How to Make an AI Commercial That Actually Sells?

Contents

I. How to make an AI commercial – and why it’s worth it
II. How to make an AI commercial: a step-by-step production blueprint
   1. Phase 1: Preproduction – laying the strategic foundation
   2. Phase 2: Production – creating a video ad using AI
   3. Phase 3: Post-production – refining and optimizing for impact
III. How to make an AI commercial: DIY platforms vs. outsourcing to an AI agency
IV. Case study: how YOPRST created a stunning AI commercial – and overcame AI’s limitations
V. Creating a video ad using AI: critical challenges
VI. How to make an AI commercial: your action plan
VII. Сonclusion

If you own a product or service business and have previously invested in commercial video production, you may be wondering how to make an AI commercial. It’s not surprising, given that artificial intelligence automates many aspects of video ad creation, including brainstorming, scriptwriting, and postproduction. Creating a video ad using AI is a great way to slash costs, too – from $140,000 for a TV-grade commercial to under $5,000 for content of comparable quality. How is this even possible? As a reputable AI video production company, YOPRST is here to answer this question!

How to make an AI commercial – and why it’s worth it

Before diving into the “how”, it’s crucial to understand the “why”. The primary advantage of creating a video ad using AI isn’t just automation; it’s the explosion of creative possibilities the technology unlocks. AI allows you to bring almost any concept to life, no matter how absurd or ambitious it is. You can generate everything from Michael Bay-inspired explosions and Matrix-like fight scenes to talking animals for a whimsical campaign – and with the right tools, this content can look stunningly realistic, opening doors to creative avenues previously reserved for blockbuster budgets.

This creative liberation is paired with impressive efficiency. As detailed in YOPRST’s guide to AI in video production, algorithms can assist video makers at every stage of the process, from concept development and scriptwriting to storyboard creation, video generation, video editing, and dubbing. It is this end-to-end integration that delivers the most significant cost savings. By automating or accelerating each step, AI allows you to reallocate resources from tedious manual tasks to what truly matters: refining the creative vision and ensuring the final ad connects with your audience. The strategic advantages of creating a video ad using AI span:

• Maximum flexibility. Creating a quality AI commercial isn’t an instant, push-button process. The workflow closely resembles traditional production: you still need to define goals and KPIs, research your target audience, brainstorm concepts, create moodboards and storyboards, and provide reference images. However, if you use AI to create an ad video, you get a host of opportunities to speed-test multiple concepts by changing prompts and references and regenerating the visuals with different AI video ad creation tools – all without hiring actors or moving the production crew across locations.
• Impressive cost reductions. While claims of near-zero costs are misleading for commercial-grade video ads, the savings are still substantial. Simple DIY tools can produce basic social media clips for a low subscription fee, but a polished ad requires more investment. The true value is revealed when comparing AI video production costs of $1,000-5,000 to the tens of thousands (that’s how much a commercial video normally costs). AI levels the playing field by making high-quality video advertising accessible to a wider range of budgets.
• Hyper-personalization at scale. One of the most powerful strategic advantages is the ability to create personalized AI ad video content at a scale that would be logistically and financially prohibitive using traditional methods. However, this is not an easy task. It takes an iterative process of regenerating multiple versions of an ad to tailor messaging, visuals, and voiceovers to specific audience segments. While creating a video ad using AI is still much cheaper and faster than organizing multiple reshoots, it requires careful planning and execution to be effective.
• Data-driven creativity & A/B testing. AI transforms A/B testing from a reactive, post-production analysis into a proactive component of the creative process itself. With AI video ad creation tools, you don’t have to produce two or three expensive versions of an ad; instead, you can generate dozens of variations at a negligible marginal cost. This way, marketers can try out ideas – like different CTAs, value propositions, or hooks – before they spend a lot of money on media. They can also use predictive data to find the most effective creative elements and lower the risk of the investment.

^{Source: Nano Banana}

How to make an AI commercial: a step-by-step production blueprint

The journey of creating a video ad with AI demystifies a once-complex process, breaking it down into manageable, technology-assisted stages. From the initial spark of an idea to the final polished commercial, AI tools are available to enhance efficiency and creativity at every step. This new blueprint provides a clear roadmap for how to make an AI-generated commercial by dissecting the three core phases – preproduction, production, and post-production – and highlighting the AI video ad creation tools that power each stage, freeing up your team’s time for important business tasks.

