For B2B marketers grappling with the high costs, complex processes, and tight deadlines of traditional video production, creating video content at scale is often out of the question.

However, rapid advances in AI-generated video technology over the past year means it is becoming an increasingly viable solution. Adding this technology to your content process and exploring its capabilities now could lead to new creative opportunities. 

If you haven’t been keeping abreast of the changes in AI video, don’t worry. The unlikely combination of Will Smith and a few plates of pasta can quickly get you up to speed.

Around this time last year, your feed may have been blessed with the “terrible beauty” of an AI-generated video featuring Smith devouring spaghetti. The actor recently posted a parody response on Instagram. In a measure of how quickly the technology has advanced, a good number of users didn’t realise it was actually him in the video. 

People were fooled for a reason. AI-generated video has come a long way in a very short space of time and there is now a whole new ecosystem of apps offering sophisticated capabilities to anyone with a laptop and an internet connection. 

The technology isn’t without limitations or pitfalls. But they do not outweigh the utility of these tools when the demand for engaging visual content output is so high. You might not be able to generate a Hollywood blockbuster any time soon, but you will be able to create compelling, cost-effective video content that resonates with your target audience.

And with major AI companies like OpenAI and Google entering the market, things are about to get even more interesting. So, if you’re not already thinking about how to use AI video in your work, you need to be.

To help you get started, we’ve assembled a look at how a B2B content creator can harness the video capabilities of artificial intelligence and avoid potential problems, the platforms you need to know, and take a peek at what’s just over the horizon. 

Key AI Video Generation Features for B2B Marketers

There’s no need to wait for models like OpenAI's Sora or Google's Lumiere to be released to the public. A lot of the AI video tools available today have the functionality your B2B marketing team needs to generate content. Look for these features when considering AI video platforms for your team.

Text-to-Video

This is the quintessential AI-generated video use case and probably the one most people associate with AI use in general. This functionality allows users to input text descriptions which AI then compiles into videos ranging from clips a few seconds long to videos lasting several minutes.

A tool like InVideo or Pictory can produce a quick video end to end from a single prompt, generating the script, stock footage and voice overs. They’re not perfect, but they are customisable and offer a good jumping-off point for compelling content.

Deepfaking

Platforms like DeepArt and Faceswap offer tools for creating deep fake videos. These can convincingly swap faces in videos, synthesise human voices, and even alter facial expressions and lip movements to make it look like someone is saying something they never actually said.

Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room: deep fakes are often used for harmful and vile purposes. However, there is also potential for B2B marketers to use the technology ethically for film productions, advertising, or creating virtual avatars.

Take Synthesia for example. This tool can generate videos featuring diverse AI avatars and voiceovers in over 130 languages. You can choose from a library of synthetic people or build a custom avatar. From there, you can quickly turn scripts into engaging video content for a wide range of uses such as training and sales enablement videos, customer support guides and product explainers.

AI Video Editing 

AI-powered video editing tools cut and stitch together scenes, crop, reframe, or remove unwanted objects, and even suggest edits to enhance storytelling. This functionality saves marketers time on routine tasks, allowing them to focus more on creative storytelling and less on technicalities.

Adobe’s Premiere Pro, for example, offers AI powered tools that help accelerate various aspects of video production, including transcription and captioning, text based editing, colour correction,  and audio adjustments.

Runway's multimodal AI system Gen-2 offers a range of creation and editing tools beyond text-to-video, such as:

• Synthesising new videos by applying the composition and style of an image or text prompt to a source video

• Converting storyboard mockups or untextured renders into animations

• Masking abilities to isolate and highlight products or features

• Editing capabilities including depth extraction, super-slow motion, inpainting, background removal, motion tracking, audio clearing, and beat snapping.

Other B2B Applications

There are a number of other ways AI is making video production more accessible and efficient for marketing teams working with tight budgets:

• Storyboarding and Concepting - With a basic outline of key points, AI can help to generate visual storyboards. It can visualise scene compositions, transitions, and even thematic elements, significantly reducing the time and expertise required in this critical early creative stage.

• Social Media Videos - Marketers can use AI videos to keep up with current trends without investing time that will be wasted when the feed moves on. Tools like InVideo and Pictory can help them to quickly explore their options and create videos for social media. Or automated editors like Munch can cut longer videos into more “snackable” content.

• Script Drafting - Using AI to brainstorm your project’s narrative flow can help you to work out problems and deliver a more complete brief to your writing team. This allows them to focus their efforts on refinement, personalisation, and ensuring the final piece of content aligns with brand voice and objectives. 

