First AI Ad Special Turns ‘Let’s Dance’ Stage Into A Dragon’s Arena
Ad Alliance and UPI Germany present Germany’s first AI-generated special TV advertising format.
Viewers in front of their TV screens had reason to be amazed: When RTL’s primetime show “Let’s Dance” went to a commercial break on Friday evening, a special performance began. For Universal Pictures International (UPI) Germany, the studio stage of Germany’s most popular dance show was transformed into a mystical setting complete with dragons, where fantasy, technology, and brand magic interacted. The advertising format “Stagemorph” developed by Ad Alliance combines generative artificial intelligence (AI) with the established effectiveness of special TV advertising formats. The result is an innovative further development of the TV advertising format “Movesplit”, in which the ad spot moves into the foreground and replaces the editorial content on the screen.
For the first time, generative AI was used as a key creative tool to create an impressive advertising experience promoting the real film adaptation of the popular animated film “How to Train Your Dragon”, which will premiere at movie theaters in Germany on June 12. The transformation of the studio setting was entirely generated by AI. Instead of an elaborate set design or expensive special effects, the AI animates the entire stage background – including movement, lighting mood and thematic room design. Central, brand-led elements – such as the animated dragon Toothless – were deliberately produced and integrated in a classic way in order to guarantee brand conformity and fidelity to the original. The result is a hybrid advertising format that seamlessly combines AI and traditional production interact seamlessly and create communicative added value.
“AI can be used as a creative tool”
“This premiere demonstrates how AI can be used as a creative tool to create new spaces for brands,” said Lars-Eric Mann, Chief Marketing Officer Ad Alliance. “Cost-efficient yet high-quality, individual yet scalable – here, technology, storytelling, and format aesthetics perfectly come together. This creates innovative TV moments and sets an extended standard for future forms of special advertising.” Katja Uhrig, Senior Marketing Manager at Universal Pictures International Germany, explained: “We didn’t just want to advertise, we wanted to impressively stage the high-quality real-life film adaptation of the popular franchise in advance and create awareness. We were fascinated with the solution from Ad Alliance to use an AI-generated special form of advertising for the first time. The result is great: it is new, surprising, and emotional. It allows us to open a new chapter – the film is still elaborately created by animators, but we can tell our advertising for it in an innovative way.”
“Stagemorph” demonstrates how generative AI can bring real added value to video marketing: creatively usable, economically scalable, and intelligently embedded in the studio setting of TV shows. The focus is on context, recognizability, and brand fit – the stage remains a stage but becomes an immersive meeting place for brand worlds. A type of brand staging that was previously only feasible with high production costs can now be efficiently implemented through AI for the first time. This not only opens up new possibilities for dynamic, close-to-format productions, but also creates an attractive field of innovation with calculable costs and a high advertising impact.