However, a word of caution: while this How to Make an AI Commercial guide makes the process seem straightforward, creating a video ad that actually sells requires more than just access to artificial intelligence tools. It demands a profound understanding of how generative models work and which tools are best suited for specific tasks. Furthermore, experience in filmmaking is essential. Without a grasp of fundamentals like lighting, composition, and color theory, even the most advanced AI will produce a commercial video that looks amateurish. A polished, professional result depends on a skilled human hand guiding the technology.

Phase 1: Preproduction – laying the strategic foundation

The preproduction phase is a powerful collaboration between human marketers and AI assistants. Before touching any specialized AI video ad creation tools, savvy teams use general-purpose platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, or NotebookLM for foundational strategic work. These tools are invaluable for summarizing product information, performing in-depth competitor research, and brainstorming a wide range of creative concepts. The human-led strategic phase ensures that the creative direction is sound; the next step is to move forward with more automated and specialized scriptwriting and storyboarding.

• AI scriptwriting. Once a core concept is developed, AI scriptwriting tools help structure the narrative. This can be a collaborative process using detailed prompts in ChatGPT or a more automated one with specialized platforms. For instance, tools like Creatify or Synthesia can rapidly generate a first draft by analyzing a product URL, which is excellent for quick brainstorming. This output should be seen as a starting point that empowers your creative team to refine the message, inject brand personality, and ensure the final script aligns with your strategic goals.
• AI storyboarding. To create an effective AI ad video, you need a storyboard. That’s where specialized tools like Storyboarder.ai, LTX Studio, and Boords can help. These platforms convert a completed script into a visual sequence automatically, saving your designers time. A key advantage of such AI-powered tools is their ability to maintain character consistency across multiple frames, a common challenge for image generation models. Some can even create a dynamic animatic (i.e., a preliminary animated version of the ad), allowing you to perfect the pacing and flow before production begins

^{Source: Storyboarder.ai}

Phase 2: Production – creating a video ad using AI

In the production phase, you can create an ad video with AI without ever touching a camera. Text-to-video platforms can generate visual clips from simple text prompts, while AI avatars from services like HeyGen or Synthesia can deliver your script in over 100 languages, offering incredible scalability for global campaigns. This completely circumvents the need to hire on-screen talent. Furthermore, AI can handle all your audio needs, from generating professional, human-like voiceovers to selecting the perfect background music, all customizable to match your ad’s specific tone and style.

• Video & visual generation. Text-to-video generation is the definitive answer to the question “How to create a video ad using AI?” While platforms like Canva and Invideo AI are great for creating simple social media videos, achieving cinematic quality requires more advanced models. OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo-3, and Runway are among the top tools for creating stunningly realistic footage from text prompts. These are often paired with image generators like Midjourney to create initial reference frames, which are then animated to produce the final, high-fidelity video content.
• AI avatars & digital humans. AI avatars are a significant innovation that eliminates the need to hire, schedule, and film on-screen talent – or persuade your executive team to participate in a video shoot. Services like HeyGen, Synthesia, and VEED offer vast libraries of stock avatars or the ability to create a custom “digital twin” of a real person. Once created, an avatar can deliver any script with realistic lip-syncing and gestures in over 100 languages, enabling unparalleled scalability for global marketing campaigns, personalized sales pitches, and educational videos.
• Synthetic voiceovers. Complementing the visual generation is advanced AI text-to-speech technology, which has become a viable and professional option for commercial voiceovers. Platforms such as LOVO.ai, NaturalReader, and Canva’s integrated voice generator offer extensive libraries of natural-sounding voices across a multitude of languages and accents. These tools offer granular control, allowing you to adjust pitch, volume, and speed to precisely match the tone and pacing of your video, eliminating recording studio and voice talent costs.

Phase 3: Post-production – refining and optimizing for impact

The final step, post-production, is where AI truly accelerates the workflow. AI video ad creation tools can automatically perform tedious editing tasks like trimming awkward pauses, detecting scenes, and even enabling script-based editing, where changing the text transcript edits the video itself. Beyond assembly, AI enhances quality by performing automated color correction and removing background noise from audio tracks. This efficiency fuels a revolution in A/B testing, allowing you to generate dozens of ad variations to determine the most effective combination early on.

