“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do this.” For many years, that was our cultural picture of synthetic intelligence — a sentient, vaguely menacing gatekeeper.
However in 2025, AI isn’t saying “no”; it’s a hyper-caffeinated artistic associate saying “Sure, and…” to each wild concept, producing advert campaigns, writing copy and even directing movies. We’re going to discover the campaigns main this cost and the highly effective tech tendencies making all of it potential.
7 AI Promoting Examples That Aren’t Simply Robbing Peter to Pay HAL
From high-concept artwork initiatives to hard-nosed conversion performs, manufacturers are already utilizing AI in methods which might be intelligent, chaotic and surprisingly efficient. And when you suppose these are simply advertising and marketing stunts or tech demos in disguise, suppose once more. We’re speaking actual campaigns driving actual outcomes.
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1. Kalshi: Buying and selling on AI-Generated Chaos
In comparison with LLMs churning out infinite strains of textual content, video turbines are comparatively younger (or a minimum of these delivering outcomes that aren’t laughable). So if you’re amongst those that already performed round with fashions like Google’s Veo, you’ll most definitely do not forget that first dumb clip of a Shiba Inu browsing a wave of spaghetti right into a black gap. Why did we create it? As a result of we are able to.
Nicely, the prediction market platform Kalshi took that precise feeling and turned it into an advert. Their spot, aired throughout the NBA Finals, is a fever dream of stitched-together AI clips that completely captures the gorgeous absurdity of our instances.
The advert’s slogan — “The World’s Gone Mad, Commerce It” — isn’t supported by a coherent story. As an alternative, its power lies in its incoherence. It’s a understanding nod to each marketer and creator who has spent hours down the rabbit gap of generative AI. By leaning into the weirdness, Kalshi created one thing immediately relatable to a digitally native viewers, proving that generally, the most effective story is not any story in any respect.
2. Virgin Voyages: AI Places on a Tuxedo
The standard narrative round AI in enterprise is about “streamlining processes,” which — let’s be trustworthy — is most frequently corporate-speak for “chopping prices.” This often applies to price range manufacturers, not luxurious experiences. Virgin Voyages, nonetheless, flipped the script. They partnered with Jennifer Lopez to create “Jen AI,” an AI-powered invitation instrument for his or her high-end cruises.
Customers enter particulars about their journey, and the instrument generates a customized, shareable video invitation that includes an augmented actuality model of JLo. However right here’s the genius half: it’s a hybrid mannequin. Behind the slick AI entrance finish, Virgin’s “Sailor Providers” crew manually will get to work, planning the group’s itinerary and coordinating bookings. It’s the proper marriage of scalable, high-tech glamor and important, high-touch human service.
3. Nike: Gemini Man Meets Serena Williams
Within the film Gemini Man, Will Smith fights his youthful self. It was a neat CGI trick. Nike took that idea, infused it with machine studying, and created a masterpiece. To have a good time Serena Williams’ retirement, they partnered with AKQA studios to pit 2017 Serena towards her 1999 self in a digital tennis match.
And whereas that’s actually spectacular from a visible and computational standpoint, it’s not the precise headline. What’s most fun is that they invested in a devoted machine studying mannequin that analyzed a long time of match information to simulate how each variations of Serena would play. It accounted for strategic evolution, shot choice, courtroom positioning and even delicate adjustments in reactivity. The end result was a tribute that felt genuine and highly effective. It’s a blueprint for any model trying to make use of AI for main bulletins, whether or not it’s launching a legacy product, celebrating an anniversary and even executing a full rebrand.
4. Nutella: One Jar to Rule Them All (Uniquely)
We’re consistently advised that AI commoditizes artwork and makes content material generic. Nutella’s response was, basically, “Maintain my hazelnut unfold.” In a superb marketing campaign, they used an algorithm to design seven million utterly distinctive labels for his or her jars, every one a vibrant, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.
This tapped into the identical cultural vein as NFTs or a Banksy portray getting shredded — the attract of the singular object. However what’s really fascinating is how they framed it. They didn’t simply promote it as an automation gimmick; they linked it to the “expressive nature of Italians” and their very own model heritage. Very similar to Fiat’s “No Extra Grey” marketing campaign celebrated Italian coloration and aptitude, Nutella used cutting-edge AI to bolster its core, very human, model story.
5. Coca-Cola: Instructing an Outdated Model New Tips
Whereas some manufacturers are constructing AI campaigns from scratch, Coca-Cola is utilizing AI to remix its personal best hits. The beverage big has launched a full-fledged AI technique, beginning with its iconic “Holidays Are Coming” commercials. They used AI to generate beautiful new variations of their basic advertisements, mixing nostalgia with futuristic aptitude.
