AI’dvertising

You don’t always get access to a team who can do what you can’t. Even after 20 years, it’s rare on my own I can make exactly what’s in my head.

As a new tool in my kit, GenAI helps bridge that gap.

On a good day, AI can take you to 80% (what a napkin sketch!). But if you want a spark of life, human intuition’s still required.

This work is 100% spec. No client was harmed in the making of these ads.

Time Frame

2023–Present

Objective

Leveraging GenAI for my boldest, weirdest, least practical ideas

Role

Creative Director, Designer

Deliverables
Software

After Effects, Figma, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop

AI

ChatGPT, Dall·E, Firefly, Leonardo, Wondershare

Skills
  • Attention to Detail
  • Concepting
  • Leadership
  • Prompting
  • Research
  • Retouching
  • Strategy

Background

“Client”

P&G

Why I
Chose
Them

In an old Listerine commercial, a voice over asks a guy, “Do you like Listerine?” “No,” says the guy. “But I use it.”

H&S looks weird, smells funny, and needing it is a little embarrassing. But it’s better than dandruff.

“Brief”

Update a quintessentially mid-20th century brand

Generation Timeline

October–November, 2023


Final Ad

Base Image

Dall·E 3

Concept

Dandruff is so embarrassing you’ll go to any length to get rid of it.

Final Prompt

I revised my prompt many times.

Processing

Upscaled with Leonardo.ai; changed the wand to a cross with Photoshop Generative Fill; fixed the priest’s hands and Steve’s eyes, added a wood texture to the cross (with traditional layers and blending); deepened their frowns with Liquify, and upscaled the finished edit again.


How I got there

Planning

Mind Map

I generated 100+ ideas to start.

Outtakes

Why I Passed

From misplaced lightning to too many priests (and a completely different Steve) to a shocking lack of dandruff, it took a while to get to my vision.


Well, that didn’t work

The Dandruff Spa

Concept

H&S was born in the Space Age. In a spa of the future, you lock your head in a space helmet and have all the dandruff sucked out of your skull.

Prompt

The Personal Assistant

Concept

Why treat your dandruff with a weird shampoo when you could make it someone’s job to pick it off you?

Prompt

Rallying the Troops

Thinking

Dandruff didn’t just appear in the 20th century. What sort of embarrassments could it have created in earlier eras?

Prompt

Background

“Client”

RiseWell

Why I
Chose
Them

RiseWell has some neat differentiators—their floss is made without Teflon, and their toothpaste uses Hydroxyapatite, which shields teeth while chemically whitening them.

“Brief”

Create a catchy Top of Funnel ad based on RiseWell’s unique benefits

Timeline

October–November 2023


Final Ad

Base Image

Dall·E 3

Concept

What if your teeth worked out (like the rest of you) to fight cavities?

Final Prompt

How I got there

Original Generated Image

Photoshop

Yellow is the last hue you want on teeth. The lotion was irrelevant.

I added a blur to separate the hero and extended the ceiling with Generative Fill (blurring some of the less-successful bits) to make room for the headline.

Outtakes

Why I Passed

Faceless teeth benching 3x their weight were not the brand.

9 times out of 10, it’s faster to start with the right thing than fix it in post.


Well, that didn’t work

The Nuclear Floss

Concept

I wanted to explore RiseWell’s claim that their floss doesn’t contain Teflon—meaning other flosses have an endless half-life. We tried many versions.

Prompt

Scared to Spit

Concept

Brushing your teeth with a new partner, you realize you haven’t flossed in years, and you don’t want to spit blood. I wanted to embody that highly-relatable moment with a warning.

Prompts
  • This image will be the basis for an ad about dental floss. Two people are brushing their teeth next to each other in a small apartment bathroom, with worried, hesitant expressions.
  • They should be looking at each other with more hesitation, more worry, in their expressions.
  • Instead of looking at each other, let’s try them looking down at the sink. Still worried, hesitant to spit into the sink.
Photoshop

I made the light more dramatic, fixed her cheekbones and both of their toothbrushes.

I tried to make this one work. When an idea is telling you it’s not interested, you should probably listen.

Background

“Client”

MetroHealth

Why I
Chose
Them

I wanted to execute an impossible concept: Market an intimate day-in-the-life portrait series to a large metro area. This mini-project forces questions about privacy, authenticity, and generative AI’s role in healthcare and advertising.

“Brief”

An enterprise campaign centered on “Be seen. Be heard. Be well.”

Generation Timeline

October 2023


Final Ad

Base Images

Dall·E 3

Concept

Follow someone through their day, demonstrating how the MetroHealth sees them as a whole person.

Example Prompt
Prompt Engineering

We worked each image through multiple prompts. There was a lot of this:

  • Take a deep breath and remember the instructions: Ada is an Honduran-American woman, with short, black hair…
  • Lean Ada’s canes against the counter.
  • Two kids and two canes. The year is 2023. Ada is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Her apartment is inexpensive.

How I got there

Final Generated Images

Origin

I started by creating a character (named for Ada Lovelace, the mother of the algorithm) and developed her story collaboratively with ChatGPT. I defined her race, appearance, age, and disability, and set the parameters for the story. GPT filled in the details, which I took as inspiration and refined before we generated images.

Initial Prompt

Aging Ada

Photoshop

The central image showed Ada at about 22, not 32. I aged her with Wondershare, then face-swapped her in Photoshop.

Outtakes

Why I Passed

Dall·E struggled to keep Ada consistent (her face, age, clothing; canes; children, etc.) while maintaining the art direction (stop breaking the fourth wall).

I accepted ‘good enough,’ assuming the models would improve.


Well, that didn’t work

We’ve all got baggage

Concept

We all carry all our stuff around. What if we meant it literally?

Initial Prompt
Critical Turn
Final Prompt