• Branded Imagery - AI video tools can generate branded imagery, incorporating colour schemes and specific design elements into videos. Brand videos reinforce brand identity and help increase brand recall among B2B audiences.

• Creating Avatars and Voiceovers - Lifelike avatars and synthetic voice overs are starting to eliminate the need for on-camera talent and voiceovers. Soon, you’ll only need to face the camera for your most critical and live videos, reducing production costs and timelines, enabling the rapid creation of personalised, engaging content.

• Repurposing Existing Content - Blog posts, whitepapers, keynotes, or webinar recordings can all be transformed into engaging video content, extending the life and reach of existing materials and maximising content marketing investments. Tools like Lumen5 excel at repurposing content.

• Localising Content - Many AI platforms can generate video voice overs in multiple languages, significantly reducing costs for B2B marketers targeting a global audience. Localisation also improves the reach of your video content, ensuring it’s accessible, relevant, and engaging for non-English speakers.

Another somewhat intangible benefit of AI, in general, is its ability to transform workflows and unleash marketers’ creativity.

AI applications' inherently “sandboxy” nature means that engaging with them isn't just about learning their functions. Finding out what the technology is capable of is a more exploratory experience that often sparks creativity and innovative thinking. 

We suggest incorporating some purposeful play with these tools today to understand how they might augment your workflows in the future.

Scroll through this comprehensive list of options from Forbes and consider what type of video creation they might be suitable for in your content ecosystem.

What to Expect from the Tech Industry’s Biggest Players

With some of the biggest names in tech preparing to enter the AI video market, things are about to get very interesting. Forget day-to-day video content for B2B marketing. These tools are poised to threaten professional, studio-quality visual content.

Sora (OpenAI)

Announced in February 2024, OpenAI's Sora will be able to generate photorealistic videos up to a minute long. They feature complex scenes with multiple characters, different types of motion, and detailed backgrounds. Sora's capabilities extend to understanding how objects interact in the physical world, enabling the creation of videos with accurate props and characters that express vibrant emotions. 

OpenAI has faced questions and criticism about how it sources training data used across its AI services, and the announcement of Sora quickly raised alarm bells. Perhaps in recognition of concerns around powerful AI video, Sora is currently undergoing testing with a select group of users to assess and anticipate potential harmful uses and other risks. 

Lumiere from Google

Like Sora, Google’s Lumiere isn’t a consumer-facing tool just yet. However, its visual interface looks like a game-changer. It will allow users to animate specific parts of an image, fill in targeted blank areas, and edit parts of the video with follow-up text prompts. 

For marketers, this offers exciting possibilities for creating engaging and dynamic visual content. For the search engine giant, it probably means lots of free visual data to harvest.

While most AI videos are assembled frame-by-frame, resulting in choppy outputs, Lumiere’s “Space-Time U-Net architecture” generates the entire video in a single pass. This technology produces smooth, coherent motion that, to casual viewers, is almost indiscernible from footage shot by humans. 

Lumiere’s advanced capabilities in this area raise concerns about the potential for creating more convincing deep fakes, which could have implications for both misinformation and brand integrity. 

Project Fast Fill from Adobe

If you’ve used the generative fill capabilities Adobe recently introduced in Photoshop, then you have a good idea of what Adobe's Project Fast Fill is all about. 

Built on Adobe’s Firefly AI models, Project Fast Fill focuses more on video editing than raw video creation. It is expected to integrate with Premiere Pro and After Effects, although Adobe has not provided a specific timeline for its release. 

Once Project Fast Fill leaves the experimental stage, marketers will be able to modify clothing accessories on moving subjects or eliminate unwanted elements from video backgrounds with a simple text prompt. Project Fast Fill could significantly streamline video production processes for B2B marketers, enabling quick and efficient edits that traditionally require extensive manual effort or reshooting. 

Time to Elevate Your B2B Video Content with Cutting-Edge AI Solutions?

For B2B marketers facing budget and bandwidth limitations in their video content strategy, embracing AI video generation isn't just an option—it's becoming necessary. Even if your team is adequately resourced, a few hours spent clicking around with these tools could add up to significant savings on video creation. If not now, then certainly in the near future.

However, with the line between reality and AI-generated content thinner than a strand of spaghetti, there are ethical and creative questions to answer. And as AI video technology continues to evolve, it's crucial for B2B marketers to stay informed about the latest advancements and best practices.

By doing so, they can harness the power of AI to create compelling, authentic video content that resonates with their target audiences while maintaining trust and transparency.

If you’re considering using AI to bolster your video marketing strategy, we’d love to chat. Get in touch to see how the 1827 Marketing team can help you bring your AI’s suggestions to life with creative human talent and engaging content strategies.