However they didn’t cease there. Coke launched “Create Actual Magic,” an interactive platform accessible in 26 languages that lets customers co-create artwork with model belongings, together with the well-known Santa Claus illustration from 1931. By opening up their artistic vault to followers by way of AI, Coca-Cola is constructing a participatory ecosystem that strengthens model loyalty on a world scale.
6. Heinz: The Final AI Energy Transfer
This one is 4D chess. Heinz really didn’t use AI to create their marketing campaign. They created a marketing campaign about what AI already thinks of them. Their crew went to DALL-E 2 and different picture turbines and typed in a single easy immediate: “ketchup.”
The end result? Time and again, they received AI-generated photographs that had been unmistakably Heinz bottles, proper right down to the keystone label and iconic form. They compiled the outcomes and made that the advert. It’s a masterful meta-commentary on their very own model dominance. Heinz subtly proved that its model is so ubiquitous, it’s actually baked into the collective digital consciousness that AI fashions practice on. It’s much less of an advert and extra of a victory lap.
7. Spreequell: Berlin Bizarre Goes AI
German mineral water model Spreequell, with the assistance of company Jung von Matt, launched what’s being known as Germany’s first totally AI-generated advert marketing campaign. Like Kalshi, it embraces the gorgeous insanity of AI. The advert is a surrealist collage of Berlin’s city grit and pristine mountain landscapes.
We see the Berlin bear carrying a golden crown, mountains with sardonic cartoon smiles, a sheep DJing and goats hovering over the Berlin Wall onto a meadow. It’s weird, memorable and begs a crucial query: Is “look how bonkers AI is” a sustainable artistic pattern? For now, it really works. However as audiences turn out to be extra accustomed to AI-generated content material, the novelty will fade, and the demand for compelling, human-driven tales will most definitely return. However for now, simply have a look at these goats!
The Tech Behind the Curtain: 3 Traits Driving the AI Advert-pocalypse
These campaigns aren’t taking place in a vacuum. They’re powered by seismic shifts in advertising and marketing expertise which might be making AI extra accessible, highly effective and built-in than ever earlier than.
1. The TikTok-ification of Every thing
TikTok is a video-first universe, and now it’s giving manufacturers the instruments to maintain up. The platform is increasing its Symphony AI suite, which incorporates instruments that may take a static product photograph and, with just a few clicks, rework it right into a five-second video advert, full with music and results. This dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for video promoting, permitting manufacturers to generate belongings at a velocity and scale that was beforehand unimaginable.
2. Amazon’s In-Home Advert Company
To not be outdone, Amazon has rolled out its personal AI-powered video generator to all U.S. advertisers. A model can merely enter a product ID, and the system spins up a number of video variants. It is a game-changer, probably disrupting all the product overview and influencer ecosystem by permitting manufacturers to create their very own high-quality video content material. Nevertheless, Amazon’s sluggish, region-by-region rollout is creating an enchanting — and probably irritating — break up market. In the meanwhile, shopper expectations and advert landscapes within the EU versus the U.S. will diverge considerably primarily based on entry to those instruments.
3. Meta’s Push for Full Automation
Right here’s the massive one. Meta has acknowledged its objective to allow totally AI-automated advert campaigns by 2026. We’re speaking a couple of system the place you enter a enterprise objective and a price range, and the AI handles the remaining: it generates the imagery, writes the copy, edits the video and even defines and refines the audience.
On one hand, this could possibly be a large win for small companies, giving them entry to classy marketing campaign instruments without having an enormous crew or company price range. Alternatively, it raises alarms about artistic originality, model security and the potential for a homogenous digital panorama the place everybody’s advertisements are skilled on the identical information.
This forces a strategic alternative: Will your model thrive with full automation, a human-led hybrid mannequin or a high-touch, human-only strategy? The reply will probably outline the winners and losers of the following decade.
Your Transfer, Human
So, are the machines taking on? Not fairly. They’re taking directions.
The examples from Nike, Heinz and Nutella present us that probably the most highly effective use of AI in promoting isn’t to interchange human creativity, however (nonetheless) to amplify it. The expertise is a paintbrush, a digital camera and a supercomputer rolled into one. Nevertheless it nonetheless wants an artist with a imaginative and prescient.
So, when you had been freaking out about AI advertisements: The true hazard remains to be uninspired advertising and marketing, not a bot taking your lunch cash. The manufacturers that succeed might be those who use these unimaginable new instruments to inform higher tales, create stronger connections and ship actual magic.
Solely time will inform when the pendulum swings again towards extra in-depth storytelling as a substitute of meta-commentary or visible stunts, however it’s already clear that you would be able to’t afford to disregard AI’s position in commercial. You may select to not use it, however trying down on it in the end means neglecting aggressive analysis, and these days, markets merely transfer too quick to make {that a} promising technique.
Word: This text was initially printed on contentmarketing.ai.