As interest and investment in generative artificial intelligence (AI) increases, marketers are rushing to test how the technology can be part of their advertising campaigns. Some companies, including Mondelēz International, have in team with agencies and consultancies to scale up their efforts around generative AI, while others like Starburst have used the technology to develop major campaigns. Fintech company Klarna claims to have already done this saved millions on marketing with AI.
However, not all AI generative marketing efforts are equal. Toys R Us received backlash for releasing what it claimed was the first brand film to use OpenAI’s text-to-video conversion tool, Sora, while Google removed a divisive ad around the Summer Olympics to promote its AI products. Given these challenges, creating a video ad campaign entirely with generative AI represents a bold, albeit risky, move. But that’s exactly what IT management platform Atera did, which Marketing Dive can share exclusively.
Two commercials illustrate what IT managers’ dreams are made of – working in a tropical location while creatures play musical instruments and a UFO destroys a printer factory, for example – before moving on to their real desires: a computer all-in-one powered by AI. -a management platform like that offered by Atera. The rest of the nearly minute-long spots are filled with footage of Atera’s solutions in action, as well as more fantastical scenes of white-collar workers parachuting to their desks, astronauts on laptops, and co-pilots of fast robots.
Marketing Dive spoke via email with Elad Gaizler, Head of Creative Marketing at Atera, about the campaign, how it was created, and what it means for other marketers interested in experiment with generative AI.
MARKETING DIVE: When and where did the human element start and stop in this campaign?
ELAD GAIZLER: The human element started with concept development and script writing, where we came up with the initial idea and script ourselves. From there, we enabled the AI to interpret and transform the concept into visual form. Although AI played an important role in generating the visuals, we remained actively involved throughout the process, guiding the results to ensure they matched our vision and met our visual language expectations.
Our marketing team leveraged the following AI technologies to create the entire video series: Sora, Runway, Midjourney, Topaz Labs and Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. So we developed each tool, then stepped away and let AI handle the rest.
Can you characterize the time and money savings enabled by this approach?
The launch of this AI-powered campaign demonstrates how AI can significantly reduce production times, improve creativity and enable businesses to operate with greater agility.
The entire process, from conceptualization to production of the AI, took approximately four weeks. Of this total, the AI part – scene selection and creation – was completed in about a week. We approached the project in stages, collaborating with production company Mamash and a creative duo called Too Short for Modeling, alongside our in-house content and creative teams. Together we developed the storyline and took charge of the creative direction, with AI playing a key role in bringing the concept to life.
This approach allowed us to spend more time and effort refining the creative direction, ensuring attention to detail and maintaining high quality throughout the project.
If this video production had been done in real life, the costs could have reached up to $1 million. By leveraging AI, the team was able to focus more on creative work and high-level direction, improving overall quality without the same financial and time constraints. A traditional production process like this would have probably taken at least three to four months, instead of the four weeks it took us.
Any advice for marketers who want to use generative AI in the creative process?
As with anything unprecedented, it comes with trial and error. It is essential to provide strong and specific prompts. However, the more marketers harness the potential of AI and become bolder in their explorations, the more advanced and refined the technology becomes.
It’s also important to remember that AI and humans have very different skill sets. AI doesn’t have human contact, so I encourage creative teams to use AI to do what it’s best suited for so they can focus on what they’re best suited for.
What were the concerns of creating an AI-generated campaign? A fear of negative reaction?
Actually, no. At Atera, we follow values like innovation in everything we do…being the first and only AI-powered IT management platform, it was natural for us to push the boundaries on the creative side as well . Taking risks is part of innovation, so it was obvious to us that either way, we will learn and grow through this process. That being said, at Atera we also believe that responsible AI is a journey, not a destination.
