These AI Tools Can Make a $50k Ad for $500

Summary

Summary of "These AI Tools Can Make a $50k Ad for $500"

Podcast: Marketing Against The Grain
Host/Author: HubSpot Media
Episode Release Date: June 24, 2025

Introduction: The Rise of AI in Video Production

In this episode of Marketing Against The Grain, hosts Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan delve into the transformative advancements in AI-driven video production. The discussion centers on how AI tools have evolved to create high-quality video content swiftly and cost-effectively, marking a significant shift in marketing strategies.

Evolution of AI Video Technology

Kieran opens the conversation by highlighting the dramatic improvement in AI-generated videos over the past year. At [00:01], he remarks, “AI Video has gone from gimmick to the big time,” underscoring the rapid maturation of AI capabilities in video creation.

Dario Amadi adds to this perspective by noting the enhanced quality of current AI videos compared to their earlier iterations: “The quality of the videos that I'm seeing have gone way up” ([03:34]). This improvement has made AI video tools more viable for mainstream use, moving beyond basic, often subpar outputs to more polished and engaging content.

Showcasing Viral AI-Generated Videos

The hosts share compelling examples of AI-generated videos that have gained significant traction online. Kieran references Pablo's viral "Cat Olympics" video created using Hailuo AI, which amassed 1.5 million views in just five hours across platforms like Instagram and TikTok ([02:10]). The video features cats performing diving board jumps, showcasing both the creative potential and the growing acceptance of AI-generated content.

Dario further discusses the capabilities of tools like Perplexity’s new video tool and VO3, highlighting how these platforms enable creators to produce longer and higher-quality clips. He states, “This blew up and network TV actually approved this, so it's actually going to go live again” ([05:14]), emphasizing the mainstream recognition and acceptance of AI-generated videos.

Impact on Marketing and Advertising

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on the implications of AI video tools for marketing and advertising. Kieran presents a case study of an AI-created ad that aired during the NBA Finals, describing it as a "crazy GTA Grand Theft Auto style ad" ([06:22]). The ability to produce such compelling ads in just two days, at a fraction of the traditional cost, is a game-changer for marketers.

Dario elaborates on how AI video tools democratize video advertising by lowering barriers to entry: “For the average business, you can get much more personalized because you can actually do many, many different types of ads for lower cost” ([07:40]). This allows businesses to segment their audiences more precisely and create tailored ads for niche groups, enhancing targeting efficiency and effectiveness.

Future Implications and Opportunities

The hosts explore the future landscape of video marketing, envisioning a world where hyper-personalized video ads become ubiquitous. Dario predicts, “More and more your feed is going to be filled with this incredible amount of video content created by AI, personalized to you” ([08:21]). This personalization extends to consumers receiving ads that resonate more deeply with their interests and behaviors, potentially increasing engagement and conversion rates.

Kieran adds that the reduced cost of video production will lead to an explosion of video advertising: “The price of making a good video ad is coming way, way down” ([10:30]). This affordability empowers smaller businesses to compete with larger brands, fostering a more dynamic and competitive advertising landscape.

Current Limitations and the Need for Human Creativity

Despite the advancements, the hosts acknowledge that AI video tools are not yet perfect. Kieran notes, “You still have to do a Lot of manual video editing work” ([04:32]), indicating that human intervention is still necessary to refine and polish AI-generated content. Additionally, Dario points out that many tools currently produce only short clips, which may limit their utility for more complex video projects.

However, both agree that as AI technology continues to improve, these limitations will diminish, paving the way for even more sophisticated and autonomous video production capabilities.

Conclusion: Embracing the AI Video Revolution

The episode concludes with an optimistic outlook on the future of AI in video marketing. Kieran emphasizes the transformative potential of AI tools, stating, “It is a great time to be a creative person. Video, when it comes to AI is getting much better” ([13:00]). The accessibility and affordability of AI video production are set to revolutionize how businesses create and deploy video content, making it an essential component of modern marketing strategies.

Notable Quotes

• Kieran Flanagan [00:01]: “AI Video has gone from gimmick to the big time.”
• Dario Amadi [03:34]: “The quality of the videos that I'm seeing have gone way up.”
• Kieran Flanagan [04:23]: “AI Video used to not be good enough at all. Used to be terrible.”
• Dario Amadi [07:40]: “For the average business, you can get much more personalized because you can actually do many, many different types of ads for lower cost.”
• Dario Amadi [08:21]: “More and more your feed is going to be filled with this incredible amount of video content created by AI, personalized to you.”
• Kieran Flanagan [10:30]: “The price of making a good video ad is coming way, way down.”
• Kieran Flanagan [13:00]: “It is a great time to be a creative person. Video, when it comes to AI is getting much better.”

