Earlier this 12 months, R/GA acquired a frightening job: create an advert that may have been inconceivable to make with out generative synthetic intelligence (AI).
The problem got here from Google, which wished to point out off the capabilities of its generative video mannequin, Veo. Including to the strain, the tech big gave R/GA simply 4 weeks to make the advert.
“It was barely terrifying,” stated Nicholas Pringle, chief inventive officer, EMEA at R/GA.
The outcome, unveiled in June, was “From the Mountains to the Metropolis,” an experimental spot created with Veo and that includes luxurious style model Moncler. The quick movie sparked dialog on social media and at Cannes Lions earlier this 12 months, the place Google confirmed it to a gaggle of inventive leaders.
Whereas the platform had limitations, Pringle stated it pressured his workforce to develop a brand new means of working and confirmed how far AI has superior in a short while.
ADWEEK spoke to R/GA about how utilizing the generative software modified the inventive course of.
Embracing randomness
Filmmaking is often a linear course of—from writing a script and making a storyboard to taking pictures, enhancing, and post-production.
“At no level would you need to return a step, as a result of it’s cost-prohibitive,” Pringle stated.
However with AI, the method grew to become rather more fluid, he noticed. Staying versatile was important, as a result of when creatives prompted Veo for every scene, it didn’t at all times produce what that they had envisioned.
It may very well be “irritating” when a particular scene couldn’t be generated, Pringle famous. For instance, Veo did not render a scene through which a person zipped up a tent. However at different instances, he known as the software “wonderful,” producing surprising outcomes that had been woven into the narrative, such because the ice sculptures that seem within the remaining advert.
“In that means, AI turns into like a creator, as a result of generally the randomness of the expertise presents you with one thing you hadn’t anticipated,” Pringle stated.
Filmmaking with AI permits extra “real-time path,” stated Sadie Thoma, director of Google Adverts advertising. “It opens up the aperture for creativity, since you don’t should shoot precisely what’s in your storyboard.”
However that randomness and fluidity will be difficult with a shopper like Moncler, which has excessive requirements as a luxurious model, Pringle stated, including that Moncler was captivated with experimenting with the tech nonetheless.
Creating with Veo additionally modified the shopper approval course of, as a result of “you’re expressing your thought via a scene that’s shifting and dwelling, so there’s much less of a ‘ta-da’ second,” he defined. “It’s a must to have a transparent imaginative and prescient.”
Constructing a brand new workflow—and coping with limitations
Adopting AI for this undertaking pushed R/GA to develop a brand new inside system for collaboration. The company constructed an app known as Shopflow—constructed with Google’s AI assistant, Gemini—which served as “a shared workspace the place we might deconstruct each factor of a scene,” stated Pringle.
As workforce members prompted their variations of Veo from completely different places of work, Shopflow helped streamline world collaboration and ship extra constant outcomes, he added.
Regardless of these fast developments, AI instruments nonetheless have notable limitations for creatives.
Pringle pointed to character consistency as the largest problem. He famous that in R/GA’s Moncler advert, characters subtly shift in look from scene to scene. Visible glitches just like the distorted tent zipper additionally persist. Tech giants like Google have but to completely remedy these points.
Authorized issues pose one other hurdle.
“There’s a giant limitation across the authorized framework of utilizing AI commercially,” Pringle stated, noting that manufacturers and companies are nonetheless studying keep away from copyright dangers.
People + machines
Veo might have accelerated R/GA’s inventive course of, nevertheless it’s no substitute for human creativity, stated Pringle.
Whereas the video was AI-generated, the rating was not, composed by musician Tom Gallo. And the script, prompts, and visible path got here from creatives, who introduced their style, expertise, and storytelling instincts to the undertaking.
“The mixture of all these issues made it really feel just like the imaginative and prescient of individuals, not only a machine,” Pringle stated. “There’s a software that allows us to create, nevertheless it requires human ingenuity, style, tactical prompting, and understanding leverage that expertise.”
For creatives hesitant to discover AI, Pringle suggested: “Get into these instruments and begin taking part in round with them, irrespective of how idly. Simply try to make your very first thing.”
