Inside the Lab: A Q&A with James Niklasson, Director of Creative Production at Tag

In this edition of Inside the Lab, we sat down with James Niklasson, Global Creative Production Leader at Tag, who leads and enables the Innovation Lab, a working environment focused on exploring how creativity, technology, and production evolve together. 
 
James’ career spans creative leadership and production across top-tier agencies and world-class VFX and production studios, where craft, precision, and delivery are non-negotiable. Having worked through multiple waves of technological change, he brings a perspective shaped by making work at the highest level, and by understanding that progress in craft is rarely linear.

Q: Your background spans both creative and technological experience. How did this journey begin? 

A. When I started out, the industry was already being reshaped by technology, it just had a different name. CG and VFX felt as unsettling then as AI does now, with the same questions about craft, creativity, and the people behind the work. The difference was that those tools were expensive and slow to evolve. 

We built one of the first CG companies in Soho, stitching together tools, training artists on the fly, and creating workflows from scratch. It felt groundbreaking, even if it was rough around the edges, much like AI today. 

You do not learn new technology by discussing it; you learn it by using it, breaking it, pushing it too far, and discovering where it truly helps, and where it doesn’t. 

Those early days taught me that ideas rarely fail for lack of ambition. They fail because the systems around them cannot support the ambition. And that has shaped everything I’ve done since: making sure imagination survives contact with reality. 

Q: You’ve gone on to lead major digital and creative campaigns. Can you tell us more about that? 

A. I’ve worked on both sides of the industry, agencies that win with strategy and ideas, and production and VFX teams that are judged on whether they can actually deliver. Seeing both changes everything, because now it’s all connected: strategy, creative, production, media, delivery. Creative production has never been more literal, it’s turning intent and ambition into work that can truly exist in the world. 

Technology helps us move faster and see things sooner, but it doesn’t remove the hard parts. Structure, alignment, and craft still matter. 

Most of the work I’ve led has been complex: global brands, multiple markets, fast‑moving channels, high creative expectations. In those environments, the idea isn’t the issue, execution is. 

That’s why the old agency, studio divide no longer works. Production thinking has to be there from the beginning, not tacked on at the end. And that’s a big part of what pulled me back to a production powerhouse like Tag, an organisation built to connect the entire chain and deliver under real pressure. 

Q: How has AI changed how we think and work creatively? 

A. It’s changed the speed of creativity more than the nature of it. We can explore, iterate, and test ideas faster, and that’s genuinely powerful. 

But the fundamentals haven’t shifted. Taste still matters. Judgment still matters. Understanding brands, culture, and context still matters. AI can accelerate creative thinking, but it can’t replace it. 

Q: AI has changed collaboration with clients. Would you agree? 

A. Yes, and it cuts both ways. The upside is that clients can now see possibilities much earlier, which helps shape ideas before major time or budget is committed. 

What’s really changed is validation. We don’t use AI for everything, but it’s incredibly helpful early on, especially in concepts and pitches, because it shows intent. It makes it clearer what you’re actually trying to make. Most breakdowns don’t come from the idea itself, but from miscommunication around it. 

Traditionally, clients imagine something huge, budgets say otherwise, and production has to close the gap. Early visualisation aligns expectations sooner, leading to more honest conversations much earlier in the process. 

Q: What parts do humans need to take ownership of in AI? 

A. Direction, judgment and accountability. AI can generate options, but humans have to decide what is right for the brand, what is appropriate for the market, and what should not be done at all. That responsibility does not disappear just because the tools get smarter. 

Q: How can AI and innovation deliver real client value? 

A. Only when it is applied to real production problems. Innovation that starts with a tool usually goes nowhere. Innovation that starts with a delivery challenge has a real chance. 

At tag, value looks like smoother rollouts, fewer revisions, better consistency across markets, and work that actually ships on time without compromising quality. That is what clients feel. That is what they care about. 

Q: What does innovation look like when it’s truly solving a client problem? 

A. Honestly, it is rarely flashy. It looks like fewer late stage surprises. Clearer approvals. Better versioning and localisation. Calmer teams. If innovation is working, the whole process feels more straightforward, not more complicated. 

Q: With so many new tools emerging, how do you decide what to use, and how do you stay on top of AI as it evolves? 

A. We stay pragmatic. Some tools are production‑ready; others are just impressive demos. We test constantly, but we don’t assume everything belongs in a live workflow. The question we always return to is simple: Does this improve delivery without adding risk? If yes, we lean in. If not, we wait. 

The best way to stay ahead is by staying close to real production. You only understand a tool when you put it into an actual workflow, with real deadlines, clients, and markets, and see where it breaks. That’s where the truth is. 

Q: What excites you most about where creative technology is heading, and how does tag’s Innovation Lab shape that future? 

A. What excites me is the chance to rebalance scale and craft. Historically, increasing volume meant compromising quality. Intelligence gives us a way to protect craft while delivering more, if we use it with discipline. That’s the real opportunity. 

Tag’s Innovation Lab exists to make sense of that change. We’re not here to chase novelty, but to connect imagination and intelligence in ways that actually work in production. That means helping clients understand what to adopt, what to avoid, and how to move forward without destabilising their organisations. 

If we do it right, innovation feels less like disruption and more like steady progress. 

A Closing Thought

I have been through enough technology cycles to know one thing. Tools change, fundamentals do not. Great work still depends on imagination, judgment, and execution and tag's role is to connect those things in a way that is honest, practical, and scalable. That is how the work lands.