The era of the boring, corporate explainer video is officially dead. In its place, a new wave of viral video marketing is emerging—one powered by high-fidelity generative models like Veo3 and Sora 2. Brands are no longer just asking how to use AI; they are asking how to use it to capture hundreds of millions of views without triggering the inevitable "AI disruption" backlash. The answer lies in a specific, high-octane creative strategy for AI ads: absurdist humor.
We have seen this strategy work at scale. From a David Beckham ad that garnered 230 million views to a financial services campaign for Origin Financial that racked up 2 million views by mocking historical financial disasters, the data is clear. When you make AI videos look 'ridiculous' on purpose, you don't just increase retention—you disarm the critics. This article explores the exact workflow for AI brand building that leverages the 'Super Bowl Strategy,' public domain IP, and internet-native hooks to dominate the social feed.
The Super Bowl Strategy: Why 'Ridiculous' Beats 'Realistic'
One of the biggest hurdles in AI brand building is the negative sentiment surrounding automation. When a brand releases a serious, high-budget AI ad, the audience often reaches for their metaphorical pitchforks, accusing the company of cutting human jobs. To mitigate this, top creators are adopting what we call the Super Bowl Strategy: leading with comedy first.
By leaning into the "extra" and the absurd, you signal to the viewer that this content is meant to be entertainment, not a replacement for reality. If people are laughing, they are less likely to complain about the technology used to create the joke. For instance, an ad for Ramp depicted audit season as a literal horror movie with zombies. The exaggerated nature of the visuals made the AI-generated elements a feature of the humor, rather than a point of contention.
"The only way we've found to mitigate AI disruption sentiment is to make it feel like a Super Bowl commercial—it has to be ridiculous, comedy-first, and mostly jokes."The Legal Loophole: Leveraging Public Domain IP
Copyright is the final frontier for Sora 2 marketing use cases. While generating a video of a famous copyrighted character might get your ad flagged or sued, the history of the human race is effectively "open-source." Savvy brands are bypassing legal hurdles by using historical figures and events that have entered the public domain.
In the viral ad for Origin Financial, the creative team used Pompeii, the Titanic, Enron, and Blockbuster as backdrops for bad financial advice. Because these are historical events or defunct entities, they provide instant recognition and authority without the licensing fees associated with modern IP. Similarly, using figures like Mary Antoinette, Einstein, or the Wright Brothers allows for viral video marketing that feels prestigious and high-budget while remaining legally safe.
| IP Category | Example | Brand Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Historical Disasters | Pompeii, Titanic | High drama, instant visual hook |
| Defunct Brands | Enron, Blockbuster | Relatable humor, cultural relevance |
| Public Domain Figures | Mary Antoinette, Plato | Prestige, no licensing fees |
| Internet Trends | Meme coins, NFTs | High shareability on X and TikTok |
When you combine these historical moments with a modern twist—like a Roman real estate agent selling a time-share at the foot of an exploding volcano—you create a juxtaposition that demands the viewer's attention. This is a core component of a successful creative strategy for AI ads.
Hooking the Scroll: Internet-Native Trends
Even the most cinematic AI video will fail if it doesn't understand the platform it lives on. To ensure distribution on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok Ads, your creative must lean into internet-native trends. This means moving beyond broad humor and into specific subcultures.
For example, the Origin Financial ad ended with a joke about meme coins and an NFT bro on a yacht. This wasn't accidental. By referencing the "crypto-rich" culture, the ad became hyper-relevant to the very audience most likely to share it on social media. Using ChatGPT to brainstorm these "punchy" modern references can help bridge the gap between historical themes and current-day virality.
"You want people to be lean-forward, not lean-back. Juxtaposing historical gravity with internet-native trends like meme coins is the fastest way to get a share."Managing these trends requires constant monitoring of what creators are actually posting. Platforms like Stormy AI can help source and manage UGC creators at scale, ensuring your AI-generated assets are paired with the right voices and trends currently dominating the discovery feeds.
High-Fidelity Branding: Beyond the 'Morphic' Look
Early AI video suffered from what many call the "morphic" look—faces that melted into each other and unnatural, swimming pixels. To compete with traditional big-budget agency work, Veo3 for brand growth requires a move toward cinematic realism. The secret to achieving this isn't just better prompting; it's a better workflow.
The most successful AI native agencies are moving away from "text-to-video" and toward "image-to-video." By generating high-fidelity static images first using tools like Midjourney, you set a visual anchor. You can then run those images through an enhancer like Krea.ai or specialized skin texture models to add humanizing details like acne, pores, and natural imperfections. This removes the "AI glow" that often makes viewers feel uneasy.
The AI Ad Playbook: A Step-by-Step Workflow
If you want to replicate the success of 50M+ view campaigns, you need a repeatable system. Here is the creative strategy for AI ads used by top-tier agencies today:
Step 1: Scripting with GPT
Upload your brand brief to ChatGPT and ask for 10 historical moments that involve "bad advice" or "ironic failure." Don't ask it to be funny yet—ask for the concepts. Once you have the concepts, refine the dialogue to be absurdist.
Step 2: The Shot List & Figma Board
Turn the script into a detailed shot list. Use Figma to lay out your shots visually. This allows you to maintain character consistency and ensure the "cinematography" flows logically from wide shots to close-ups.
Step 3: Image Generation (The Anchor)
Use generative tools to produce 3 variations for every shot. High-quality image platforms are preferred for their photorealistic skin tones and iterative chat interface. Download your selects and organize them in your Figma board.
Step 4: Video Animation
Upload your "anchor images" into Veo3. Use a prompt that describes camera movement (e.g., "Dolly zoom into the character's eyes") rather than just describing the scene. This creates the cinematic depth found in professional commercials.
Step 5: Post-Production & Sound
Bring your clips into Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve. Add a consistent music track from Epidemic Sound. AI models often generate different music for every 10-second clip; you need a single track to tie the narrative together.
The Future of Retainers: High-Volume Weekly Releases
The traditional agency model involves a 6-8 week timeline for a single 30-second spot. In the world of AI brand building, that timeline is shrinking to less than a week. This shift is fundamentally changing the business of marketing. Brands are moving away from one-off "hero" projects and toward high-volume weekly releases.
As production costs drop, the limiting factor is no longer the budget—it's the ideas. Agencies and internal marketing teams will need to act more like newsrooms, reacting to culture in real-time with high-fidelity AI video. For example, if a specific meme goes viral on Tuesday, an AI-powered team can have a branded, cinematic parody of that meme live by Thursday.
This high-volume approach requires a robust system for managing relationships and vetting the creators who will help distribute this content. Tools like Stormy AI provide the infrastructure to source, vet, and manage creator relationships, allowing brands to focus on the creative strategy while AI handles the heavy lifting of discovery and outreach.
"The future of branding isn't one big ad a year; it's one great idea every week that gets 10 million views for the price of a single traditional camera setup."Conclusion: The Era of the AI Madman
Scaling brand growth with Veo3 and Sora 2 isn't about replacing human creativity; it's about amplifying it. The "AI Madmen" of the 2020s are those who can combine the deep psychological hooks of traditional advertising with the speed and absurdist potential of generative AI. By leaning into absurdist humor, leveraging public domain IP, and focusing on high-fidelity image-to-video workflows, brands can achieve reach that was previously reserved for those with multi-million dollar Super Bowl budgets.
The keys to the kingdom are now available to anyone with a ChatGPT subscription and a willingness to get their hands dirty. Start by building a spec portfolio of ridiculous, branded content. Follow your curiosity, embrace the absurd, and watch as the algorithms reward your viral video marketing efforts with unprecedented growth.