AI-Generated Images as Static Ads: A Creative Revolution in the Making

Lately, I’ve been glued to my LinkedIn feed, watching in shock as post after post pops up about the explosion of AI-generated images in marketing. And I’m not just talking about abstract experiments or tech demos –I mean real, scroll-stopping, campaign-ready visuals that brands are already using in static ads.

What used to take a full creative team, a big budget, and a few weeks to pull off is now being done... in minutes.

Take Victor Helgeland’s recent post. He demoed how OpenAI’s new image generation tool can spin up incredibly polished e-commerce visuals, on brand and ready to test, in seconds. It’s the kind of stuff that would have sounded like marketing sci-fi just a year ago.

Then there’s Benjamin Desai, who showed how he took a simple product photo, fed it into an AI model with a prompt –and bam, out came a fully-formed ad. No studio. No set. No retouching marathon. Just pure creative acceleration.

Honestly? As someone who's worked in and around marketing for years, this feels like one of those rare moments where everything shifts –fast.

The Creative Process, Rewritten: How AI Is Changing Ad Creation

If you’re in marketing, this is a moment to lean in – not with panic, but with curiosity.

I remember trying this myself just last year. I worked with fragrance brand in the past and thought I’d experiment by feeding assets into the Remini app to generate a static AI ad. It was a mess. The backgrounds were chaotic, tables looked warped, and I found myself sifting through hundreds of generated images just to find a handful I half-liked – and even those were far from polished.

Back then, it felt like more effort than it was worth. But fast-forward to now, and the tools have come a long way. We’re finally seeing results that are not only usable, but campaign-worthy – and that’s a big shift.

Experiment. Play. Run a few AI-generated visuals alongside your regular content and see how people respond. But keep your brand’s heart at the centre of it all – because no matter how smart the tools become, why and how we use them will always matter more.

This isn’t just about speed or efficiency. It’s about unlocking new layers of creativity – blending human insight with machine precision. And honestly, that’s something I find really exciting.

Here's my own personal prompt, created with the help of completely randomised static ads from Foreplay software. It definitely needs some fine tuning, but for the first trial of my own, I must admit, this is rather promising.

Joining two completely different design concepts together with this prompt

Will AI Replace Creatives? Not Quite – But It’s Redefining the Role

One thing I keep coming back to is authenticity. We’re a savvy audience these days – and even when an image looks perfect, it can still feel slightly off. That emotional connection we aim for in advertising is hard to fake, no matter how good the algorithm is.

There’s also the matter of ethics and ownership. Who really owns an AI-generated image? Are we borrowing too heavily from existing styles, people or cultures? As with any powerful new tool, there’s a responsibility that comes with how we use it.

And finally, there’s the role of the creative team. No, AI isn’t replacing creatives – but it is changing the way we work. I think the future of creative direction will be part visual storytelling, part prompt writing, part curation. Still deeply human, just with a new set of brushes.

Hey, I’m Kinga –a one-woman creative and AI-powered marketing studio for DTC brands.

I help founders and teams to craft scroll-stopping, conversion-focused ad content combining sharp strategy, striking visuals, and smart AI tools. From polished static ads to brand storytelling, I’m here to make your products look irresistible, stemming from my 5+ years experience in digital marketing.

Coming soon:  Working towards building an AI-driven tool to help DTC brands discover authentic, tailored creators who actually resonate with your audience. Because while AI is moving fast, genuine storytelling still matters –and video is still lacking the realism.

Let’s create something that truly connects.