make anything at all.
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The setup
We split into teams of two or three. Each team got the same brief:
Show how Artlist’s AI tools make video editing faster, easier, and more intuitive.
The rules were simple;
- All ads would launch on the same date
- Equal budget split
- Mobile-first, loop-friendly
- Under 60 seconds
- Targeting a US audience
To raise the stakes, we added a little friendly competition. The winning ad would be crowned based on views, CTR, and cost per site visit.
With emotions out the window and no time for stakeholder alignments, approvals, or internal politics, performance was the only thing that mattered.
Eldad Weinberger, Creative Lead at Google, shared: “Artlist’s creative hackathon was much more than just a fun team-building exercise. It’s a powerful way to unlock creativity, streamline production, and drive real value. Shorts demand a unique approach, and the hackathon, which specifically focused on best practices and trends for this format, encouraged the teams to think natively about what makes a short video successful, rather than trying to adapt longer-form content. The result was super cool, and are already proving to be highly effective.”
“I loved it,” said Gili Aharoni, Motion Designer. “You stop trying to impress people in the room and start thinking about the person scrolling their phone at 11 PM. That’s your audience.”
When comfort becomes limiting
For many of us, it was a return to something that often gets lost in day-to-day work: creative play, working with people outside of your usual bubble, bouncing ideas around, a bit like improv. Saying “yes, and…” instead of checking with the manager.
It was refreshing and a reminder of how valuable it is to change the setting and the tempo every once in a while.
“I’m used to having a lot more time to ideate, to test different approaches, and getting feedback from five different stakeholders,” Ayala Levi, Senior Marketing Copywriter, explains. “But when you only have a few hours, you just have to trust your instincts. And that constraint made the work feel more authentic.”
Ayala got to scratch her creative itch and go completely off-script with: “A deranged story I came up with on the spot about a guy having an existential crisis and creating his own AI family. It’s weird, not like anything I’d normally get away with, but that’s what makes it fun.”
The audience has the final say
Our team is a mix of seasoned creatives with years of marketing experience and junior talent, still early in their careers, but no less sharp.
That mix of depth and fresh perspective was exactly what this challenge demanded. Structure, strategy, and storytelling polish blended with instinct, speed, and the boldness to break the rules.
When performance matters most, Shir Aviram, User Acquisition Manager, emphasizes why this was right in her wheelhouse.
“I work with data all day, and while we aim to push what works, it’s true that not everything beautiful necessarily converts. I genuinely love most of the creatives we create. Still, sometimes even the most visually stunning work doesn’t perform the way we expect.”
What we learned
This day wasn’t just a test of creative output but a test of how we work. It stripped away our usual safety nets and reminded us what we’re made of, and what we’re capable of, which, ultimately, when you strip away the regular day-to-day, reveals the core valuable talent we’ve been brought to the table for.
Here’s what that raw creative talent taught us:
- Constraints liberate creativity. Deadlines leave no time to overthink, forcing bolder, braver decisions.
- Data sharpens focus. When you know you’re optimizing for CTR, you write your hook differently. You design for attention, not approval.
- Fresh collaboration sparks unexpected ideas. Mixing teams created energy, tension, and unhinged concepts in the best way.
- Speed reveals authenticity. Without time for perfection, you get real instincts. Raw thinking. And sometimes, better results.
- The algorithm doesn’t care about your ego. No matter how senior or experienced you are, the audience has the final say. That kind of clarity? Liberating.
Rewriting the rules, without throwing out the playbook
This wasn’t about replacing thoughtful brand storytelling with quick-hit performance content. But it is a reminder to confront something most creative professionals don’t like to admit. How much of what we call “creative process” is often masked as procrastination?
The algorithm doesn’t care about your years of experience or your design philosophy. It cares about one thing: does this connect and make someone stop scrolling? And maybe that’s exactly the creative constraint we needed.
“We’re not throwing out our process entirely,” Lena Shulman, Brand Creative Director, shares. “But we are questioning which parts actually serve the work, and which just make us feel better about it.”
The four ads are still live, and we’ll share them, along with the winner based on 30-day performance data. But we’ve already gained something more valuable. We reconnected with our instincts, worked fast, and remembered who our word is actually for.
Final thoughts
When was the last time you surprised yourself with a creative solution?
What would your team create with one day and complete creative freedom? Start creating today with Artlist.
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