Vertical social campaign for a Canadian chain of health food stores. From brief to delivery in three days, with no shoot, casting or location.
Client
Canadian chain of health food stores
Brief
Competitive pitch, vertical social campaign
Timeline
3 days
Outcome
Pitch won
Role
Creative direction and production
Campaign
AI production
Art direction
01 · The brief
A repositioning in three days
Healthy Planet, a Canadian chain of health food stores, was looking for an agency for its fall campaign. The goal was to change how the brand is perceived: from specialty store to the place for the family’s weekly shop.
The brief set one condition: a family with children in every piece. That usually means casting, a shoot and a budget. We had three days and other agencies competing for the same account.
The angle we chose was nut-free snacks for back to school: a problem families solve every week, and one that puts the store in the everyday shop.
02 · The method
An existing method, adapted to a pitch
Before this brief we already had our own AI video production pipeline in beta: chained stages, human checkpoints and a claims verification layer. For the pitch we adapted it to three days and nine concepts with different scripts.
01
Brief and table work
Day 1
Team brainstorm with AI: nine ideas, nine videos.
02
Scripts and voice
Day 1
One script per idea, written with Claude. Voiceover generated with Claude and ElevenLabs.
03
Look
Day 1
A visual bar set by elimination in the first few hours.
04
Still image
From day 1
Every shot starts as an image in Nano Banana Pro.
05
Video
From day 1
The approved image is animated in Seedance 2.5, with ambient sound.
06
Editing
Days 2 and 3
Titles, sound design and brand end card.
07
Verification
Before airing
Claims log and final review.
Generation didn’t stop when editing began: while the first videos were being edited, shots for the next ones were still being generated.
03 · The look
A visual bar set by elimination
The style didn’t come from a prior document. It was set by generating, comparing against a bar and discarding. In the first few hours we ruled out flat, dull light, orange tones, soft focus and any brand visible in shot. The approved image set the bar for the rest: natural light, clean, saturated color, sharpness and an unbranded domestic setting.
For Sunday Snack Prep we tested five combinations of cast and tableware until we settled on neutral white containers. Products across the whole campaign appear unbranded: kraft boxes, white packaging and plain containers. All the people are synthetic.
Discarded
Flat, dull light, with grain.
Discarded
Warm tone and soft focus.
Discarded
Too orange, with a brand on the clothing.
Approved
Basis for The 3PM Bell Test.
Exploration
Exploration
Exploration
Exploration
Approved
Neutral white containers.
Cast and tableware exploration for Sunday Snack Prep.
04 · Seven formats
Seven formats, one signature shot in each
The brainstorm produced nine formats; seven are shown here. Each script has its own structure, but every video shares one directing rule: at least one signature shot, an unusual camera position that gives the video production value.
The 3PM Bell Test
A blind taste test after school: four nut-free snacks, no labels.
Signature shot: floor-level camera in the entryway; the kids come in from school and step over it.
Sunday Snack Prep
One shop on Sunday, five lunches ready through Friday.
Signature shot: camera at the base of the cart, traveling down the aisle.
The Nut-Free Swap
The same sandwich, two outcomes: the one sent back from school and the one that gets in.
Signature shot: split screen with the same spreading gesture.
Read the Label With Me
Where to look on the package and which two phrases matter.
Signature shot: symmetrical floor-level shot as mother and son walk away down the aisle.
Lunchbox of the Day
A complete lunchbox in four minutes.
Signature shot: at counter height, with the lunchbox in the foreground.
Kid Packs the Cart
A kid picks the week’s snacks with one rule: nothing with nuts.
Signature shot: camera inside the cart, looking up.
Morning Rush Speedrun
Three lunches in ninety seconds, before the bus arrives.
Signature shot: row of lunchboxes at counter level, with the focus on the first one.
05 · Script and voice
One script per idea, one voice for all
The scripts were written with Claude from the ideas refined at the table. They don’t follow a template: each has the structure its format calls for. They share three rules: a hook in the first line, an adult third-person narrator and the same closing.
No child speaks to camera and there is no lip sync. The voiceover was generated with Claude connected to ElevenLabs. A first, flat read was discarded; the final version uses flowing sentences and emotion tags to achieve a warm register, like a parent talking to other parents.
Sunday Snack Prep · full script
“One cart on Sunday and five lunches by Friday. Fruit, seed crackers, yogurt tubes and cheese, with nothing in the basket that has nuts in it. Twenty minutes at the table on Sunday and the whole week is done. Five days stacked in the fridge and nobody arguing at seven in the morning. Healthy Planet, where nut-free is clearly marked.”
06 · Editing
Editing, titles and sound
Editing was done in Premiere Pro on days two and three, in parallel with generation. The titles were designed in Figma and animated in Jitter; the countdown in Morning Rush Speedrun and the closing logo animation were done in After Effects. Each format has its own sound design, with effects marking hits, misses and the countdown.
Taste test scoreThe 3PM Bell Test
On-screen instructionRead the Label With Me
CountdownMorning Rush Speedrun
Shared brand end card
07 · Verification
Verification before airing
Since it was a pitch, verification was left for the production phase. If these scripts went into production, each one would first pass through the pipeline’s five control stages. This is how they apply to these seven videos.
01Claims log.
Every claim is logged with its source and a status. A person signs it off; anything that depends on the client is signed off by the client.
02Traceable scripts.
Every factual line points to a row in the log. Anything blocking is rewritten or removed before generating.
03Clean settings.
No brands, logos or made-up text in shot. It was the only rule already applied in the pitch, as an art direction decision.
04Synthetic performer.
The narrator observes or advises; it never presents as real a test that didn’t happen.
05Final review.
Compliance review and an AI-generated content label on each platform.
Excerpt from the log applied to the scripts
Claim
Video
Status
Action
“Where nut-free is clearly marked”
Closing of all seven videos
Blocking
The client confirms its stores flag nut-free products.
“Under $50 a week” · “$20, five days of snacks”
The 3PM Bell Test, Sunday Snack Prep, Lunchbox of the Day, Kid Packs the Cart
Blocking
These were illustrative prices for the pitch. They’re replaced with a real basket using the client’s prices, date and region.
Blind taste test with a 9/10 score
The 3PM Bell Test
Review
The test didn’t happen: it’s labeled as a reenactment.
“Sunflower seed butter… goes in fine”
The Nut-Free Swap
Review
Some Ontario schools ask families not to send substitutes that imitate peanut butter. We add “Check your school’s policy”.
“‘May contain’ and ‘shared facility’ mean the same thing”
Read the Label With Me
Review
The CFIA considers “may contain” warnings voluntary. It’s rewritten as advice.
“More than most adults do”
Kid Packs the Cart
Blocking
Unsourced comparison: removed.
Read the Label With Me
Before
“Both mean the same thing in practice, so do not risk it.”
After
“Treat both as a no.”
Kid Packs the Cart
Before
“He turned the box over and checked the back, which is more than most adults do.”
After
“He turned the box over and checked the back.”
The Nut-Free Swap
Before
“And this is the one that goes in fine: sunflower seed butter instead of peanut.”
After
“And this is the swap: sunflower seed butter instead of peanut. Check your school’s policy first.”
The log also reviews the visuals. The nutrition label in Read the Label With Me is generated and its fine print isn’t real; in production it’s replaced with a real or custom-designed label, bilingual in English and French like Canadian labeling.
08
Outcome
3days
9videos
0shoots, castings or locations
Pitch won
The pitch was won and the client signed. The client knew the pieces were AI-generated. We arrived with nine finished videos instead of a sample.
Senior Designer | Branding · Motion · UX · AI Production
