Marie-Celine Merret and Vinne Schifferstein, former leaders at Clemenger and Monks, have launched MC&V AI Creative Production in Sydney. With decades of global experience, the duo aims to balance AI innovation with human judgment, delivering high-end creative work for brands while championing craft, restraint, and specialised talent in modern advertising.
Sydney, Australia, 4th February 2026 — In an industry awash with hype, speculation, and promises about artificial intelligence, two seasoned leaders are cutting through the noise with a venture that insists on grounding AI in craft, judgment, and commercial reality. Marie-Celine Merret and Vinne Schifferstein, both veterans of Clemenger and Monks, today announced the launch of MC&V AI Creative Production, an AI-native production company designed to meet the demands of modern advertising while protecting the integrity of ideas.
The duo’s partnership is built on nearly four decades of combined experience across global markets. Merret, known as MC, has spent 15 years in agency and production roles spanning New York, Paris, and Sydney. Schifferstein, or V, brings 22 years of expertise across Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, London, and Sydney. Their paths first crossed six years ago, and since then they have collaborated on pioneering ventures, including establishing Monks in Australia and New Zealand and later reuniting at Clemenger to build MADE THIS, a trailblazing high-end Creative AI production unit.
Their new company, MC&V AI Creative Production, is not just another entrant into the AI conversation. It is positioned as a response to the frustrations many clients and agencies have expressed about the gap between AI’s promise and its practical delivery. Over the past two years, Merret and Schifferstein have immersed themselves in the realities of AI production, delivering live campaigns, hybrid AI and live action productions, content systems, and workflows for global brands such as Adidas, KFC, Afterpay, Samsung, Uniqlo, and Schweppes.
“There’s a lot of noise around AI, but many clients and agencies have been disappointed by the reality,” says 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.”
This emphasis on restraint and judgment is central to MC&V’s philosophy. Rather than treating AI as a blanket solution, the company’s model begins with designing the right production workflow, then assembling the exact expertise required for each brief. The founders stress that their approach involves making clear decisions about when AI adds value—and when it doesn’t.
Schifferstein echoes this sentiment, highlighting the industry’s fatigue with generalists and speculative work. “When we spoke to the industry, we heard the same thing again and again: enough generalists, enough hype, enough spec work. 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.”
The company’s credibility is reinforced by its role in founding the AARON Awards, the world’s first award show dedicated to celebrating the craft of AI in advertising. For Schifferstein, the awards are more than a showcase; they are a vital connection to a growing global community of practitioners. “With new practitioners emerging all the time, 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.”
Even before its official launch, MC&V has already delivered work in partnership with agencies such as Apparent, Block (Kitchen Warehouse), Emotive (Weis), and Springboards. These collaborations underline the company’s commitment to partnering with agencies to realise creative ambition, demonstrate what is possible in this evolving medium, and provide reassurance that the work will stand up in the real world.
The industry response has been enthusiastic. Josh Mullens, Head of (Eastern) Block, praised the duo’s ability to balance technological innovation with creative integrity. “MC&V get it. They don’t just understand AI, they understand ideas, production and pressure. They bring in the right specialised talent and know how to push the technology hard without breaking the work.”
For Merret and Schifferstein, the launch of MC&V AI Creative Production represents both a culmination of their journey and a new chapter in advertising’s evolution. Their careers have spanned continents, agencies, and disciplines, but the common thread has been a commitment to craft and an insistence that technology must serve creativity, not overwhelm it.
In an era where AI is often presented as a panacea, MC&V’s approach is refreshingly pragmatic. By embedding themselves in the realities of production, they have built a model that acknowledges both the potential and the limitations of AI. Their insistence on human judgment, restraint, and craft positions them not as evangelists of technology, but as guardians of ideas.
The launch also signals a broader shift in the industry. As AI talent becomes increasingly specialised, the need for companies that can design workflows and assemble the right expertise is growing. MC&V’s model reflects this reality, offering clients not just AI solutions, but production systems that integrate seamlessly with creative ambition and commercial demands.
Ultimately, MC&V AI Creative Production is about more than technology. It is about trust—trust that ideas will be protected, that creativity will not be compromised, and that work will hold up under the pressures of timelines, budgets, and reputational stakes. For brands navigating the complexities of modern advertising, that trust may prove invaluable.
As the industry continues to grapple with the implications of AI, Merret and Schifferstein’s venture offers a reminder that technology alone is not enough. What matters is how it is applied, who applies it, and the judgment that guides its use. With MC&V AI Creative Production, the future of advertising may be powered by AI, but it will be defined by craft.
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