Self// Mascara
Case Study – Self// Cosmetics
An on-the-side project to demo the use of AI to support end-to-end branding and campaign production. I went throught the full process of doing brand research, naming, logos, target audience and brand positioning for a fictitious makeup brand called Self//. I also used a wide variety of AI tools to achieve this from ChatGPT with a custom workspace, ElevenLabs on audio, Nanobanana, Veo3 and a few others. Some good learnings from going through this, particularly around the important of key-frames, prompting and reference graphics to deliver consistency.
The Approach
AI Storyboarding
Working with GenAI and my trusty whiteboard, I built an idea frame by frame with a script and shot list.
AI Concepting
Each frame was built as a static reference and fed into Veo in Flow to generate each individual shot.
AI Production
All the shots were gathered in CapCut where they were sliced up and overlayed with unique audio generated in Elevenlabs.
Self// Club Entry
AI: Veo2, ChatGPT, Elevenlabs
Self// GRWM Mascara
AI: Veo3.1, nanobanana, chatgpt, elevenlabs
Self// Logo Adherence Test
AI: veo3.1, nanobanana, chatgpt, elevenlabs
Characters
An AI generated character was selected from a variety of people we felt aligned with the messaging of the campaign. Edgy, unique, and with a clear style point of view.
Props
Every element was designed in AI. The individual products were concepted out through dozens of prototypes. Clothing, vehicles, friends, setting; all of these were built one by one for adherence.
Setting
Creating an effective setting was one of the biggest hurdles. Some situations were blocked by AI governance, some were failing at cohesion. A great learning experience in AI continuity.
Learnings
My goal in building this concept wasn’t just a demo of AI quality, but also in cost-effectiveness. Including base-level subscriptions to tools, the entire budget was under $150 and maybe a day of time per production. Is it perfect? Far from. But as a prove case in AI continuity and detail, I was impressed. Lip-syncing, background music, editing; these were all new technologies and tools for me to use. It can be difficult to experiment with tools as they all have their prices, but AI can also provide great workarounds for budget concious people.
Let’s Talk!
Hopefully this project shows I’m up for anything! Particularly if it’s something I haven’t done before. I’ve always invested my own time to get the understanding needed to deliver success.
