Using AI to make an ad

I work at a marketing agency. Which means part of my job requires testing new tools or processes in the never ending game of staying “in the know.” The latest trend to come across my desk is the use of generative AI platforms to develop campaign ad creatives. Before you say anything, please know that I’m not talking about those one-prompted ChatGPT eyesores spamming your LinkedIn feed. But rather the more brand appropriate creatives like the ones you’re seeing bigger companies play around with ever so lightly as to not set off a wave of scrutiny. Unfortunately, J.Crew missed the boat with their Vans collaboration featuring undisclosed AI models and scenes. While Prada seems to be garnering both positive and negative attention with their surreal AI / VR bird spawn created by artist Jordan Wolfson.

All of which has led me to this fun project i’m journalling about right now. I wanted to know for myself: how are creatives making these ads? I’m seeing one-person agencies heading these campaigns which tells me I may just have all of the tools at my disposal to make an AI generated creative myself.

A bit of digging, a few YouTube videos, and a cheap monthly subscription to an ai platform later and voila. My first attempt.

Note: I didn’t devise some big campaign idea for this one. The test was more along the lines of “take a real world product and add it into an artificial world.”

The result is my coffee mug, floating softly above a sandy horizon. Yeti logo perfectly intact.

All it took was a handful of real photos of my coffee mug to create a “character.” Once the ai platform understood who or what this character was, I could then reference the character (aka my Yeti mug) into completely made up scenes.

So now that I know how these ads are being built, what’s really left is the finessing. The absurd ideas that take these pieces from boring to memorable. Anyone can take a few pictures of their coffee mug, make a character, and reference it. The wow factor now comes from the idea itself. What’s the scene? Where? Why? How? You get the point.

We’re still in the early stages of this tool and consumer sentiment is... iffy to say the least, but from a creative perspective, this is just another tool at our disposal to make great work.