Final Thoughts

This episode of Marketing Against The Grain offers a comprehensive look at the current state and future potential of AI in video production. By highlighting real-world examples, discussing the impact on marketing strategies, and acknowledging ongoing challenges, the hosts provide valuable insights for marketers and businesses looking to leverage AI for video content creation.

Transcript

[Kieran]

Hey, everybody. AI Video has gone from gimmick to the big time. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to show you a real live ad that was made in two days just using AI created video clips. And that's pretty incredible considering how bad AI Video was even just a year ago. We're going to show you some crazy examples. Let's get into today's show. We'll be right back to today's show. But first, I gotta tell you about.

[Sarah Chen Spellings]

A week that you're not gonna wanna miss. It is a highlight of my year. Every year. It is inbound, which is HubSpot's annual event where we bring together the best attendees, the best speakers, the best experts in sales, in marketing, and customer success in AI. We all learn together and we all figure out how to grow our businesses better in the coming year. And this year, it's no exception. It's a fire lineup. It's going to be at the Moscone center in San Francisco, California, September 3rd through the 5th. So it's a great way to kind.

[Kieran]

Of close out Q3 and kick off.

[Sarah Chen Spellings]

Q4 really strong and have your heads right for 2026, because you're going to learn and hear from Amy Poehler, Dario Amadi of Anthropic, Darkesh Patel, Sean Evans from Hot Ones, Marquise Brownlee, Glennon Doyle, and the world's best speakers and experts across marketing, sales, customer service, AI. They are all at inbound. Hundreds of amazing sessions. And you know, it's more than just the sessions. It's about the networking. It's about learning from your fellow attendees, your peers, understanding what people are doing really well, where people are getting stuck. That is how you break out. That is how you are going to grow better and faster in 2026. You're not going to want to miss it. You can go to inbound.com register to secure your ticket and your spot for Inbound 2025.

[Kieran]

Okay. The State of the State of AI video. There's been a lot of buzz. If you are on YouTube or Twitter, Instagram, you're starting to see more and more AI videos. As a marketer, as somebody who runs a business, is AI Video ready for prime time? Is something we wanted to talk about today. Kieran. Part of the reason I wanted to talk about this today was just an excuse to show this video. This is the latest AI video viral sensation. I don't know if producer Darren's even seen it yet. This person, Pablo, made this video in a tool called Hailuo AI. And he got one and a half million views in five hours across Instagram and TikTok. And he did a video on the Cat Olympics. So this whole video is just cats doing different diving board jumps. And I love it more than anything I've seen in a long time. Like the back flips. Yeah, I mean, come on. I like that there's all different kind of cats. The physics of the diving boards and stuff are pretty good. Like there are a couple errors and stuff you can catch in there. But it's pretty wild that we went from like terrible AI videos a year ago to where somebody who's just playing around can make a really good 35 second video of cats as Olympians. You know, like the world needs this.

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah. I think the quality of the videos that I'm seeing have gone way up. Now what I'm trying to figure out is are they like one shot, which means they were just created from prompt, or is there a lot of editing? Like, I know you're trying to create a video with them as well from this tool, but I think them vo3 perplexity just released a new video tool.

[Kieran]

Yeah, video's heating up. We thought this was going to be the year of video and then chatgpt Image Gen kind of came out and took the video Thunder. But now, second half of the year, videos picking up some steams.

[Dario Amadi]

So here is like Perplexity out of the gate here.

[Kieran]

This guy, I love this guy.

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah. This guy's a well known ex influencer and they created a little video.

[Kieran]

Yeah.

[Dario Amadi]

Again, I have not tested the model. We should get in there and test it to see how good it is. But looks pretty good quality. I think the unlock for video is when you can do longer clips.

[Kieran]

Yeah. Kieran, I think if you're watching the show, one of the core takeaways I have of the state of video is AI Video used to not be good enough at all. Used to be terrible.

[Dario Amadi]

Right.

