Zalando: Speed, Scale, and Digital Twins (2025)
Zalando is among the most advanced European retailers in the use of generative AI. By 2025, about 70 percent of images in selected campaigns were generated or enhanced with AI. The team creates digital twins of models and develops dozens of visual directions within days, a cycle that previously required six to eight weeks. AI does not replace photographers or art directors. It reshapes the workflow. The technology handles volume and variation, while people define aesthetics, make decisions, and finalize the visuals. Zalando shows how infrastructure evolves while creative roles remain central.
Zalando explores digital twins – high-fidelity replicas of real models (Photo: Zalando)
Klarna: AI as a Budget Optimization Engine (from 2024 to 2025)
Klarna’s marketing team uses Midjourney, DALL·E, and Adobe Firefly to produce campaign imagery. The financial outcome is significant. Annual content costs fall by millions. The strength of this system is speed and flexibility. Teams test ideas, explore compositions, and reduce dependence on external contractors while keeping creative control internal. For CMOs, Klarna illustrates disciplined ROI thinking. AI does not replace creativity. It makes creative work economically efficient at scale.
Shopping made smarter: Klarna adds more AI features to its assistant powered by OpenAI (Photo: Klarna)
Clorox and Hidden Valley Ranch: Training Teams, Not Just Models (2024)
Clorox views AI as a craft that demands new skills and clear processes. In early work for Hidden Valley Ranch, the team used AI to generate starting concepts. The first versions were visually inconsistent, which created an opportunity to refine the workflow. Dozens of iterations followed. Teams adjusted prompts, improved visual tone, and shaped output until it matched the brand’s expressive and familiar character. The case highlights a consistent theme. AI accelerates idea generation, but emotion, taste, and brand meaning remain human responsibilities.
An initial image created by Clorox staff with an AI tool from a company called Pencil showed pale chicken wings that didn’t look appetizing. At right, the team refined their prompt to make the wings saucier and more enticing. (Photo: WSJ)
Mondelez: Generative Video and Brand Governance (2025)
In 2025, Mondelez introduced AI driven tools for video and digital content across brands including Oreo, Cadbury, and Milka. Visual concepts, script versions, and short clips are now produced in days instead of weeks. Some campaigns report cost reductions between 30 and 50 percent. Despite the speed, governance remains strict. Every AI generated asset passes through brand, legal, and ethics review before release. Mondelez demonstrates how large FMCG companies can scale AI adoption without compromising identity. This approach is likely to become standard across the category.
OREO | AI had to start somewhere. Should have guessed it was with a twist.
Amazon Ads: Automated Video Creation for Brands (2025)
In 2025, Amazon introduced a system that creates advertising videos from text product descriptions. The tool generates scenes, angles, transitions, copy, and voiceovers to form ready to use ads for Amazon’s platform. For many marketers, this lowers the barrier to video production. Content that once demanded long cycles can now be created within minutes. Human oversight remains essential. Teams adjust tone, verify product accuracy, and maintain brand consistency. Amazon’s system signals a broader shift toward automated production supported by strategic control.
The Video Generator tool from Amazon Ads allows advertisers to create realistic high motion shots of their products in use and transform still images to movement with a single click.
Conclusion: Trend Outlook for 2026
The progression from Mondelez to Amazon points to a clear transition. By 2026, generative AI will function as a full operational ecosystem integrated into daily marketing activity.
AI agents will support shoppers with search and personalized recommendations. Tools such as Veo 3 will mature, making video production accessible to small businesses.
As AI output increases, authenticity becomes more important. Brands will expand verification processes to protect trust and avoid copyright issues.
Personalization will deepen as customer data platforms integrate with generative models to drive targeted campaigns and automated retargeting.
FMCG and retail teams, similar to Clorox and Zalando, will use AI to accelerate ideation. Competitive advantage will depend on training and ethical standards.
Large brands will extend AI into predictive demand systems and algorithmic supply chains. The direction for 2026 is not a choice between technology and people. Success depends on systems where AI delivers speed and scale, and creative professionals maintain meaning and control.
