We all know the power of the Pencil platform. But what often gets lost in the conversation is that Pencil isn’t just a creative tool. It’s a thinking tool.
It’s built to support marketing teams across industries, categories and levels of experience - not just creatives who already know how to make ads.
So instead of talking about that, we decided to show it.
We created seven completely fake brands. From beauty, fashion, cosmetics and jewellery, to pharmaceuticals, alcohol, fintech and even coffee. Then we set ourselves a challenge: make an ad for each of them. In ten days.
Not to prove that AI is fast.
But to prove that people who understand the process can be faster.
Because we aren’t machines. We just know how to use them.
It still starts with a human insight
Every single ad started the same way it always has: with a copywriter and a blank page.
Before prompts, before visuals, before anything was generated, there was a moment of imagination. Who is this brand? Who is it for? What problem does it solve? Why should anyone care?
This is where we used AI Agents, not to skip thinking, but to expand it. Agents helped us explore consumer behaviours, category norms, competitors, cultural patterns and emerging trends. They helped us pressure-test assumptions and generate multiple angles quickly.But the idea didn’t come from a machine. At least, not this time.
It came from identifying a human truth worth building a story around.
And just like in traditional advertising, the script wasn’t copy-pasted from Chat. It was shaped through collaboration. Written, rewritten, stripped back. Because a flashy, convoluted script that relies purely on execution is rarely the strongest idea.
In advertising, simplicity has always been the hardest thing to achieve.
AI hasn’t changed that.
Thinking beyond the script
Once the script started taking shape, our CD stepped in; to decide not only if it was good enough, but if it was realistic.
This is something the ad industry has always understood: copywriters don’t write in a vacuum. You think about budget. Locations. Time. What’s possible.
A modern, AI-proficient copywriter has to think the same way, but about generation.
Because anyone who’s tried prompting knows that getting exactly what’s in your head isn’t always straightforward. It’s a dance. A push and pull. Problem solving disguised as creativity.
That’s why simple ideas matter more than ever.
The clearer the idea, the easier it is to bring to life.
Once approved, the copywriter broke each script down into shots; a familiar step in traditional production, but just as important here. Clear beats make it easier for designers to storyboard, whether they’re drawing frames or generating them.
Testing the idea before the polish
Those storyboard frames became rough animatics. Not to impress anyone, but to test the idea.
Does the story still make sense?
Does the timing work?
Does the joke land without relying on “pretty” visuals?
Animatics have always been about clarity, not craft. And in an age where AI can generate stunning images instantly, they’re more important than ever. They stop you from mistaking aesthetics for an idea.
Once the structure was solid, designers moved on to creating realistic statics per frame. These brought the world and characters to life, and made the jump into video generation far smoother.
When AI doesn’t behave
Then came motion.
And this is where reality kicks in.
Sometimes the character doesn’t walk the way you imagined. Sometimes they don’t turn their head at the right moment, no matter how many times you rephrase the prompt. Sometimes the “perfect” shot simply refuses to exist.
That’s not failure. That’s the process.
One of the most underrated skills in AI-led creativity is knowing when to stop forcing an idea, and instead ask: what is this giving me, and how can I use it?
Often the best moments came from the “wrong” generations. A blooper that sparked a better beat. A mistake that led to a stronger shot. Even when it didn’t, it usually showed us how to adjust the idea without breaking the story.
AI doesn’t remove problem solving.
It just moves it.
The final layer
Finally, the messy collection of generated clips landed with our motion designer.
This is where everything comes together. Pacing. Rhythm. Tone. Emotion. The edit that either elevates the idea or exposes its flaws.
And when something didn’t work? We didn’t reshoot. We didn’t scramble for budget. We didn’t panic about calling a client.
We generated again. Or adjusted the structure. Or introduced a new shot or character to help the story land.
Because when creativity, craft and the right tools work together, speed isn’t the enemy of quality.
It’s the result.
Seven ads. Ten days.
Not because AI replaced the process, but because it respected it.
