Correction, 2026-10-02: we re-checked every campaign fact against the brand's, agency's or maker's own page. Kalshi's "about $2,000", "Game 3", "three days" and "20 million impressions" came from a news report of what Kalshi said, not from Kalshi's or the maker's own pages, so they are gone; the Kalshi section now quotes its maker's own post. The Heinz line we put in quotation marks ("Ketchup even means Heinz to AI") is not in any source, and the agency's two 2023 award entries report different impression figures (over 850 million and over 1.15 billion), where we gave only the higher one. We could not confirm the Gold and Silver Film Lions and the Creative Strategy Lion we listed for Claude on Cannes Lions' own page, so they are removed. Coca-Cola's claim that its ads tested well came from a press interview, not a Coca-Cola page, and is removed. Under Armour's four-week timeline and "AI, CG, and licensed footage" are now attributed to the agency, Tool, which published them, and our summary of the director's reply to his critics (that the brand and agency owned and licensed the footage) is not in the report we cited, so the page now says what that report quotes.
Correction, 2026-09-30: we re-checked every campaign against its original source. The Claude films won one Film Grand Prix, shared by two films, not two; they are also ads about AI, not ads made with AI. Heinz's campaign ran in 2022, not 2025 or 2026, and the tagline we quoted is not in any source. Klarna's figures are for Q1 2024 and came from off-the-shelf tools, not an internal pipeline. Kalshi took two to three days, and the "three million views" figure is not in any reputable source. Under Armour's film drew criticism we had left out. The title now reflects the real date range.
Most "best AI ads" lists are padded with tech demos and spec films that never ran. Every campaign below shipped to a real audience, and every campaign fact comes from the brand's, the agency's or the maker's own page, linked at the end; where we report how audiences reacted, the source is named. Results such as impressions are the companies' own figures, not independent audits. The strongest work does not cluster around one use of AI: some ads leaned on speed, some on a shot nobody could film, some on an idea that only exists because generative models exist. The pattern that separates the ads people liked from the ads people mocked is worth more than the list itself, so we end there.
TL;DR
- The best AI ads did not stand out because they were AI. They stood out on idea, timing, or an execution that traditional production could not have delivered as quickly.
- Kalshi's NBA Finals spot (June 2025) is the speed case: one person, two to three days, and 300 to 400 generations for 15 usable clips, per its maker.
- Heinz "A.I. Ketchup" (2022) turned a model's bias into the idea: over 850 million to over 1.15 billion earned impressions, per the agency's own award entries.
- Klarna (Q1 2024) showed the operational case: image development cut from six weeks to seven days, per Klarna.
- Claude's Super Bowl films won the Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2026, and they are an ad about AI made with actors and a film crew.
- The ads that drew backlash share one trait: AI used where audiences expected handmade work or human credit.
Kalshi, NBA Finals: the speed case
In June 2025 the prediction-market platform Kalshi hired AI filmmaker PJ Accetturo to make, in his words, "the most unhinged NBA Finals commercial possible", and posted the 30-second result on its own X account on June 11, 2025. Accetturo's thread, posted the same day, says he co-wrote the script with Gemini (or ChatGPT), had Gemini turn every shot into a prompt for Google's Veo 3, and that "This took about 300–400 generations to get 15 usable clips. One person, 2-3 days." He called it "a 95% cost reduction vs traditional ads"; that is his own estimate, and we found no budget figure on his or Kalshi's own pages.
What it did well: it leaned into the chaos. Accetturo's pitch to Kalshi was that "the best Veo 3 content is crazy people doing crazy things while showcasing your brand", and the script gave Kalshi's lines to ten "wild characters in unhinged situations". In that register an odd frame can read as part of the joke rather than as an error. It did not try to pass as a polished cinematic shoot.
