Global advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi has partnered with telecoms company e&, formerly etisalat, and Big Kahuna Films to produce a promotional video using artificial intelligence.
The film, created for e&’s high speed internet package ‘Neo Home Experience’ used AI, CGI, and live-action in its making, and combined over 5000 AI-generated images to develop scenes.
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“This AI-crafted film embodies our vision for the ‘Neo Home Experience’, where technology seamlessly integrates into everyday life, creating an immersive and tech-driven living experience,” said Akram Dohjoka, senior creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi.
AI-generated video ads
The Saatchi & Saatchi-e& collaboration is only one recent example of AI being used in video advertisements.
Coca-Cola released a series of AI-generated Christmas commercials towards the end of last year, created with help from agencies Secret Level, Silverside AI and Wild Card, adapting its classic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ ad with the iconic Coca-Cola drinks truck.
Toys R Us also launched their own video advertisement in the summer of 2024, created using OpenAI’s video generation tool Sora before the tech had been released to the general public.
The growing prominence of AI-crafted adverts has been met with a mixed response from viewers, some welcoming the intelligence and ease of the production process and others criticising its lack of creativity and ‘human-touch’.
James Poulter, head of innovation at House 337, an advertising agency for brands such as Sweaty Betty and Next, says that for the time being we are unlikely to see completely AI-produced adverts become the norm, at least for now.
“There are big opportunities for AI in the production process [of ads] but these entirely AI generated adverts are likely going to be a short term flurry rather than the longer term trend – mainly as the models still mainly create a lot of similar looking videos – I’d be interested to see how brand efficacy and love holds up when consumers know it’s AI generated too.
Regardless, we are likely to see more agencies and brands move towards using AI in some form to aid video production, particularly as the technology improves and becomes more realistic, and as brands and agencies strive to remain competitive.