Carl’s Jr. is selling its Angus Maximus 1/3-lb. burger with a 30-second Roman Colosseum battle between an armored, sword-wielding gladiator and an unarmed clown in a frilly costume, and the outcome is exactly as lopsided as that matchup sounds. Agency Erich & Kallman built the spot around live-action blue-screen footage merged with AI; the burgers and the two lead performers, the agency says, are real. Arc Creative’s Robert Sethi directed. The fight ends with a twist: the victorious gladiator removes an iron mask to reveal a woman underneath, a callback to Carl’s Jr.’s Paris Hilton-era ads.
“Carl’s Jr. isn’t interested in subtlety, and the Angus Maximus is confident and irreverent in a way that feels like the epitome of the brand,” said Eric Kallman, E&K’s co-founder and CCO. “Through over-the-top spectacle, we saw the opportunity to turn a burger offer into an epic proclamation, reflective of the brand’s long-standing swagger.” The brief also asked the agency to work in “a famous Carl’s Jr. bikini-clad woman” at the end of the spot, Kallman said, and the team aimed for something “very self-aware and non-offensive, paying tribute to the trope without actually using any sex appeal seriously.”
Kallman said the physical shoot was “pretty straightforward,” and most of the work happened afterward: “most of the fun came through the revisions in post. AI is so fast and a perfect fit for this idea.” He estimated a spot like this would once have taken “many millions of dollars and many months,” calling AI a way to do it “for a fraction of the time and cost.” The opening shot of the Carl’s flag, added to the brief after the fact, was one of several versions the team generated “virtually instantly,” he said.
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