Progressive - AI Commercial Production: A Behind-the-Scenes Breakdown
- New Accent
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 17
Drive Like An Animal
An AI-enabled national campaign built around a simple question: what if people literally drove like animals?
01 / THE BRIEF
The Spot That AI Made Possible
Drive Like An Animal imagined a world where every driver behaved exactly like the animal they resemble.
Progressive had explored the idea before, but bringing a cast of photo-real animal characters to life through traditional production and VFX would have been out of reach. AI opened a new production path, making the concept achievable while preserving the creative vision behind it.
02 / CHARACTER EXPLORATION
Casting Our Animal Drivers
Every character began as a casting search. Using AI generation, compositing, retouching, and traditional art direction, we developed dozens of variations for each animal. Personality, expression, posture, fur, silhouette, and screen presence were evaluated side-by-side before moving into production.
ANIMAL EXPLORATION / CHARACTER CASTING
03 / VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT
A Look Under The Hood
The vehicles were designed with the same intention as the characters. Legal requirements prevented the use of identifiable makes and models, while the story demanded vehicles that reflected each driver's personality.
CUSTOM VEHICLE ARCHETYPES / LEGALLY SAFE DESIGN LANGUAGE
04 / VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
Designing The Shot Before AI Generation
AI gave us flexibility, but the shots still needed to be directed. To control framing, geography, camera movement, and vehicle placement, we built rough Unreal Engine pre-vis scenes before generating any imagery. These were not polished 3D renders, they were blueprints. They gave the team a way to make filmmaking decisions first, then carry those decisions into the AI production process.
UNREAL ENGINE PRE-VIS TO ESTABLISH SHOT DESIGN
05 / PIPELINE
A Production Pipeline Built Around The Tools
In 2025, many of the workflows that feel standard today didn't exist. Maintaining consistency across characters, vehicles, locations, and shots required a custom pipeline combining AI tools with traditional disciplines.
This wasn't one prompt. It was a multidisciplinary production involving artists across AI generation, compositing, Photoshop, 3D, editorial, and audio. AI didn't remove the artists from the process. It gave them a new way to make an ambitious idea possible.
Before AI Production Had
A Playbook, We Built One.
Progressive - Drive Like An Animal
