In what might be the most self-aware use of AI in advertising this year, Erich & Kallman handed off their annual Ad Age Small Agency of the Year congratulatory duties to the bots—sort of. The agency produced a darkly funny, AI-generated video to pass the torch to this year’s winner, WorkInProgress, while cheekily suggesting this could be the last time a fully human-run shop takes home the title.
The video leans into the current unease around AI’s growing presence in creative fields, and it doesn’t hold back. From a “written-in-an-hour” script to a robotic aesthetic, the piece delivers on both humor and a healthy dose of existential dread. Erich & Kallman’s Eric Kallman admitted the creative process was dictated more by deadline panic than creative inspiration—a wink at how many agencies are using AI to save time (and maybe their necks) these days.
But while the tech may have played director this time, the human touch is what makes the blunt satire land. There’s irony in an agency known for smart, fast creative throwing AI in the spotlight to essentially roast its own kind.
Read more – and watch the video – at AdAge.