AI Stories
Small Business Superpowers
Campaigns don't always end where they start.
In the middle of developing a campaign to help small businesses understand AWS cloud services, we pivoted. The brief shifted to focus on AWS's AI offerings for small businesses. This was a different story, a more immediate value proposition, and an opportunity to show rather than explain.
Luckily, we had already done the hard work.
The Idea Was Already There
The conceptual foundation was in place: a practical effects-based shoot that would place small business owners directly inside the AWS world. We built a real environment on a sound stage lit with the soft blues, pinks, reds, and violets that define the AWS brand palette. We designed a series of four “floating” offices and populated them with different types of small business owners.
The concept had a clear dramatic mechanism. At a precise moment in each scene, we flipped the switch. The lighting transformed into a powerful, rich gradient—a literal, visible representation of what AWS AI does for a small business. The soundstage was wrapped in light like the businesses would be wrapped in AWS capabilities.
Real Results
The campaign became the highest-performing digital ad effort AWS Small Business had run for any product or campaign. Eye-catching visuals of small business owners in a fully realized AWS environment cut through in ways that more conventional approaches hadn't. The striking images drove both attention and action. Even in performance-driven digital advertising, a powerful creative idea is still the most effective tool in the mix.
The Campaign
The hero spot weaves together a series of small business owners across different stage scenarios—each one searching for a solution, finding AWS AI, and feeling the effect of that change.
The lighting shift was the narrative, but the entire shoot wove the brand into a comprehensive and familiar world customers could step into. The gradient change showcased the power available to small business owners, in all the ways they work.
We expanded the campaign outward: cutdowns for social, carousels for web, and digital ads placed across key platforms including Amazon itself. The messaging was direct. The imagery did the heavy lifting.
Building the World
We shot in New Jersey with a local crew and cast, producing video and photography simultaneously on the same set. We'd shoot the scenes first, then pull back for hero stills—a practical decision that kept the production efficient without sacrificing either format.
The results held up. Despite the inherent challenges of a dual-format production, we came away with striking images in both motion and still that carried the weight the campaign needed.