Heinz "A.I. Ketchup": the model's bias as the idea
In the summer of 2022, Heinz and its Toronto agency Rethink asked DALL-E 2, an image model that was not yet open to the general public, what "ketchup" looked like. As the agency tells it, even to AI, ketchup looked like Heinz, and kept looking like Heinz as the prompts got stranger. Instead of hiding that, the brand made it the campaign: it asked fans on social media for new ketchup prompts, turned the results into ads, put the images on a run of Heinz bottles in place of the label, and opened galleries in the real world and in the metaverse.
The agency's own 2023 award entries report the results, and they do not agree on the reach: over 850 million earned impressions in its entry to The One Show, over 1.15 billion in its entry to the ADC Awards, each described as "worth over 2500% more than our media investment". The One Show entry adds a social engagement rate "38% higher than past campaigns"; the ADC entry says "38% higher than benchmarks".
What it did well: the AI was the insight, not the production shortcut. The idea only works because a generative model exists and has a specific bias.
Klarna: the operational case
Klarna is not a single ad; it is a system. In a May 28, 2024 release, Klarna said that in the first three months of 2024 it generated over 1,000 images with generative AI tools such as Midjourney, DALL-E and Firefly, cutting its image development cycle from six weeks to seven days, and achieved a $6 million reduction in image production costs. It put AI's share of its marketing cost savings at 37%, "about $10 million on an annualized basis", and the release title says it now runs more campaigns.
What it did well: it treated AI as a throughput problem, not a novelty. The compounding win is rarely one hero spot; it is the fiftieth variant you can now afford to make and test. That is the same creative volume logic that reshapes performance marketing.
Under Armour, "Forever Is Made Now": the unavailable-talent film, and its backlash
On March 5, 2024 Under Armour released "Forever Is Made Now", a film about boxer Anthony Joshua that it calls "an AI sports commercial", to mark the renewal of their partnership ahead of his fight with Francis Ngannou. Per Under Armour, the film was directed by Wes Walker with the Tool AI team, "allowing Under Armour to tell this unique narrative without accessing AJ, as he finalizes his fight preparations." Tool describes "a mixed media production approach powered by AI – combining AI, CG, and licensed footage" and says the project "was conceptualized and executed in four weeks".
It also drew criticism. TechCrunch reported on March 14, 2024 that after Walker presented it on Instagram as the "first Ai-powered sports commercial", other creatives pointed out that much of it repackaged footage from an earlier commercial directed by Gustav Johansson, without crediting him or the cinematographer at first. Walker replied that the team had asked for access to Joshua and been refused, with limited time and budget, and after some argument he had credits for the original filmmakers added to his post.
What it teaches: AI can solve a real production constraint, here talent availability, but the human work it builds on still needs credit.
Claude at the Super Bowl: an ad about AI, not made with it
Anthropic's Super Bowl campaign for Claude, "A Time and a Place" by Mother London, imagines a near future where ads interrupt people's conversations with AI about therapy, health, business advice and education. At Cannes Lions 2026, two of its films, "Can I Get a Six Pack Quickly?" and "How Can I Communicate Better with My Mom?", shared the Film Grand Prix; the festival describes them as positioning Claude as the AI pledging not to run commercial messages on its tools.
Why it is on this list: per the agency's own award entry, it was directed by Jeff Low, with the production company Biscuit Filmworks and a director of photography, and the chatbots were played by cast performers briefed on hours of competitor chatbot audio. It won advertising's top film prize with writing, casting and direction. It is the clearest proof that the idea, not the tool, is still what wins, even when the subject is AI.
The milestone that started it: Toys"R"Us
In June 2024, Toys"R"Us Studios and the agency Native Foreign premiered a brand film at Cannes Lions telling the origin story of founder Charles Lazarus, "almost entirely created with Sora, with some corrective VFX", per their press release. NBC News reported immediate backlash online, including from creatives worried about AI replacing their work, alongside some viewers who praised the technical achievement. It belongs on an honest list because it marked the start of the era, and because it taught the lesson every entry after it had to absorb. For the full timeline, see the first fully AI-generated commercials.
