Like it or not, AI is here for the foreseeable future. And it feels like every day that we get a new story of a big brand using it for creative ventures. Nike is the latest company to come under scrutiny for one its latest campaigns, which advertises a Travis Scott x Nike collab with a rich visual world referencing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The creative director Jak Bannon has announced on X that they generated over 5,000 images on Midjourney to aid the pre-production stage. You can see how the generated images match up with the final spot below.
Creative directed the newest Travis Scott X Nike commercial, directed by @GibsonHazardDuring preproduction, I generated over 5000+ images on midjourney to craft the visual identity with Gibson. Here you can see the process: pic.twitter.com/J2ERm3Jhm6December 26, 2024
It's not totally clear from Jak's posts on X whether or not AI was used in the making of the film, but he does credit the VFX teams, saying: "Al is a marvellous tool for exploring ideas and digging deeper into what's possible. It can also trigger new ideas and help concepts expand... but this spot wouldn't of been possible without the amazing execution and craft from the VFX teams we had on board."
Klindparagoni reports that AI was mixed with other techniques to create the final spot: "These AI-generated visuals were then seamlessly integrated into a hybrid workflow that combined traditional visual effects (VFX) with cutting-edge AI technologies."
You can see the final spot below.
https://t.co/AJ4e7OqsBS pic.twitter.com/9echCmqgclDecember 21, 2024
Personally, I am not surprised that Nike is using AI for the idea generation. At Creative Bloq, we've been speaking to creatives about AI for years now, and time and time again, artists and designers are saying that it is really handy for coming up with ideas (though of course, it's not without its problems).
The important thing, I think, is to know where to draw the line, and crucially, to know when a human touch is needed. Unlike the likes of Coca-Cola, whose AI-generated ad attracted much furore last year, it seems that Nike has got it right with this spot. Although it's not super-easy to tell the overall quality of the ad from the embedded videos on X, so it remains to be seen how people will react to it once it's widely released to the public.
For more on AI, see our posts on AI-generated trends and Adobe's AI approach.
