Cadbury and Ogilvy make Valentine's Day feel human again
Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk and Ogilvy just dropped a Valentine's piece that cuts against the current. "AI Knows Nothing" pits glossy, auto-generated love against the shaky, heart-in-throat act of saying it out loud.
Produced by GOOD MORNING FILMS and directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, the film leans hard into vulnerability. The script is sharp. The pauses matter. You can feel the risk in every word.
Why it works
- Contrast with intent: The ad makes AI the foil, not the hero. Polished lines lose to imperfect honesty.
- Strong craft: Script, pacing, and performance carry the story. No gimmicks. Just human tension.
- Clear brand role: A Silk bar feels like a classic gesture-simple, warm, and still relevant.
A visible pivot (and why that's fine)
Last year, Silk played with generative tools to personalize love stories. This year, it backs the messy human version. That shift could look inconsistent, but it tracks with where culture has moved. Audiences are calling out slick sameness and craving something that feels lived-in.
Creative takeaways you can use this week
- Build in friction: Write lines that are hard to say. Let silence and stumbles stay in the cut.
- Cast for micro-expression: Choose faces that telegraph nerves, not just smiles.
- Lose the varnish: Softer grade, less-perfect lighting, subtle room tone. Keep edges.
- Make AI a character, not a craft tool: If AI shows up on-screen, it should advance the story, not replace the feeling.
- Anchor the brand to a human ritual: Chocolate as a small, steady signal of care-own that ritual.
Production notes
- Coverage with restraint: Fewer setups, longer takes. Let performance breathe.
- Audio over visuals: Close-mic breaths, lip smacks, mid-sentence pivots. That's where the intimacy sits.
- Direction cue: Ask actors to "search for the word" and live in the miss. Keep the first messy take.
Selling this to a client
- Positioning: "Honest beats perfect." Explain that perceived authenticity increases attention and recall.
- KPIs to watch: Absolute watch time, completion rate, comment sentiment about "real," "honest," "relatable."
- Test plan: A/B the polished cut vs. the imperfect cut. Measure saves and shares over clicks.
Where AI still helps (behind the curtain)
- Writers' room: Generate alt lines, then rewrite them by hand. Keep only what feels human in the mouth.
- Table-read prep: Use TTS for pacing tests, never for the final.
- Edit assist: Pull select lists or transcripts with AI, but make emotional choices yourself.
The broader signal
This ad joins a wave of campaigns that prize analogue craft and hand-made texture. Think of recent work celebrating hand-drawn detail in a sea of "AI slop." The message is clear: tech can scale content, but it can't fake nerves, breath, or the courage to say something real.
Bottom line for creatives
If your category is drowning in prompt-polished sameness, go the other way. Use human error as design. Make your brand the safe place for the shaky confession.
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