Artificial intelligence has become central to the way brands create, plan, and deliver advertising. From media buying and predictive analytics to generative video and voice cloning, AI now sits at the core of marketing workflows. Yet amid this technical sophistication, one question continues to challenge marketers: what makes an ad feel human?
In 2025, brands are not just competing for attention; they are competing for authenticity. Consumers can sense when an ad has been crafted by a machine, and their expectations for genuine connection are rising. AI may optimise processes, but connection still comes from creativity, empathy, and emotion.
Research supports this shift. Nielsen’s analysis of over 150 global campaigns found that emotionally engaging ads delivered 23 percent higher sales impact than those relying purely on rational messaging. Similarly, Twilio’s 2025 India engagement survey revealed that while 91 percent of Indian consumers value AI-powered personalisation, 72 percent expect to know when they are interacting with AI. Adobe’s 2024 Future of Marketing study echoed this, showing that 81 percent of Indian consumers expect brands to use AI for efficiency but still want ads that feel created by humans, for humans. These findings suggest that the goal is not to hide AI, but to use it to enhance rather than replace human insight.
“Human insight gives the difference between one of many and one to one,” says Ruchika Malhan Varma, Chief Marketing Officer at Future Generali India. “No amount of algorithmic precision will replace a marketer who has lived in the consumer’s shoes.” Her statement captures a growing understanding across the marketing industry. AI can analyse behaviour, but it cannot experience emotion. It can predict needs, but it cannot feel them. The marketers who succeed in 2025 are those who use AI to listen better to their audience while keeping storytelling rooted in lived experience.
A clear example of this balance between technology and empathy comes from Cadbury Celebrations’ “Shah Rukh Khan My Ad” campaign. Conceptualised by Ogilvy India, it used AI to generate personalised video ads featuring the actor Shah Rukh Khan promoting local shops by name. The model was trained on his voice and visual likeness to deliver thousands of variations that mentioned real store names across India. Yet the campaign did not feel mechanical; it felt heartfelt. The purpose was to revive small businesses during Diwali and connect consumers with their local sellers. It resonated because the idea was human, while AI provided the scale to reach every neighbourhood.
As Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy India, explained, “We used the power of AI tech to help small store owners create their own personalised ads. The idea was not to showcase technology but to make their Diwali a little sweeter.” His comment highlights how technology takes a back seat when the emotional truth of the story drives the campaign.
Other Indian brands have applied the same principle. Beverage brand Maaza launched its “Meri Chhoti Wali Jeet” campaign to celebrate everyday victories. Using AI-driven video tools, the brand generated customised clips for consumers who shared their small wins online, such as finishing a task, learning something new, or helping a friend. The AI handled the personalisation, but the emotion was distinctly human. It was not about showcasing automation but about recognising ordinary joy, which made the ad relatable across India’s diverse audience.
Similarly, Sunfeast Dark Fantasy ran a Diwali campaign that allowed users to upload selfies and appear alongside Shah Rukh Khan in short AI-generated clips. Each video felt personal, yet the core emotion was cultural, tied to India’s festive spirit and sense of belonging. The campaign’s success lay not in its technology, but in its ability to make viewers feel part of the story.
Global brands have mirrored this approach. Puma experimented in 2025 with an AI-generated sports film created using generative tools for visuals and narration. While the production was largely automated, audience tests showed that viewers connected to its theme of human perseverance and inclusivity. People remembered the emotion, not the algorithm. The insight is simple: ads feel human when they are built on human truths, regardless of the tools used.
At the heart of these examples lies an important balance. AI can accelerate creative production, but it cannot decide what makes a story meaningful. It can personalise a message, but it cannot understand the cultural weight of a festival, a family ritual, or a childhood memory. That understanding still comes from people.
In practical terms, human-feeling ads often share three qualities: voice, authenticity, and context. Voice refers to tone and language that sound natural, not overly optimised. Authenticity means transparency, allowing consumers to know when AI is used. Context means cultural relevance, recognising the emotion behind a moment. When these elements align, technology supports creativity rather than overshadowing it.
Marketers say that the key is redefining creative workflows. AI should handle repetitive and operational tasks such as data analysis or testing while humans focus on narrative, symbolism, and emotional resonance. In this model, AI acts as an enabler that helps teams test ideas faster, freeing human creatives to spend more time refining what makes a message emotionally compelling.
For Indian marketers, the challenge often lies in scale and diversity. India’s multilingual, multicultural market requires precision without losing sensitivity. AI helps navigate that scale by translating and localising messages in multiple dialects, but the final review still depends on human oversight to ensure meaning and tone remain intact. Many brands now structure their workflows so that AI generates a first draft of scripts or visuals, and creative teams fine-tune them for cultural relevance.
The result is a shift in how creativity is defined. Rather than being purely about ideation, creativity now includes orchestration, where data, technology, and human insight meet. Agencies are training writers and designers to work with AI prompts while ensuring the emotional centre of campaigns stays intact. Data analysts are learning storytelling techniques to interpret insights with empathy.
Consumers, too, are evolving. A 2025 Twilio survey found that Indian consumers appreciate personalisation but expect transparency. Brands that balanced automation with human storytelling saw engagement rise by nearly 50 percent compared with those that relied only on AI-driven personalisation. These findings suggest that technology improves performance only when audiences still feel understood as people.
The craft of advertising, therefore, is moving toward hybrid collaboration. Humans design meaning, machines enable speed. The future belongs to campaigns that use AI quietly but purposefully, keeping human insight in focus. When the purpose is clear and the empathy genuine, the technology becomes invisible.
Looking forward, marketers are rethinking how they measure success. Instead of focusing only on reach or impressions, more teams are tracking emotional response, brand warmth, and consumer trust. These indicators reveal not just visibility but resonance. They measure whether an ad has connected at a human level.
In India’s fast-changing media landscape, where technology and tradition coexist, human-feeling advertising has particular importance. A festival greeting, a cricket metaphor, or a family emotion can make an ad feel real even in an automated feed. The challenge is ensuring that AI enhances these nuances instead of flattening them.
At its core, advertising has always been about people telling stories to people. AI adds speed and scale, but it does not change that foundation. The technology can analyse millions of data points, yet the most powerful ads still arise from empathy, humour, and cultural truth. When brands remember this, AI becomes an ally, not a threat.
As Ruchika Malhan Varma noted, no algorithm can replace the experience of walking in a customer’s shoes. And as Sukesh Nayak showed, technology earns its place only when it helps tell human stories better.
Disclaimer: All quotes are either sourced directly or attributed to public statements.
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