Embracent, a boutique business and IT consultancy based in London, is breaking new ground this Christmas by unveiling a festive advertisement created using generative-AI.

The advert was created with a shoestring budget of just £100 – a fraction of the millions of pounds retailers like John Lewis and ASDA spend on their annual festive ads- but it sends a clear message that AI can be used as a powerful visual tool and level the playing field for small businesses working with limited marketing coffers.

Embracent used Runway, an applied AI research company that offers a suite of AI tools for content creation, to piece together their holiday advert, a platform that the team had no prior experience with. In just two short weeks, Embracent pulled together a professional advert, without the cost and hassle associated with hiring video crews, animators, storyboard designers, video editors, and various other professionals that would typically cost tens of thousands of pounds.

The aim of the advert was to prove that AI is not something that should be feared, but something that can work alongside teams of talented humans to create exceptional results.

Director of Business Development for Embracent, Mark Davis, said “It’s been a transformational year for AI, and we really are just at the beginning. Without any real budget or prior experience of video editing in-house, we were able to create something that would have seemed impossible even a year ago.

“The creative is parable in so many ways. It was created with love by humans, using AI, to tell the story of why AI is better when working with humans – or in this case, elves. Whilst AI can drive efficiencies, we actually went with a story option created by a human over the one that AI suggested. This is the perfect example of why humans and AI are “better together”.”

The creative concept of the advert touches on an important, timely and increasingly hotly contested topic; that of the use of AI in modern marketing. While there are many valid concerns which suggest that AI is potentially taking jobs from qualified professionals, Embracent is clear that the future of AI is that of support. Within the advert, the human touch is clear, and AI was used to enhance this direction.