[Kieran]

And now you can get really good 8 to 15 second clips of either a person talking with a specific background or like a cool B roll type of scene or something. And you just showed some great examples of both of those. But you still need to know how to do some basic video editing to stitch them together to put in any kind of visual effects and everything that, that you want. You can't yet just say, hey, I want this video. I want this scene to be this, this other scene to be this, and stitch it all together and make it good. Right. Like you still have to do a Lot of manual video editing work.

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah, the VO3 stuff is like the most incredible stuff because it actually is longer clips.

[Kieran]

The quality is incredible.

[Dario Amadi]

This blew up and network TV actually approved this, so it's actually going to go live again. Probably a little bit of editing going on, but this person made this video in like two days. And they actually give you the prompt and everything they used to make it. So this was like a huge hit. The other one I've been paying attention to is it's like bringing a historical character's life.

[Kieran]

Yes.

[Producer Darren]

All right, guys, we are headed to Troy right now. We've been trying for 10 years and we still can't get in. All right, quick update. The Trojans seriously locked it down. We're gonna regroup, figure something out. So I've been thinking it through. I was thinking if we hide in something and tell them it's a gift, they'll let us in. The only thing I have to figure out is what that something is. All right, Little sneak peek. Look at this beast. The guys have been at it all night, putting in work. It's gonna turn out real nice, Right, boys?

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah.

[Producer Darren]

Okay, this might be the last update before we try it. We go in tomorrow night.

[Dario Amadi]

What a great way to learn about history.

[Kieran]

It's incredible, right?

[Dario Amadi]

So someone obviously stitched together a bunch of highlights they're using from VO3, but I think viewer three is just like pretty incredible from what I've seen so far.

[Kieran]

So there are a couple of things here. One of the big tent poles for AI Video was this AI ad that was created and played during the NBA finals. Somebody was able to make a very good, very compelling AI ad that was good enough to put on a major video stream national broadcast in America, right? And it's like this crazy GTA Grand Theft Auto style ad.

[Dario Amadi]

It's wild vibe, Korean.

[Kieran]

It's something that if you were to have actually shot this in real life for Kashi, which is like a crypto betting platform, I think, I mean, Djin on DJ and baby, like this would have taken months to shoot in real life with all these actors and all these settings, right? Would have been very expensive. And I think this was turned around in two days, right? So this whole video was made in two days, which is wild. And I would just like to hear from you, like, what do you think this means for the future of video ads? Are we just going to have like hyper precise personalized video ads everywhere? Is every major television show or sporting event going to have super personalized ads of what just happened? The day before, like, where's this going?

[Dario Amadi]

Well, I think for the average business you can get much more personalized because you can actually do many, many different types of ads for lower cost. So what you can do is segment your audiences into smaller groups and create ads for a smaller niche set of your audience. Because in a world gone by, you wouldn't have done that because it would be too expensive. But if you're like creating videos via VO3 and it's a prompt, a little bit of editing and 2 days you could actually look at your audience and say, well, I'm going to create a whole variety of different ads, segment my audience much, much smaller, be way more precise in that targeting and create creative for them. So. So I think that's like one end of the spectrum, then the other end of the spectrum. There's probably this 12 month period where when you create these ads via these tools, they're pretty off the wall.

[Kieran]

Yeah.

[Dario Amadi]

Like you can just be like way more creative and it looks quite unique. So the reason the Cat one gets so many more views right now is because it's a novel idea, it's a unique idea, It's a pretty off the wall idea and they're going to get a ton of traction. So I just like advertising, but just social content. I think more and more and more your feed is going to be filled with this incredible amount of video content created by AI, personalized to you. Because what VO3 can do within the prompt is you can literally say like, here are the characteristics of the person, here's all of the things that they enjoy and create the video just for them. Now what happens when everyone is able to do this? Like, I think again, there's an arbitrage opportunity where you're using these tools much faster and getting way more visibility because of that. I think we are seeing the text to video really start to accelerate. Like it has never been as good as we thought it would be. But Rio 3, these other tools are starting to really get us to a pretty good spot. Although I will say, you know, a lot of the tools are still these eight second clips. There's not much you can do with an eight second clip, right? You can stitch them together. Actually, I think that's one way to do it. Storyboard them.

[Kieran]

Yeah, that's what you can do.

[Dario Amadi]

You just stitch them together.

[Kieran]

Look, if you're a really good director and you've got a really good script, you can just do it all yourself now instead of having to go do a big shoot. Right. Like you can choose your creative direction. You can set all of that up. The ad that we showed they did in two days, that's why is because they got the clips fast and they could spend all their time on the editing and putting it together and getting the sound and audio right and do the things that make an ad spot really great.

