The creators behind WAIFF’s Best AI Advertising Film explain why AI commercials are entering a new era.
At the World AI Film Festival in Cannes, something became clear.
AI advertising is no longer a test.
It’s already happening.
Among the awarded works, one category stood out.
Commercial films.
Among them, Life is about the Ride, created by Thomas Deslien, Benjamin Le Coz, and Aurélien Bigot, received the award for Best AI Advertising Film at the World AI Film Festival in Cannes, selected among thousands of entries.
Not experiments.
Not demos.
Real brand storytelling.
For a long time, AI in advertising was seen as a shortcut.
Faster production.
Lower costs.
But that’s no longer the point.
Benjamin Le Coz highlights that AI opens a nearly limitless creative space, where ideas are no longer constrained by production costs or traditional filmmaking limits.
“AI opens a nearly limitless creative space… It doesn’t replace creativity, it liberates it.”
— Benjamin Le Coz
What we’re seeing now is different.
Ideas that couldn’t exist before
are finally being produced.
At the same time, creators are moving beyond traditional cinematic language.
Thomas Deslien points out that AI video becomes truly interesting when it goes beyond the imagery of cinema and allows new generations to build entirely new worlds.
“AI video becomes truly interesting when it goes beyond traditional cinema and creates new worlds.” — Thomas Deslien
This is where AI advertising starts to stand out.
Not by copying traditional formats.
But by inventing new ones.
And yet, one thing hasn’t changed.
Aurélien Bigot emphasizes that what truly makes the difference is not the technology itself, but the understanding of brands, storytelling, and audience.
Because tools don’t make great ads.
Ideas do.
The most compelling AI commercials today
are not the ones pushing the technology the furthest.
They’re the ones that understand:
The brand.
The audience.
The story.
What WAIFF revealed is simple.
AI advertising is not about replacing agencies.
It’s about redefining what they can do.
And for creators, this opens a new space.
Not just to make films.
But to work with brands.
To tell stories at scale.
To turn ideas into real campaigns.
This is no longer experimental.
It’s already part of the industry.