Prudential’s PGIM pitches ‘keep asking’ amid AI shift

Prudential chief brand and marketing officer Richard Parkinson says PGIM’s “Keep Asking” campaign was designed to match what customers already do best—solve problems—using a claymation world and a universal hand-raise symbol. He also warns that while AI can ha

When Prudential launched a new PGIM campaign about a month ago, it didn’t just tweak its messaging. It built a whole animated claymation world—an approach Richard Parkinson, the company’s chief brand and marketing officer, says was a deliberate break from advertising norms.

The goal was speed and recognition. Parkinson described a market where many brands seem to lean on familiar imagery—“windmills. roads. and skyscrapers”—and where a brand that not many people know about has “only four seconds to make an impact.” So instead of trying to blend in. the campaign was designed to stand out and create differentiation.

At the center is a simple instruction: “Keep Asking.” Parkinson said the creative theme came from research into PGIM customers. who he described as “problem solvers.” In his telling. they’re drawn to “the puzzle” and “the challenge. ” and that behavior shaped everything from the campaign’s tone to its visual language.

The theme also evolved during development. Parkinson said they noticed a competitor was preparing a campaign that would look too similar, prompting a pivot. He returned to what he called the universal symbol for asking a question—the hand raise—and built it into the animated claymation world. Parkinson said that gesture now runs across all PGIM campaigns and is tied directly to the “keep asking” idea.

Inside the company, that kind of departure from convention didn’t land easily. Parkinson said people were “a bit scared” because it was different and raised an internal doubt: “Gosh, this is different. Can we be that different?” His response was bluntly reassuring—“And yes. of course we can be different. ” he said. adding. “We have the right to be different.”.

That nervousness, he suggested, is part of the cost of trying something new. “And so I think there’s a bit of nervousness in terms of the impact internally. And that’s OK.” Externally, however, the early signals look stronger. Parkinson said people are “noticing it across our social channels. ” and that engagement on social is higher than it was with previous campaigns. He added that there is still more to learn about broadcast impact. but the social response is already showing a difference.

This moment in PGIM’s marketing rollout sits inside a larger unease for Parkinson: the pace at which artificial intelligence is changing how ads are made.

He said AI is already producing “about 70-80% of the work” companies need in many stages of the workflow. That capability. he argued. is useful—and “great.” What concerns him is what comes after that automation: how young marketers are trained. because “a lot of the work that AI is doing used to be the work that we used to train people on.”.

Parkinson said he feels optimistic about the people entering the industry. arguing they can “train us — and particularly me — a lot quicker than before” and become “experts in the tools.” But he wants training to shift toward the human parts that tools can’t fully replicate: “critical thinking. on judgment. on decision-making. ” especially to guard against advertising turning into sameness.

AI. in his view. could flood the market with generic output—“there could be a lot of junk out there if we’re not careful.” So the training focus becomes taste. “We need to train our people on taste. ” he said. and he admitted he’s still working out how best to do that. Still, he’s clear about what he believes will win: “taste is going to win out over generic AI marketing.”.

For Parkinson, that connects back to why PGIM’s “Keep Asking” campaign exists at all. The campaign’s unusual style wasn’t only meant to look different—it was meant to get into the minds of PGIM’s customers and reflect how they think. using a universal gesture that signals questions before words even land.

Running marketing in that environment isn’t effortless. Parkinson called it “exhilarating and exhausting. ” saying the toughest part of being a CMO right now is the pace of change—within marketing and across the business. Companies are navigating “political. the social. and the economic environment. ” and marketing has to respond. sometimes even “lead the charge.” That responsibility. he said. brings both energy and strain.

In a campaign built around asking questions, Parkinson’s message about AI and marketing is essentially the same: the tools may accelerate production, but the work of judgment—and the decision to be genuinely different—still has to be learned, practiced, and defended.

Prudential PGIM Richard Parkinson Keep Asking claymation campaign asset management marketing social media engagement AI marketing critical thinking judgment taste