^{Source: Nano Banana}

• Automated & AI-assisted editing. AI is increasingly taking over the mechanical aspects of video editing. Advanced platforms like Descript have pioneered a revolutionary workflow where the video is edited by simply adjusting its text transcript. Deleting a word from the transcript automatically removes the corresponding audio and video segments. Professional suites like Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve are also integrating AI for tasks like automated reframing for social media and seamless clip blending, allowing human editors to focus on the art of storytelling.
• Enhancement & special effects. Beyond basic assembly, AI is deployed for sophisticated visual and audio enhancement. Tools integrated into platforms like VEED or Renderforest can analyze video frames and apply intelligent adjustments to improve quality. Common applications include automated color correction to achieve a specific mood, audio editing to remove unwanted background noise, and motion tracking to precisely place graphics or text that remain perfectly synchronized with on-screen action, giving the final ad a polished, cinematic finish.

How to make an AI commercial: DIY platforms vs. outsourcing to an AI agency

Once you understand the process, the main strategic decision is whether to create an ad video with AI or to outsource the task to a video production company with AI experience. This choice hinges on your internal resources, budget, and desired level of creative control. The DIY path offers speed and cost-effectiveness for teams with marketing capacity, while outsourcing provides expert guidance and a higher level of polish. Both options offer impressive cost reductions compared to traditional production, especially for big-budget ads. However, you should keep a few things in mind.

If you choose to create an AI ad video yourself, you’ll have to subscribe to user-friendly AI platforms, most of which claim no technical skills are needed to operate. All-in-one solutions like Synthesia or HeyGen offer monthly plans starting around $29, providing a predictable and budget-friendly way to produce a high volume of talking-head content. However, the subscription fee isn’t the total cost; you must also factor in the “time cost” of an internal team member mastering the platform and managing the process. This path is ideal for social media ads, A/B testing creatives, and controlling your brand’s messaging.

For businesses seeking a fully managed service, partnering with a full-service AI video production agency like YOPRST is the ideal solution. Specialized firms blend the efficiency of artificial intelligence with expert human creative direction, sound design, and post-production, delivering a more polished, cinematic final product. While project fees are higher compared to DIY tool subscriptions, they remain a fraction of traditional video production costs, often one-third or less. The agency approach is ideal for high-stakes brand films or key campaign assets that require precise storytelling and artistry.

^{Source: YOPRST}

Case study: how YOPRST created a stunning AI commercial – and overcame AI’s limitations

This case study highlights not only how to override AI’s creative hurdles but also how to create a stunning, effective video ad entirely with AI. The challenge came from an adult eCommerce client who needed a compelling 30-second ad for a personal wellness device – a product generative AI models are notoriously prudish about. Our mission was to create a video that was suggestive enough to be effective, yet clever enough to navigate past the digital censors, all while maintaining a playful sense of humor. We knew we couldn’t display the product, so we decided to show its effect in the most spectacular way possible.

• Concept. We envisioned a relatable hero for our times: a young, exhausted mother and remote professional at her absolute wit’s end. The scene is pure domestic chaos – a crying baby demanding constant attention, a barking dog, a house in delightful disarray, and a demanding boss looming on a video call. Her only escape is a precious, fleeting moment of blissful solitude in the bathroom with her new “personal assistant”. The narrative arc was designed to be instantly recognizable, focusing on the universal desire to reclaim a moment of personal peace and pleasure
• AI hurdle. As predicted, reliable AI video ad creation tools, programmed for strict brand safety protocols, politely declined to create visuals of the ad’s star product. This forced a creative pivot. What could possibly stand in for an object of pure, sheer delight? After some truly hilarious and surprisingly productive brainstorming sessions, we landed on the perfect, absurdly brilliant substitute: a vibrant, turquoise banana. It was completely unexpected, undeniably funny, and 100% safe for any platform, adding a fantastic layer of surreal, memorable comedy that made the ad instantly shareable and unique.
• Execution. Our technical workflow was a masterclass in hybrid creativity. We first used Midjourney and Sora to generate a series of reference images, which allowed us to perfect the visual style, the look of our stressed-out hero, and her unusual turquoise fruit. Once the static vision was locked, we moved to Runway and Veo-3 to animate these concepts and generate the final video clips. The ad culminates with our hero locking the bathroom door, followed by a cartoonish, house-shaking blast of pure energy that comically ripples through the entire home, visually representing her escape.
• Result. The final 30-second ad was a triumph of creative problem-solving and humorous execution. It was witty, highly memorable, and successfully navigated the AI’s strict content restrictions to tell a compelling story of pure, unadulterated bliss. A similar project, produced traditionally, would be far more complex and costly. This approach is extremely valuable for businesses, with comparable AI-assisted production costs ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. It demonstrates that a little human ingenuity can guide AI to tackle even the most sensitive marketing briefs with style.

