That’s the hot question.
 
Whether ‘tis nobler to use a camera and crew or to take arms against a sea of detractors and do it all on a computer.
 
Well, we think the latter for some clients, having now produced our first two campaigns this way, much to the brands’ delight.
 
They are for Honest Mobile and Secret Escapes holidays.
 
So why did we risk the wrath of an industry scorned?

Well to start with, neither campaign could have been achieved without it for the budgets these brands had.
 
So, the first reason to consider AI is it’s cheaper, much cheaper. Think circa 70% less ie £30k instead of £100K for a traditional production.
 
As a result, AI vastly stretches the canvas for creatives and clients alike.
 
Suddenly, we can propose ideas for smaller, scale-up brands that would have got us laughed out of the room before.
 
The little guy can now compete creatively with the big brands with deep pockets.
 
The creative world is their oyster. The playing field suddenly flatter.
 
Gotta love that, right?
 
Secondly, it’s faster – lightning fast. Hours instead of weeks.
 
Thirdly, it’s environmentally friendly. By a country mile.
 
Here’s an example:
 
Using Ad Green’s calculator*, we worked out the carbon impact of shooting the Secret Escapes commercial to be 179.588 tCO2e – or an off-set equivalent of 180 trees planted to maturity.
 
And that was being conservative with our inputs (eg we put in just one location for the shoot whereas in reality it would have been multiple).
 
Measuring that against a full production through our AI Unit of just 1.39 tCO2e (or 99% more carbon efficient), it’s clear that AI could arguably be justified on green credentials alone.
We didn’t have to create emissions from flights, taxis, sets, generators, lighting, props, catering, castings, wardrobe etc, the stuff that normally makes productions so carbon-heavy.
 
Ok, I hear you say, but what about all those guys who get employment on a traditional production?
 
Well, it’s true it probably did involve fewer people to create these ads. But those who were involved besides the AI engineers (eg models, actors, VO artists, editors, sound engineers etc) were gainfully employed and properly paid.
 
So, what about the legal stuff around rights? Isn’t that a nightmare for a brand?
 
I won’t lie, this kept us up nights for a while and added a few lines to our contracts.
However, we spent a lot of time working out some clever work-arounds so both brands were able to embrace the use of AI with confidence.
 
Having said all of this, AI is far from perfect and many who can afford it, will continue to produce ads the way we have so well for so long.

Would I have preferred to have a 2 week shoot in the Maldives for Secret Escapes?
Of course.
 
But am I also thrilled that I can suggest ambitious creative work to our scale up clients?
I really am.
 
The simple truth is that currently AI is a useful production tool. Like a camera.
 
And it’s far from perfect and fraught with idiosyncrasies and hallucinations.
 
But we don’t think it’s going away and we’re not alone in that.
 
So, to end back on the Shakespearean theme, maybe we “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
 
If you’re interested in how AI could transform your comms or would like to know more about the facts and figures, drop us a line here.
 
* https://www.weareadgreen.org/