Humain goes full AI for Saudi National Day with Monks

Humain just did an ad for Saudi National Day. Sure, this being a patriotic ad, they are allowed a lot of the usual bells and whistles without falling into cliche territory (a very fine line to walk if there was any). Now I was allowed to glance at the original strategy deck, so the core idea is this "Our direction builds from HUMAIN’s strategic foundation: positioning Saudi National Day as a powerful cultural moment that celebrates national pride while connecting it to innovation, progress, and global ambition."

Which is understandable for a kingdom with large ambitions, and the strategic moves to prove it, yet still has a very tribe-oriented mentality. Now the major innovation?

All of this is AI. Completely, totally, AI. This from Moey Shawash Linkedin post: "Proud to share our Saudi National Day film for HUMAIN.Built entirely with AI by a sharp and nimble team at Monks. Client led by Cherice Whewell, Mazen Bassil, MSc and Eid Dalbani. Creative led by Gavin Stradi and his extended creative team, and strategy by yours truly. Special thanks to Adem KILIÇ, Rafael Gabriel Costa Garrido and Irina Burres Kungurova."

There are a lot of people who are screaming murder with the new AI taking over, well, almost everything.  Then there are examples such as the above that argue the opposite.

The copy leans towards pride, without overdoing it, which again is an easy trap to fall into. But it is the end line which steals the show "3ezouna bitab3ouna" (our pride is in our character). That's a lot of guts packed in two words of Arabic. 

On the whole considering the low quality of ads produced for Saudi National Day, it is a total breath of AIr (hehe see what I did here) that Humain came up with this. So total Kudos for those who were involved. See the ad here.