^{Source: sora.chatgpt.com}

Creating a video ad using AI: critical challenges

The effectiveness of an AI video commercial depends on more than a generative model; it requires a strategy to overcome the technology’s inherent limitations. The most common pitfall is producing content that is technically perfect but feels generic or “soulless”, with an unnatural, “plastic” look that is difficult to fix. This failure to forge a genuine emotional connection with the audience is a critical risk, too. To ensure your AI commercial stands out, the key is to infuse it with a strong, original creative concept and strategic human oversight. True innovation lies in this hybrid approach.

• “Slick but Soulless” problem. The most frequently cited limitation of generative AI is its persistent struggle with creative and emotional depth. Current models are highly proficient at mimicry and surface-level reproduction of styles, but content can lack the nuance, empathy, and narrative strength of compelling, human-led storytelling. The result can be videos that feel hollow or “robotic”, failing to connect with viewers. To address this issue, use AI to scale and iterate while assigning a human to carry out the creative strategy, control the model’s output, and align it with the scripts.
• Copyright conundrum. A major business risk is the legal ambiguity surrounding copyright. Under current U.S. law, a work must be created by humans to be eligible for copyright protection. The U.S. Copyright Office has affirmed that works produced by AI “without any creative input or intervention from a human author” cannot be copyrighted. To create an AI ad video and secure it as intellectual property, you must ensure significant, demonstrable human creative intervention, modification, and authorship in the final product, making the hybrid model a legal necessity.
• Ethical minefields. The use of AI carries significant ethical responsibilities and long-term brand implications. AI systems trained on biased or incomplete data can perpetuate harmful stereotypes, creating a brand safety risk. Furthermore, the collection of consumer data for hyper-personalization raises profound privacy concerns under regulations like GDPR and CCPA. That’s why you should prioritize ethical diligence by establishing clear internal guidelines, ensuring data privacy compliance, and choosing partners who are transparent about their AI training data and safety protocols.

How to make an AI commercial: your action plan

Jumping into AI video production without a clear plan is a recipe for wasted resources and lackluster results. For business leaders, the challenge isn’t just adopting the latest AI tools; it’s building a smart strategy that leverages their power to create AI ads that genuinely perform. This requires balancing the allure of speed and low cost with the critical need for brand safety, legal compliance, and true creative impact. The following action plan provides a clear framework to move beyond experimentation and implement an AI video strategy that is effective, ethical, and drives real business growth.

^{Source: YOPRST}

• Start with a strategic pilot. Instead of abandoning traditional video ads entirely, start with a limited AI video ad pilot aimed at a specific business goal. This allows you to test tools and processes in a controlled environment. However, to get meaningful results, this pilot should be structured to measure the impact on speed, cost, and quality. Partnering with an experienced agency can help design a pilot that provides actionable insights rather than just a technical experiment, ensuring you learn what truly works for your brand before committing to a broader rollout.
• Embrace a “human + AI” model. The most effective strategy for AI video ads is a partnership between technology and human expertise. Leverage AI to generate visual assets, create multiple ads for testing, and handle technical tasks like localization. But rely on human talent for indispensable creative direction. For most businesses, the “human” in this equation should be a professional – a creative agency with extensive knowledge of filmmaking. They guide the AI, make critical decisions about pacing and emotional tone, and transform a generated clip into a memorable commercial.
• Prioritize legal and ethical diligence. The legal and ethical risks associated with creating a video ad using AI are significant and constantly evolving. Before deploying AI-generated content, you should consult legal experts who understand the fluid landscape of copyright law in your target markets. Concurrently, establishing clear internal guidelines for data privacy and algorithmic bias is crucial. A knowledgeable partner can help you navigate these complexities, ensuring your marketing activities are fair, respectful of consumer rights, and aligned with your brand values.
• Invest in expertise, not just tools. The true ROI of AI is unlocked not by the software itself, but by a team that knows how to use it strategically. While upskilling your internal team is a long-term goal, the learning curve for creating high-quality AI video ads is steep. In the short to medium term, the most effective investment is often in partnering with specialists. This approach provides immediate access to the necessary expertise, bridging the skills gap and ensuring your first forays into AI advertising are successful from the start.