Harnessing AI Video for Ajdan’s Harrods Campaign
Artificial Intelligence is the hot topic at the moment, with everyone rushing to understand how this new and exciting technology can be used to improve their services and workflows, and we’re no different! We’re total geeks for any exciting technological bling, and AI video has always been an interesting topic to help us develop new tools to enhance video production, and make it better or more accessible for our clients.
With all these developments around AI’s use in video content, it was something DAKONA were incredible keen on exploring when the right opportunity presented itself. Well, when we started having a conversation with our client, Ajdan, we explored a radical new idea that would be a neat way of solving an unusual issue – converting still images into AI video content.
This isn’t science fiction any more! We’re using AI to turn a folder stuffed with photographs, and converting it into compelling video clips for a massive Harrods campaign. Let’s explore how this project became a practical example of using AI for video production to solve a real-world creative challenge.
What on earth is AI video content?
With OpenAI opening pandoras box with the development of ChatGPT, there’s now a AI-race for large tech companies such as Google, OpenAI, Meta, and xAI, to develop the latest and greatest AI for consumers. We’re now moving quickly into an unprecedented area of video production where AI is being utilised as a new technology that can support video production in completely new ways.
Stock images and video can cost a lot of money, especially if you consider enhanced licenses. Custom animation is another can that be a huge expense, which clients might not be able to afford. AI is aggressively stepping in to fill that gap in the market.
AI video generation tools such as Runway uses super-smart algorithms to create video clips. You can feed it a simple text prompt (like “a dog riding a skateboard”) or, in our case, you can give it a still photo and tell it to bring that photo to life. It’s a complete game-changer, letting us create unique, cinematic content that was practically impossible before.
The big idea
Ajdan approached us with an interesting challenge: they had a huge library of still images from their housing developments that they wanted to animate for a new campaign in the legendary Harrods in London. Their goal was to make these images move and feel like high-quality video clips that could sell the luxury lifestyle of Saudi Arabia to UK consumers.
The problem? Animating a large volume of still images using traditional animation methods would have taken a huge amount of time to complete, and thus, cost a lot too. Plus there was the added complexity of deadlines being incredibly tight, so we knew it was a non-starter.
As such, we put on our creative thinking caps and did some exploration: what other alternatives would result in a similar result, but at a fraction of the price? AI.
Making AI work for us
Diving into a new technology like this meant we had to be smart and super transparent. There was no “winging it.” Our approach boiled down to four key things:
- What are we working with? First, we took a good, hard look at the still images to see if they were right for AI animation.
- What does the client really want? We had a ton of conversations with Ajdan to make sure we were all on the same page about the final look and feel.
- What are the limits? AI is amazing, but it has a lot of drawbacks. We had to be honest about what it can and can’t do, so there were no surprises along the way.
- How do we keep everyone happy? We kept the communication lines wide open, talking through all the pros and cons with Ajdan to make sure they knew exactly what to expect.
AI is such a new technology, it’s easy to get carried away with making a lot of hollow promises without being able to deliver on them. There are a lot of problems with AI, but there are also a lot of benefits too. Being totally upfront and transparent was the most important aspect of this idea to make the project a success, and delivering something everyone was excited about.
Before and after
Now for the really interesting part! The results.
The original images were absolutely fantastic to begin with, but they were static images. By implementing this new AI technology, we were able to covert them into a completely different tool, adding subtle yet mesmerising motion that catches you attention.
The final clips looked incredible. They had the class of the original photos but with the dynamic energy of video. The campaign in Harrods was a huge hit, proving that a little creative thinking (and some clever tech) can go a long way.
What’s the takeaway?
Our project with Ajdan showed us that AI is more than just a buzzword; it’s a seriously powerful creative partner. It let us sidestep huge costs and deliver a high-impact campaign that blew everyone away. As this tech gets even better, you can bet we’ll be right there, finding new ways to create amazing stories.
Had a thought about how AI could improve your next project? Drop us a message, as we’d love to talk!