“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” For decades, that was our cultural image of artificial intelligence — a sentient, vaguely menacing gatekeeper.
But in 2025, AI isn’t saying “no”; it’s a hyper-caffeinated creative partner saying “Yes, and…” to every wild idea, generating ad campaigns, writing copy and even directing videos. We’re going to explore the campaigns leading this charge and the powerful tech trends making it all possible.
7 AI Advertising Examples That Aren’t Just Robbing Peter to Pay HAL
From high-concept art projects to hard-nosed conversion plays, brands are already using AI in ways that are clever, chaotic and surprisingly effective. And if you think these are just marketing stunts or tech demos in disguise, think again. We’re talking real campaigns driving real results.
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1. Kalshi: Trading on AI-Generated Chaos
Compared to LLMs churning out endless lines of text, video generators are comparatively young (or at least those delivering results that aren’t laughable). So if you are among those who already played around with models like Google’s Veo, you’ll most likely remember that first dumb clip of a Shiba Inu surfing a wave of spaghetti into a black hole. Why did we create it? Because we can.
Well, the prediction market platform Kalshi took that exact feeling and turned it into an ad. Their spot, aired during the NBA Finals, is a fever dream of stitched-together AI clips that perfectly captures the beautiful absurdity of our times.
The ad’s slogan — “The World’s Gone Mad, Trade It” — isn’t supported by a coherent story. Instead, its strength lies in its incoherence. It’s a knowing nod to every marketer and creator who has spent hours down the rabbit hole of generative AI. By leaning into the weirdness, Kalshi created something instantly relatable to a digitally native audience, proving that sometimes, the best story is no story at all.
2. Virgin Voyages: AI Puts on a Tuxedo
The typical narrative around AI in business is about “streamlining processes,” which — let’s be honest — is most often corporate-speak for “cutting costs.” This usually applies to budget brands, not luxury experiences. Virgin Voyages, however, flipped the script. They partnered with Jennifer Lopez to create “Jen AI,” an AI-powered invitation tool for their high-end cruises.
Users enter details about their trip, and the tool generates a custom, shareable video invitation featuring an augmented reality version of JLo. But here’s the genius part: it’s a hybrid model. Behind the slick AI front end, Virgin’s “Sailor Services” team manually gets to work, planning the group’s itinerary and coordinating bookings. It’s the perfect marriage of scalable, high-tech glamor and essential, high-touch human service.
3. Nike: Gemini Man Meets Serena Williams
In the movie Gemini Man, Will Smith fights his younger self. It was a neat CGI trick. Nike took that concept, infused it with machine learning, and created a masterpiece. To celebrate Serena Williams’ retirement, they partnered with AKQA studios to pit 2017 Serena against her 1999 self in a virtual tennis match.
And while that’s certainly impressive from a visual and computational standpoint, it’s not the actual headline. What’s most exciting is that they invested in a dedicated machine learning model that analyzed decades of match data to simulate how both versions of Serena would play. It accounted for strategic evolution, shot selection, court positioning and even subtle changes in reactivity. The result was a tribute that felt authentic and powerful. It’s a blueprint for any brand looking to use AI for major announcements, whether it’s launching a legacy product, celebrating an anniversary or even executing a full rebrand.
4. Nutella: One Jar to Rule Them All (Uniquely)
We’re constantly told that AI commoditizes art and makes content generic. Nutella’s response was, essentially, “Hold my hazelnut spread.” In a brilliant campaign, they used an algorithm to design seven million completely unique labels for their jars, each one a vibrant, one-of-a-kind piece of art.
This tapped into the same cultural vein as NFTs or a Banksy painting getting shredded — the allure of the singular object. But what’s truly interesting is how they framed it. They didn’t just sell it as an automation gimmick; they linked it to the “expressive nature of Italians” and their own brand heritage. Much like Fiat’s “No More Gray” campaign celebrated Italian color and flair, Nutella used cutting-edge AI to reinforce its core, very human, brand story.
5. Coca-Cola: Teaching an Old Brand New Tricks
While some brands are building AI campaigns from scratch, Coca-Cola is using AI to remix its own greatest hits. The beverage giant has launched a full-fledged AI strategy, starting with its iconic “Holidays Are Coming” commercials. They used AI to generate stunning new variations of their classic ads, blending nostalgia with futuristic flair.
