Inside the Lab: A Q&A with Jon Compton, Production Operations Director at Tag

In this edition of Inside the Lab, we sat down with Jon Compton, Tag’s Production Operations Director. With a career that bridges creative craft and cutting-edge technology, Jon has worked on everything from iconic feature films to global brand campaigns. Today, he shares how that journey shaped his approach to innovation, the role AI plays in modern production, and why human creativity remains at the heart of it all.

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

A: It began with craft rather than strategy. Starting hands-on in post-production taught me how stories are actually built - rhythm, detail, timing and the discipline of making every frame earn its place. Working in environments with limited tools, but high expectations shaped how I think about technology. It’s a way to unlock imagination and solve practical creative problems. That foundation still guides how I approach creative technology today - start with the story, then design the tools and workflows around it.

Q: You’ve gone on to lead major digital and creative campaigns. What kind of work has shaped you most?

A: The work that sits at the intersection of high creative standards and operational reality. Film taught me the level of craft and care that great work demands. Large-scale advertising and digital delivery taught me how to maintain those standards under pressure, across multiple markets, with tight timelines and budgets. That tension - quality versus scale - is where most of my thinking now lives, and it’s where AI and new production models become genuinely useful rather than just interesting.

Q: How has AI changed how you and your teams work creatively?

A: AI has changed the speed and openness of early creative thinking. Teams can explore more directions, faster and visualise ideas that previously lived only in conversation. That has made the front end of the creative process more collaborative and less precious. What hasn’t changed is the need for judgment so story, taste and intent still determine whether something is good. AI accelerates exploration, but it doesn’t replace the creative choices that give work meaning.

Q: Has AI changed how you collaborate with clients?

A: Yes - collaboration is more immediate and more visual. Instead of talking in abstract terms, we can show possibilities early, which helps clients engage in the creative process rather than react to it later. The key is managing expectations: being clear about what’s exploratory versus what’s production-ready. When that is well managed, AI actually strengthens trust and speeds up decision-making rather than creating confusion.

Q: What parts of the AI process must humans still own?

A: Three things must always stay human-led:

Intent - what the work is trying to say and why; Judgment -  taste, ethics and responsibility to brands, audiences and talent; Accountability - people design the system and sign off the work, so ownership can’t be outsourced to a tool. 
AI can generate and optimise, but responsibility for meaning and impact can’t be automated.

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

A: Real value shows up when clients get to better work faster, at scale, without losing control of quality. That might be through faster exploration, smarter versioning or removing friction from repetitive production tasks so budgets can be spent where they matter most - performance, talent and craft. Innovation only matters if it improves outcomes, not just efficiency. Cheaper isn’t the goal, better and more sustainable delivery is.

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

A: It rarely looks flashy. The most meaningful innovation tends to be invisible - better workflows, clearer handovers, smarter review cycles and hybrid processes that let teams move quickly without breaking quality or trust. When creatives feel less constrained by process and clients feel more confident in delivery, that’s when innovation is actually doing its job.

Q: With so many tools out there, how do you decide what to use?

A: We start with the problem, not the tool. Then we test whether something holds up under real production pressure, respects IP and data boundaries and fits into an end-to-end workflow rather than becoming a disconnected experiment. Tools earn their place by improving quality, speed or reliability in a way we can scale responsibly. Everything else stays in the sandbox.

Q: AI evolves so quickly. How do you stay on top of it?

A: By staying close enough to understand what’s real, without getting swept up in the hype. We run controlled pilots, learn where things break and bring legal, tech and creative perspectives into the same room early. Having lived through multiple tech waves, I focus less on novelty and more on what consistently helps teams deliver better work for clients.

Q: What excites you most about where creative technology is heading?

A: The barriers to making high-quality work are falling, which shifts the focus back to taste, originality and responsibility. The opportunity now is to build teams and pipelines that combine deep craft with flexible, AI-enabled workflows. The exciting part isn’t replacing people -  it’s removing friction so people can spend more time on the creative decisions that actually matter.

Q: What role do you see the Innovation Lab playing in the future of brand storytelling?

A: The Lab should be the bridge between experimentation and real-world delivery. Its role is to test new tools safely, understand their limits, and turn what works into repeatable, trusted workflows for brands operating at scale. When it’s working well, innovation stops being a side project and becomes part of how better stories are told - faster, more reliably, and with greater confidence from clients.