The pattern: where AI actually added value
Strip out the brand names and the strongest entries cluster into three uses, and the backlash into one.
1. Speed at primetime scale. Kalshi is the archetype. When one person can make an NBA Finals spot in two to three days, by its maker's account, the barrier to broadcast advertising drops. This is where AI's value is least controversial and easiest to measure.
2. The impossible or unavailable shot. Under Armour's unavailable-talent problem, a location you cannot fly to, a scenario you cannot stage. AI earns its place when the alternative is not "a cheaper shoot" but "no shoot at all", as long as the footage it builds on is credited.
3. AI as the idea. Heinz is the purest example. The concept depends on a property of generative models.
Where it goes wrong: using AI to cut corners on work audiences expect to feel handmade. Coca-Cola's own 2025 release describes "two AI-driven reimaginations of the classic 1995 Coca-Cola spot", made with the studios Secret Level and Silverside AI, "building on last year's campaign". NBC News reported in November 2024 that viewers called the earlier AI version "soulless", and Marketing Dive reported in November 2025 that the new one was "again facing backlash". Nostalgic, warm, human-centred advertising looks like the riskiest place to visibly economise with a model.
What this means for brand teams
Pick your use case before you pick your model. If the goal is volume and speed, spend on dozens of testable variants from cheaper, faster models rather than one expensive hero render. If the goal is an impossible shot for a brand film, spend on the cinematic tier and budget human finishing time. If the idea itself is about AI, the concept has to carry the ad, the way Heinz's did.
The common thread across every entry that worked is that a human made the call on where AI fit and where it didn't. That judgement is the job now.
FAQ
How was Kalshi's NBA Finals ad made? Per its maker, PJ Accetturo: a script co-written with Gemini or ChatGPT, Gemini turning each shot into a Veo 3 prompt, and "about 300–400 generations to get 15 usable clips", made by one person in two to three days. Kalshi posted the 30-second spot on June 11, 2025.
Did an AI ad win a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2026? Claude's Super Bowl films by Mother London won the Film Grand Prix, but they are an ad about AI made with actors and a film crew, not an AI-generated ad.
Why do some AI ads get backlash? The ones that drew criticism used AI where audiences expected handmade warmth, such as holiday advertising, or built on human work without crediting it.
Where do the results on this page come from? From the brands', agencies' and makers' own pages: Klarna's release, Heinz's agency's award entries, Under Armour's and Tool's pages, Accetturo's and Kalshi's posts. They are the companies' own figures, not independent audits. Reactions are sourced to the news outlets that reported them.
Sources
- Kalshi: PJ Accetturo's thread on X, June 11, 2025: opening post, concept, script, prompting, cost and time; Kalshi's own post of the 30-second ad, June 11, 2025: x.com/Kalshi, all checked 2026-10-02
- Heinz "A.I. Ketchup": Rethink's entry to The One Show 2023 (over 850 million earned impressions, engagement "38% higher than past campaigns"): oneclub.org; entry to the ADC Awards 2023 (over 1.15 billion, "38% higher than benchmarks"): oneclub.org; launch timing: Adweek, 2022-08-01, all checked 2026-10-02. Rethink's own case-study page returned an error page when we tried it on 2026-10-02.
- Klarna: Klarna press release, 2024-05-28, checked 2026-10-02
- Under Armour: Under Armour, 2024-03-05, Tool; criticism and Walker's reply: TechCrunch, 2024-03-14, all checked 2026-10-02
- Claude: Cannes Lions final winners, 2026-06-26; Mother, Biscuit Filmworks and Edelman's entry to The One Show 2026 (director Jeff Low, casting and crew credits): oneclub.org, checked 2026-10-02
- Toys"R"Us: Toys"R"Us Studios and Native Foreign press release, 2024-06-24; reaction: NBC News, 2024-06-26, checked 2026-10-02
- Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola release, 2025-11-03; reaction: NBC News, 2024-11-18 and Marketing Dive, 2025-11-05, checked 2026-10-02
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