G'day! 

I did the commercial below, entirely using AI.

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And before you ask, no, I didn't spend months learning complex AI prompting or have some secret insider knowledge. 

I just used the tools that are available to anyone with an internet connection and a bit of patience (You definitely need patience mate).

Why I Decided to Go Full AI on This Project

Look, I'll be honest with you. This wasn't some grand experiment in ai advertising or a deliberate attempt to push the boundaries of what's possible.

I just had this idea rattling around in my head about creating something uniquely Australian. Something that captured that resilient Aussie spirit.

Plus, I wanted to see if AI could actually create something that felt authentic and emotional, not just technically impressive.

Spoiler alert: it bloody well can.

The Workflow That Actually Works

Let me walk you through exactly how I did this, step by step. No fluff, no theoretical nonsense.

Just the actual process that got results.

Below is a video walkthrough if you like watching it and have about 20 mins. If not keep reading.

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Step 1: The Script (Thanks, Claude)

First things first - you need a story. And writing compelling ad copy isn't exactly rocket science, but it does need to hit the right emotional notes.

I fed Claude a simple prompt:

"help me create a sript for the narration of a Australian made electric car. it should almost feel like an ad for Australia. inspired by Australian land and nature. brand is called Hold-On"

Claude absolutely nailed it. 

The script it generated had that perfect balance of nostalgia and forward-thinking optimism. I barely touched it - maybe trimmed a few lines here and there, but the core was solid gold.

I think Claude is miles ahead of ChatGPT as of writing this in creative writing. I used Claude for a few client blogs for SEO and other digital marketing campaigns and it worked well. 

Step 2: Voice That Sounds Like Home

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Most AI voice tools are drowning in American accents. Great if you're targeting the US market, not so much if you want something that sounds like it belongs on Australian radio.

I used ElevenLabs and created a custom voice - an older Australian woman with a deep, almost elder-like quality. Think of someone who's seen it all and has the wisdom to match.

But here's the clever bit: I didn't just generate the voice directly from text. I got a human to record the script first, then used ElevenLabs' voice changing feature to transform it into my custom Australian voice.

Why? Because you can't fake emotion. At least not yet. 

The human recording had all the right pauses, emphasis, and natural flow. The AI just gave it the voice character I wanted.

The result? 

A narrator that sounds authentically Australian and genuinely moving.

Step 3: Music That Hits You in the Feels

Music can make or break any commercial. Get it wrong, and your brilliant script becomes white noise. Get it right, and you've got people sharing your video because of how it made them feel.

I used Suno AI 4.5 for this. My prompt was pretty basic: "Electronic, Female haunting vocals, emotional, cinematic, heavy bass."

Suno's got this feature where it expands your simple prompt into something much more detailed. I ended up with this incredible cinematic track that perfectly complemented the emotional journey of the commercial.

Did I get it right on the first try?

Hell no. 

I probably generated a dozen different tracks before I found the one that gave me goosebumps.

Step 4: Designing a Car That Doesn't Exist

This is where things got properly technical. 

Creating a consistent car design across multiple shots using AI is like herding cats - possible, but bloody frustrating.

I started with Midjourney, using the prompt 

"minimalistic holden torana inspired silver electric car. discreet look. matt black wheel cups. LED strip headlights along the front. views from front back and side. plain background"

The results were promising but inconsistent. Every generation looked different.

The solution? ChatGPT became my design partner.

I fed one concept I liked from Midjourney into ChatGPT and then iteratively refined it. "Make the headlights more modern." "Remove the classic grille, it looks too much like a petrol car." "Make the lights pop against a darker background."

After about 45 mins of back-and-forth (and yes, some frustration when the AI seemed to forget what we were working on), I had a car design that looked properly electric but still had that classic Aussie muscle car DNA.

Pro tip: When ChatGPT starts going off-track in a long conversation, start a new chat and feed it your best result so far. 

Works much better than trying to course-correct a confused AI.

I believe this is something to do with the context window and number of tokens. Since, this is not a LLM white paper so we don’t need to worry about that stuff. 

Step 5: Bringing Static Images to Life

Once I had my car design locked down, I used Midjourney's character reference feature to maintain consistency across different shots. This lets you upload your hero image and keep the same car design across all generations.

Then came the magic: turning those static images into video using Kling AI.

Kling is brilliant at following prompts. "Car headlights transition from dim to glowing red, camera moves slowly" - and it actually did exactly that. 

No weird morphing, no bizarre AI artifacts. Just smooth, cinematic movement.

Each shot was about 5 seconds of video. 

Simple prompts worked best. 

The more complex I tried to make it, the more likely it was to produce something unusable.

Step 6: The Polish That Makes It Professional

All those video clips, the music, the voiceover - they all came together in Adobe Premiere Pro. Nothing fancy here, just good old-fashioned video editing.

The small details made a huge difference though:

• Sound effects (ocean waves, bird calls) created in ElevenLabs
• Colour correction to give everything a cohesive, slightly cold, tech tone
• Careful timing to match the music beats with visual transitions

And that final logo? That was me in Adobe Illustrator, keeping it simple and clean.

That's it.

Below is a quick recap the steps and yeah feel free to save it to your notes.

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What This Means for Australian Businesses

Here's what I reckon this whole experiment proves: ai advertising is coming and its coming fast!

A small business in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth - anywhere in Australia really - can now create professional-looking commercial content for the cost of a few monthly subscriptions.

Think about it. 

Traditional commercial production might cost you $50,000 to $200,000. This entire project cost me maybe $200 in AI tool subscriptions and took a few days to complete.

Full transparency, I have been playing with ai content generation for 1-2 years since it came out so, I do have some experience under my belt. 

But here's the catch - and this is important - the technology is just the tool. 

You still need:

• A clever idea
• Skill of storytelling and cinematography
• Patience to iterate and refine
• Skills to put everything together

The AI doesn't replace creativity or strategy. 

It just removes the technical barriers that used to make this stuff impossible for small businesses.

The Real Message Behind "Hold On"

Look, this commercial isn't really about electric cars. It's about something deeper.

We're living through this massive shift with AI disrupting everything. Jobs, industries, the way we work - it's all changing faster than most of us can keep up with.

But here's the thing about us Aussies: we're pretty good at adapting. We hold on to what matters - our values, our communities, our sense of humour - while embracing the tools that can help us build something better.

This commercial is my way of saying: yeah, AI is changing everything, but that doesn't have to be scary. It can be an opportunity to create, to tell better stories, to compete with the big players on a level playing field.

What's Next?

The tools I used for this project are getting better every month. The voice generation is more natural, the video AI is more sophisticated, the music creation is more nuanced.

But the fundamentals haven't changed: good advertising starts with understanding your audience and having something meaningful to say.

Whether you're a tradie looking to create content for your local market, a startup trying to get noticed, or an established business wanting to experiment with new approaches - these tools are now accessible.

You don't need a massive budget or a team of specialists.

You just need an idea, some patience, and the willingness to experiment.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll create something that makes people stop scrolling and say "crikey, that's bloody brilliant."

The future of ai advertising isn't about replacing human creativity. It's about amplifying it, making it accessible, and helping small businesses tell their stories in ways that were impossible just a few years ago.

So what's your story? And how are you going to tell it? Give us a shout, if you want to take it to the next level.

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