SurePayroll — 30-Second Vertical Social Ad
Concept Development · Art Direction · AI Image & Video Generation · Prompt Engineering · Motion Graphics · Video Editing · Sound Design
The Project
This self-directed social media spot explores how generative AI can be integrated into a professional creative-production workflow while maintaining brand consistency and production quality.
The goal was to create a 30-second vertical social ad for SurePayroll centered on a simple idea: small business owners should spend less time managing payroll and more time moving their businesses forward.
From Concept to Finished Spot
I developed the concept and storyboard around several small business owners—a baker, landscaping crew and retailer—before shifting the story to SurePayroll and its key product benefits.
Each AI-assisted scene began as a carefully art-directed still image generated in ChatGPT. Those images became reference frames for generative video, with prompts refined shot by shot to control movement, maintain visual continuity and eliminate common AI artifacts.
The generated footage was then combined with traditional motion graphics, product animation, editing and sound design to create the finished spot.
A Hybrid Production Approach
The project reinforced an important principle of AI-assisted production: the best result doesn't always come from asking AI to do more.
Complex actions were simplified when necessary, generations were evaluated and refined, and traditional production techniques were used wherever greater control was required. Product messaging, interface animation, typography, pacing, brand integration and final quality control remained deliberately human-directed.
The result is a hybrid workflow that uses generative AI to expand production possibilities without allowing the technology to dictate the creative.
Tools: Adobe Firefly · After Effects · Premiere Pro · Photoshop · Illustrator · ChatGPT
Challenge
To support SurePayroll's "Run Payroll From Anywhere" campaign, I developed a concept showing a small business owner running payroll from a laptop while relaxing at the beach. With a limited budget, the project would need to rely on standard Adobe Stock B-roll. To make this footage appear as a finished and convincing video spot a product insert shot would need to be added.
My Role
Figure out a way to seamlessly integrate the payroll software dashboard into the laptop seen in the stock footage, and tie the whole spot together with company branding.
Deliverable
A polished, high-fidelity 1:1 video spot optimized for social commerce. The final asset delivered seamless visual continuity and brand integration, resulting in an engagement-ready asset.
AI-Driven Motion Design
To drive home the “Built for This” tagline, an intricate animation was needed. I leveraged Adobe Firefly to animate a short but complex, high-impact outro. This approach bypassed traditional frame-by-frame constraints, delivering premium production value while drastically reducing turnaround time.
AI Production & Workflow
The way we interact with AI and the way my brain requires highly detailed information are very similar. Therefore, writing AI prompts comes quite naturally and excites me very much. I use AI tools as creative accelerators while maintaining human oversight, brand consistency, and production quality.
Process
Text-to-video footage generation, Text-to-image raster photo generation, Illustrator text-to-vector graphics, Extend and revise B-roll video footage in Premiere, AI-assisted image cleanup and compositing, AI concept visualization, AI-assisted content adaption and repurposing for multi-channel campaigns.