The other day I saw an ad for Puma and thought, "This is completely soulless." At the time, I didn't even realise it had been created entirely using AI.

Once I found that out, it all made sense, and honestly, it left me feeling a bit flat.

To be fair, the ad wasn't trying to be an emotional masterpiece. It was an experiment to see what's possible when AI takes the lead in every part of the process: scripting, voiceover, visuals and editing. And from a technical perspective, that's impressive.

But creative work isn't just about what's possible. It's about what connects.

For me, watching that advert felt like staring into a void. No story. No soul. No sense of human presence. And it made me wonder... is this really the future of advertising, or just a flashy test? As someone who believes in people - in community, creativity and the power of real stories - I found it a bit unsettling.

I'm not anti-AI. Far from it. I think it's an incredible tool, and I genuinely believe it will change the world in amazing ways. But I'm not sure we're using it in the right way yet. When thinking about it, I keep circling back to the same thought: Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

We often talk about AI as being more "sustainable". Less travel. No set builds. No physical waste. But that only tells part of the story. Behind the scenes, AI runs on energy-hungry data centres, many of which are powered by fossil fuels. A 2023 study estimated that training a large AI model can emit over 85 metric tonnes of CO2 - the same as five petrol cars over their entire lifetime. And that's just the training. Most usage happens in cloud facilities in places like the United States and China, where coal still plays a major role in powering the grid. Every video generated, every line of code, every trial-and-error prompt has a footprint. If we don't ask difficult questions about that now, we may regret it later.

One thing I've been wondering - and I'm not an AI expert – is whether these models ever stop training.

Technically, once a model is trained, that version is fixed. But as a system, the AI industry is in a constant cycle of retraining, updating and scaling new models. This means the high-carbon outputs aren't a one-off. They continue. And that's before you factor in the millions of prompts being processed every day. So even if we're not "training" in real time, we're part of a system that never really stops learning or emitting.

So, AI isn’t the solution for cutting marketing carbon emissions, even though you’d be forgiven for thinking it given that AI uses less travel, waste and physical resources. But the discussion shouldn’t be just on carbon emissions anyway. It should be also focused on making sure that we remain human. Ed Sheeran, with backing from a host of famous faces, has this week written a letter pleading with the government to ensure that musical education is funded in schools. Spotify has been plagued by accusations and rumours that they are using soulless AI music to pad out playlists at a low cost. These are things that people – your audience – are worried about. They want more creativity, more passion, and more authenticity. And they are increasingly irritated when they don’t get it.

Take the Puma ad, for example. It reportedly took five weeks to complete, yet the output has been widely criticised as soulless and forgettable. From a creative perspective, was that five weeks of effort well spent? Or was it energy poured into an experiment that delivered little in the way of lasting value and much of lasting disdain?

Would that time and effort not have been better spent by Puma providing opportunities to recent graduates, or self-taught people, to give them a chance to flex their creative muscle on a high-profile project? If we only look at output, we miss what makes creativity meaningful in the first place - the process, the perspective, the human imperfections that give it soul. As it turns out, apart from a wasted creative opportunity, it also created a significant environmental footprint for a result that's already been written off by much of its audience.

At rev.01studio, we've done our share of travelling for shoots in the past, but we're now more mindful of how we work. Where possible, we aim to reduce unnecessary travel and avoid wasteful production decisions. For us, sustainability is about making better choices, not chasing perfection.

We live in a world of shortcuts. Faster food, faster content, faster everything. So, it's not surprising that we're trying to fast-track creativity as well. But what do we lose along the way? Seeing a real face, telling a real story - one that's had a genuine impact on someone's life – sparks something human. When done right, it can create lasting resonance. Tick follows tock follows tick follows tock - that's not just marketing. That's connection. That's belonging. And that's what builds brands people want to be part of, not just buy from.

To agencies racing to embrace AI ads, I'd simply ask: Do you really need to?

Because spending five weeks generating a soulless video, one that gets torn apart online and features characters with six fingers and no heart, might not be the revolution we think it is.

AI is here. It's not going anywhere. And it will do great things. But people will always need people. We have a responsibility not to forget that.

So, when considering your marketing, consider who you are. What makes up the bones of your brand, and why, beyond money, do you get up in the morning? Answering these questions can be challenging, which is why Rev.01 offers Brand Narrative Workshops to get the answers to these and other questions, so you can tell your story and build your marketing on authenticity. If you're questioning how AI fits into your story, how to stay relevant, or just want to reconnect with what your brand really stands for, drop me a message. We'll help you figure it out together.

By James Higgs