Snar
We've been saying it for a while now. Online, your brand is fighting for half a second of attention. AI makes it worse. Too much content. Too much noise. And yet, we make our social posts and videos with AI.
Hypocritical? Not at all. Here's why.
We film our Moving Billboards right out on the road. And we create visuals with AI. Sometimes on the very same day. We're not in the camp that believes AI is the death of creativity. Nor are we in the camp that lets AI do everything. We do both. But strictly starting from an idea conceived by ourselves. Without that idea, that human touch, there is no AI.
the mood is shifting
2026 is the year AI stopped being new.
Only 7% of consumers trust a brand more when it visibly uses AI content. In contrast, 31% trust it less. That is according to research by Klaviyo among 8,000 people across eight countries, including Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. In America, 74% of consumers believe brands should disclose when they use AI.
Coca-Cola released an AI-generated Christmas commercial two years in a row. And faced criticism two years in a row. The general sentiment: a Christmas ad needs to have heart.
At Cannes Lions, everyone expected an AI party. But the winning campaigns used AI to help people. Not to replace them. AI was no longer the headline. Just a part of the creative process.
ai has no idea
Rakesh Menon served on the Cannes Lions jury this year. He put it sharply
"The most common mistake is treating AI as an idea."
What he means: many brands think that "we made it with AI" is already the idea. It isn't. AI is a way of making things. Just like a camera. Just like Photoshop. The idea is what you want to say. And why someone should remember it.
You see that mistake in two ways:
AI as a gimmick. "The first commercial made entirely with AI." That works once. As long as it's novel. After that, nothing remains.
AI as a starting point. You open a tool and prompt: "make something fun about our product." Without knowing what you actually want to say. What you get is the average of everything that already exists.
Gurbaksh Singh, Chief Creative Officer at dentsu, sums it up:
"A lot of work feels the same because AI is often deployed for speed instead of meaning."
That's the noise we're talking about. It's not the tool. It's what doesn't go into it.
The test: can you explain your idea in one sentence without using the word AI? If you can, AI is your tool. If you can't, AI is your idea. And that means you've fallen into the trap.
the idea has always been boss
This isn't new. Bill Bernbach said it sixty years ago:
"An idea can turn into dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it."
And David Ogilvy:
"Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night."
That was true back then. Today, it holds even truer. AI is new talent rubbing up against an idea. What comes out depends entirely on what you put in.
how Heinz did it
Heinz asked an AI image generator to draw "ketchup". What came out? Bottles that looked suspiciously like Heinz.
The message: even AI knows which ketchup is the real ketchup.
AI was the proof. Not the idea. The idea came from humans: Heinz is so strong that the brand is synonymous with the product. Remove AI, and the idea still stands. Remove the idea, and all you have are pictures of bottles. The campaign won awards at Cannes Lions for it.
Coca-Cola did the opposite. There, the AI was the story. And when audiences didn't warm to it, there was no message left.
how we do it
If something needs to be real, we film it for real. Case studies. Clients. Our Moving Billboards on the road.
When it comes to imagination, we use AI. A Moving Billboard in a city where we don't drive yet. A concept we want to test in ten different versions. A scene we could never have afforded.
And we'll gladly admit it: sometimes, in terms of quality, AI is on par with the real thing. And it's infinitely faster.
But every concept starts with us. Around the table. What are we saying? Why? Where's the hook?
The idea is human. AI helps with the execution.
And there's another reason why it works for us. Our content is about something that actually exists. 90 m² of visibility. 40 tons of presence. Moving Billboards driving among your customers every day.
AI shows what's possible. The road shows what is. Every video we make points back to the real world. We use the screen to get you outside.
AI amplifies
A Moving Billboard makes a strong brand bigger. It won't turn a weak brand into a strong one. It amplifies what's already there.
AI works the exact same way. A good idea becomes bigger, sharper, and faster. A bad idea just gets bad faster.
That's why we're not afraid of AI. We're just critical about what you feed into it.
where we draw the line
Kainaz Karmakar, Group Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy and jury president at Cannes Lions, put it this way:
"The problem arises when AI is used to show a fake outcome. Or when it's used without disclosure."
We agree. Therefore:
Our case studies are real.
Client photos are real.
Results are real.
Was something made with AI? Then we say so.
We use AI for imagination. Not for proof.
start with the idea
You don't have to choose between real and AI. You do have to choose where you start.
Start with the idea. Not with the tool.
Or, as Karmakar put it:
"As long as a machine cannot be dissatisfied with what it has made, we are ahead."
Humans conceive. AI executes. The road proves.
Curious about what a Moving Billboard can do for your brand? Calculate your reach. Then let's talk.
sources
Quotes are translated freely from English. Bernbach and Ogilvy quotes are classics widely attributed to them.
Social Samosa — Cannes Lions jury members on AI (Menon, Singh, Karmakar)
Adweek — As AI's novelty fades, Cannes Lions winners point to what's next
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