[Dario Amadi]

Right.

[Kieran]

And I think the thing that is really transformative to me about all of this is the accessibility of what video is going to bring. You're going to see way more video advertisements in the world in general because a lot of people were priced out of them before. Karen. It's like cool. Yeah, it's not that expensive for me to advertise on YouTube, but it's pretty expensive for me to make some good videos to put on YouTube and then spend more money to YouTube to display them. Now the price of making a good video ad is coming way, way down.

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah.

[Kieran]

We're working on some AI 15 second spots that are gener by AI. We'll cover that on a future show. But I think the cost for each spot x the editor like director's time is going to be like 500 bucks.

[Dario Amadi]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kieran]

Before that would have been 50,000, 500,000 depending on the fidelity of the shoot you were going to do.

[Dario Amadi]

Right, Right. If you actually look at the data, most buyers, if you were talking to marketers, their number one preference is to consume short form video to learn about things. But it's just been a hard thing to create short form video. Like it takes tools, it takes money, it takes skills, and it still takes creative ideas and the ability to prompt and likely some editing. But with these tools you can actually start to bring those concepts to life. Do short form video fulfill that need for your consumer much, much better. Right. Look, I think the beauty of AI tools right now is it allows you as a marketer to ship more, create more. And this is another good example of that. Yes, I actually think VO3 is one of the most creative tools you can actually use right now. I just really wish I could get friggin access to it. I wasn't in Ireland. So here's one of my other favorites. It's basically just people falling into sinkholes.

[Kieran]

Oh yes, I saw this. Somebody on Twitter was like, it's a toxic trait of mine that I'm just obsessed with sinkhole videos.

[Dario Amadi]

I mean this is.

[Kieran]

People are just making videos of VO3 that's just like a sinkhole in the background and somebody falling to them over and over. And I love it so much. Look at this guy.

[Producer Darren]

To Repair crumbling infrastructure. But as you can see, some. Some issues are more apparent than others. Authorities are urging residents to avoid the area behind me.

[Kieran]

What I haven't seen the truck on Elm Street.

[Producer Darren]

Examining the city's ongoing efforts to address critical infrastructure issues like this rather large pothole behind me.

[Kieran]

It's so good.

[Dario Amadi]

I mean, but isn't it scary that I actually could just scroll through a feed of VO3 videos?

[Kieran]

Oh, yeah. The fact that Google hasn't made an easy way to do that to like market VO3 is wild.

[Dario Amadi]

Well, I guess they are doing pretty good with the marketing VO3. A lot of people have it. It's just I'm obviously salty because I can't get it right now in Ireland. But when you see what people are doing with VO3, you really just see there's this huge amount of creativity in folks, like in people. And it all comes out when you get these tools. You just see this whole explosion of, like, these incredibly creative ways of using these tools.

[Kieran]

Could not agree more.

[Dario Amadi]

That's what I love about them. But they're some of my favorites. You know, there was a whole thing on the Internet about one person versus 100 grillers.

[Kieran]

Yes.

[Dario Amadi]

And then someone did a VO3 of actually how that would play out. It's just like a ton of like, cool things.

[Kieran]

Look, it is a great time to be a creative person. Video, when it comes to AI is getting much better. You can now make very good videos if you have a good director, editor and some of these tools. But you cannot yet make a really good video if you're just like a non technical, non video oriented person. And that's kind of where we're at in the middle of this year. Okay. Kieran is going to go and watch tons of AI videos. This has been fun to kind of do a little check in on AI Video with you all today. We'll see you real soon on marketing. It's the green.

[Sarah Chen Spellings]

Hey everyone, if you're like me, you love learning from the best and you just love learning, period. And a podcast that is all about learning is one that I love. It's called Billion Dollar Moves. It's hosted by Sarah Chen Spellings. It's brought to you by HubSpot Media. And Sarah's awesome and she covers really what it takes to build a remarkable business. She's a venture capitalist, she's a strategist. She has really hard questions and wants to find the highs and the lows from the most successful builders and entrepreneurs of our time so that we can all learn from them and make our own Billion dollar moves. She's got a great episode around the Big Bet mindset and how you really build bold change for your company. It's awesome. You're going to want to check that out as well as all of her episodes are awesome. Highly recommend. You can listen to Billion Dollar Moves wherever you get your podcasts.