#37. We Reach Into Our Past To See The Future of AI-Driven Artistry
Tombras, with Google and Pods, throws a stake in the sand for AI-driven location-based Digital Out-of-Home.
While this is not advertising, the technique employed is certainly relevant.
Ensure audio is on, then the pic (above)
Phil Langer, Sr. Creative Director - IBM iX Berlin, used the latest in AI visual animation tools to execute on what I found to be a striking concept; bringing to life some classic album covers with his project, “In Living Covers.” Each album cover image is presented as a still frame within a small scene. Classics include The Beatles “Abbey Road,” David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane,” and Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.”
We chatted briefly via text messages last night, June 19, 2024
Ad Stack: Abbey Road was amazing!
Phil Langer: Ha thanks. I didn’t do much.
Ad Stack: Yes, but half of success (or more) comes from a great idea.
Phil Langer: Hey, yeah that's what a lot if people don't get. Now that creating content becomes so much more accessible: a creative idea is more important then ever. That's actually a good thing.
Ad Stack: One question I have is Runway renders everything in slow motion. Lots of slow-motion animated birds and people exerting themselves in a dystopian future. Did you find the need to speed it up in the edit?
Phil Langer: That particular clip with the record covers was done in "Dream Machine" from Luma Labs. That is a different model with much more motion then Runway. You are right that a lot of the Runway clips are very slow. I usually do a lot of time-remapping in After Effects.
Ad Stack: What software(s) were used? Talk about the pipeline/process.
Phil Langer: I use mostly Midjourney, Krea.ai and Runway (and recently Luma Labs) and am pretty solid with with standard Adobe suite like Photoshop and After Effects.
Source: Phil Langer
Ad Stack: There are so many options now, and while many continue to promise new capabilities (Runway, Sora, Veo, et al), Luma is in-market which I find amazing.
I love Midjourney so anything that allows us to use them as image prompts sounds great. But the slo-mo dystopian future from Runway can hit the road.
Phil Langer: I have this somewhat popular instagram account where I create these hybrid people. If you interested have a look:
https://www.instagram.com/hybridportraits/
Otherwise my AI portfolio: https://www.phillanger.com/gen-aiSource: Phil Langer
Click the pics one last time.
Tombras Cracks the Code: AI-Powered Billboards Revolutionize Hyperlocal Ads
The 'Impossibly Smart Billboard' campaign didn't just use AI – It Set a Model for Hyperlocal Digital OOH.
Imagine, your billboard's message changes depending on where you are, the weather, traffic conditions, even the time of day! It's like every billboard has its own brain, whispering secrets only relevant to your exact spot in the city.
Tombras client Google tasked the agency with a project utilizing Google GenAI (Gemini); integrating along with other Google products.
The agency unveiled its “Impossibly Smart Billboard” campaign during the Google Creative Lighthouse Luncheon at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Wednesday, offering a glimpse into how AI can be applied creatively in advertising.
Per AdAge: The experiment began 10 weeks ago when Google tasked the agency with creating a campaign that applies AI to the creative process as part of its Creative Lighthouse Program, Ryan Edwards, chief digital officer at Tombras, said during a Cannes panel discussion. The ask for the agency was to create an “impossible” campaign using Gemini; Tombras approached its client PODS for the experiment.
Using electronic billboards for OOH ads isn’t new. But this is different. It’s the good old Value Exchange sneaking in there; at least for the weather and traffic reports
Leveraging Google Cloud Vertex AI, the agency refined Gemini 1.5 Pro to generate headlines tailored for each of New York's 299 neighborhoods.
Tombras then engineered a dynamic application using Google Cloud functions, integrating real-time weather, time, subway schedules, and traffic data into an API. This API enabled the display of hyper-local headlines on the trucks' billboards, automatically triggered by their GPS locations.
For more, check out Ad Age. June 20, 2024.
Sandbox
Trying something new. Thought it would be kind of a beautiful thing to share out from time to time some of the ChatGPT demos, cheats, hacks, whatever. Plus it forces me to go through and weed out all of my garbage I save in Evernote as well.
ChatGPT Prompt (works on Claude and Gemini across the board. Gemini was totally getting into it.
Networking and Pivoting
Prompt: I am considering a career transition into the field of (specify field or role). What steps should I take to smoothly transition while leveraging my existing skills and experiences? I also want to build a strong network in this (specify industry or field). Could you guide me on where to start, how to approach industry professionals, and maintain these connections for the long term?Modify accordingly.
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…at the top or bottom of the page so others can find this article. Re-stacking is great too (that’s the green thingie on the right).
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