The trend: Social media marketers are depending more on AI for digital campaigns. TikTok recently expanded its AI video ad tools, adding longer video formats, an updated model to support more reference materials, and new capabilities for its Symphony ad suite. But while the tool is making it easier to produce material, more AI content isn’t always translating into more effective ads.

Some brands are now leaning into human craftsmanship to differentiate themselves ahead of the holiday season. Levi’s recently spent 2,000 hours creating a one minute stop-motion ad for the holidays, while Etsy is running a “Celebrating Being Human” campaign that features handmade gifts from its sellers.

Why it matters: TikTok’s latest tool suggests a future in which brands can produce more video creative with less manual effort.

But that efficiency creates a new challenge of maintaining the human touches that make advertising memorable, especially as consumer comfort with AI-generated advertising has yet to catch up with marketers’ adoption of the technology.

• Three-quarters of consumers worldwide say AI makes ads feel less authentic, per The Harris Poll.
• Consumers rate human-generated ads as significantly more creative and engaging than AI-generated ads. A Syracuse University study found that human-made ads perform 14% better on short-term sales potential and 17% on long-term brand equity.
• Preference for human-made ads is strong among younger audiences but consistent across age groups. Seventy-three percent of consumers between 18 and 29 say it is very or somewhat unacceptable to use AI to generate people and voices in ads. Among older cohorts, that sentiment ranges from 53% to 61%.
• But despite consumer preferences, brands are increasingly using AI to generate ad creative. Seventy-four percent of US advertisers use AI to enhance creative assets, while 38% use it to generate the entire asset, according to January data from Advertiser Perceptions.

Recommendations for brands and marketers: Scaling production with AI and creating meaningful audience connections are interconnected challenges. Brands feeling pressure to adopt AI should look for ways to use the technology without sacrificing the human elements that make their advertising distinctive.

AI can help streamline more time-consuming tasks behind the scenes, such as measurement, analytics, and campaign optimization, without making the creative itself feel less personal. Marketers should ensure human input remains central to ad concepts, storytelling, and final execution.

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