Tombras uses Gemini to create more than 6,000 hyperlocal ads

In an innovative display of generative artificial intelligence in advertising, the Tombras agency utilized Google's Gemini AI to create over 6,000 hyperlocal ads for PODS, displayed on moving trucks across New York City. The campaign, dubbed the "Impossibly Smart Billboard," leverages real-time data such as location, weather, and traffic to generate relevant ads tailored to specific neighborhoods. Personalization at scale is an important capability unlocked by GenAI, and while this program doesn’t get to 1:1 personalization, it certainly showcases the potential of GenAI to transform creative strategies by dynamically altering content based on immediate environmental and social factors.

It’s an “impossible” mission by standard definition: Turning PODS, the portable storage trucks, into real-time digital billboards capable of auto-generating ads based on location, weather, time and hyper-specific neighborhood. 

Through an experimental run with Google’s Gemini AI tool, generating a total of 6,000 different ads displayed on PODS vehicles, Tombras accomplished the task.

The agency unveiled its “Impossibly Smart Billboard” campaign during the Google Creative Lighthouse Luncheon at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Wednesday, offering a glimpse into how AI can be applied creatively in advertising.

The experiment began 10 weeks ago when Google tasked the agency with creating a campaign that applies AI to the creative process as part of its Creative Lighthouse Program, Ryan Edwards, chief digital officer at Tombras, said during a Cannes panel discussion. The ask for the agency was to create an “impossible” campaign using Gemini; Tombras approached its client PODS for the experiment.

Full story at AdAge.