But they didn’t stop there. Coke launched “Create Real Magic,” an interactive platform available in 26 languages that lets users co-create art with brand assets, including the famous Santa Claus illustration from 1931. By opening up their creative vault to fans via AI, Coca-Cola is building a participatory ecosystem that strengthens brand loyalty on a global scale.
6. Heinz: The Ultimate AI Power Move
This one is 4D chess. Heinz actually didn’t use AI to create their campaign. They created a campaign about what AI already thinks of them. Their team went to DALL-E 2 and other image generators and typed in one simple prompt: “ketchup.”
The result? Over and over, they got AI-generated images that were unmistakably Heinz bottles, right down to the keystone label and iconic shape. They compiled the results and made that the ad. It’s a masterful meta-commentary on their own brand dominance. Heinz subtly proved that its brand is so ubiquitous, it’s literally baked into the collective digital consciousness that AI models train on. It’s less of an ad and more of a victory lap.
7. Spreequell: Berlin Weird Goes AI
German mineral water brand Spreequell, with the help of agency Jung von Matt, launched what’s being called Germany’s first fully AI-generated ad campaign. Like Kalshi, it embraces the beautiful madness of AI. The ad is a surrealist collage of Berlin’s urban grit and pristine mountain landscapes.
We see the Berlin bear wearing a golden crown, mountains with sardonic cartoon smiles, a sheep DJing and goats soaring over the Berlin Wall onto a meadow. It’s bizarre, memorable and begs a critical question: Is “look how bonkers AI is” a sustainable creative trend? For now, it works. But as audiences become more accustomed to AI-generated content, the novelty will fade, and the demand for compelling, human-driven stories will most likely return. But for now, just look at those goats!
The Tech Behind the Curtain: 3 Trends Driving the AI Ad-pocalypse
These campaigns aren’t happening in a vacuum. They’re powered by seismic shifts in marketing technology that are making AI more accessible, powerful and integrated than ever before.
1. The TikTok-ification of Everything
TikTok is a video-first universe, and now it’s giving brands the tools to keep up. The platform is expanding its Symphony AI suite, which includes tools that can take a static product photo and, with a few clicks, transform it into a five-second video ad, complete with music and effects. This dramatically lowers the barrier to entry for video advertising, allowing brands to generate assets at a speed and scale that was previously unimaginable.
2. Amazon’s In-House Ad Agency
Not to be outdone, Amazon has rolled out its own AI-powered video generator to all U.S. advertisers. A brand can simply enter a product ID, and the system spins up multiple video variants. This is a game-changer, potentially disrupting the entire product review and influencer ecosystem by allowing brands to create their own high-quality video content. However, Amazon’s slow, region-by-region rollout is creating a fascinating — and potentially frustrating — split market. For the time being, consumer expectations and ad landscapes in the EU versus the U.S. will diverge significantly based on access to these tools.
3. Meta’s Push for Full Automation
Here’s the big one. Meta has stated its goal to enable fully AI-automated ad campaigns by 2026. We’re talking about a system where you input a business goal and a budget, and the AI handles the rest: it generates the imagery, writes the copy, edits the video and even defines and refines the target audience.
On one hand, this could be a massive win for small businesses, giving them access to sophisticated campaign tools without needing a huge team or agency budget. On the other hand, it raises alarms about creative originality, brand safety and the potential for a homogenous digital landscape where everyone’s ads are trained on the same data.
This forces a strategic choice: Will your brand thrive with full automation, a human-led hybrid model or a high-touch, human-only approach? The answer will likely define the winners and losers of the next decade.
Your Move, Human
So, are the machines taking over? Not quite. They’re taking instructions.
The examples from Nike, Heinz and Nutella show us that the most powerful use of AI in advertising isn’t to replace human creativity, but (still) to amplify it. The technology is a paintbrush, a camera and a supercomputer rolled into one. But it still needs an artist with a vision.
So, if you were freaking out about AI ads: The real danger is still uninspired marketing, not a bot taking your lunch money. The brands that succeed will be those that use these incredible new tools to tell better stories, create stronger connections and deliver real magic.
Only time will tell when the pendulum swings back toward more in-depth storytelling instead of meta-commentary or visual stunts, but it’s already clear that you can’t afford to ignore AI’s role in advertisement. You can choose to not use it, but looking down on it ultimately means neglecting competitive research, and in this day and age, markets simply move too fast to make that a promising strategy.
