AI celebrities in ads are still not perfect. But they aren’t going anywhere

“While not yet the industry standard, the practice of shooting brand ambassadors separately and compositing them together is becoming increasingly common, especially when dealing with the clashing schedules of A-list celebrities,” said Lokesh Uchil, senior copywriter at BC Web Wise, a digital marketing agency. “The logistical nightmare of aligning dates for top-tier talent can now be bypassed entirely.”

The Rado ad caused an uproar as it was obvious the two Bollywood stars had shot separately, and it was stitched together with an AI tool. That has further fuelled fears of the death of creativity in the advertising industry, estimated by Bain & Co. to be worth $16–18 billion in 2024 and projected to grow 10-15% annually till 2029. But Industry experts say actors will still be required to shoot together for commercials that bank on the cinematic connection between them. For campaigns that simply need endorsements or presence, AI avatars will step in.

Lower costs

The benefits are huge: faster turnarounds, lower travel and setup costs, and the ability to create multiple versions of content from a single shoot, said Manish Solanki, chief operating officer and co-founder, TheSmallBigIdea, a digital marketing agency.

“Imagine one day on set translating into assets for 10 different markets or 20 different formats, with AI handling localization, dubbing, and resizing for platforms,” Solanki said. “We’re also moving towards the idea of ‘modular shoots’, where actors contribute pieces of performance that can later be reassembled into different narratives depending on campaign needs.”

Over time, brands might even licence actor likenesses, animated or generated, removing the need for physical presence altogether.

For brands, it means scale and speed; for consumers, it means more personalised, locally relevant campaigns, said Neelesh Pednekar, co-founder and head of digital media at Social Pill, a digital marketing agency.

He cited the example of Agoda’s campaign with Ayushmann Khurrana that used AI to create over 250 customized video ads targeting different city markets. Cadbury’s Diwali ‘Not Just A Cadbury Ad’ campaign let small retailers create personalized Shah Rukh Khan ads using AI-generated avatars of the actor.

Nearly 30–40% of celebrity ads in India today are already shot in fragments, with AI and advanced compositing bridging the gap, according to George Thomas, head of marketing communications, Confluencr, an influencer marketing agency. “India’s ad industry spends over ₹80,000 crore annually, of which celebrity endorsements make up 10–12%. If AI trims even 10–15% of logistics and coordination costs, that’s savings in hundreds of crores per year.”

Copy to creatives

AI is being integrated across the entire campaign lifecycle. Generative AI can brainstorm campaign concepts, write initial script drafts, and generate countless variations of ad copy in seconds, breaking creative blocks and accelerating the conceptual stage, according to Uchil of BC Web Wise.

“AI accelerates workflows by automating tedious tasks such as rotoscoping, colour grading, captioning, and sound design. This reduces manual labour and turnaround time, often slashing costs substantially,” said Manish Kumar, founder, Videos4Businesses, an AI-powered content agency. “AI enables dynamic post-production where performances can be swapped, backgrounds changed, or props digitally inserted with precision, meaning no retakes are needed just to fix minor details.”

Editing inconsistencies draw flak, reiterating the need for human touch. Research by Kantar shows 63% of Indian audiences prefer ads where celebrities feel “genuinely connected” on-screen. AI-generated works, if overused, risk creating a “plastic” feel, tuning out audiences, according to advertising experts.

In the Rado ad, Hrithik Roshan’s and Katrina Kaif’s eyelines didn’t match, so it felt like both actors were looking in different directions, according to Sharat Kumar, director, Crazy Few Films, a commercial and film production company.

To pull this off, the technicalities have to be spot-on: lensing, camera height, proportions, and most importantly, eyelines. On physical sets, tools like a vision mixer help keep all this in check.

“Creativity often thrives when people share the same physical space. Chemistry, improvisation, and those unscripted moments are difficult to replicate with tech,” said Devarshi Shah, chief growth officer at Only Much Louder, a media and entertainment company. “So while we may see more hybrid shoots, I don’t see AI eliminating the need for actors or directors to be in a room together when the story demands it.”