By Dustin Stone, RTN staff writer - 10.18.2025
Teriyaki Madness has announced what it claims is the first fully AI-generated ad campaign in the fast-casual space. Produced in partnership with AI studio Genre.ai, which has also worked with other restaurants brands, including Popeyes, every on-screen element, including actors, voiceovers and special effects, was reportedly produced using tools like Veo 3, Kling 2.5 and ElevenLabs.
According to the press release, the only thing “real” in the spots is the food itself.
The move is being billed as bold, cost-saving and radical. But a closer look suggests the execution is less groundbreaking than the press release implies, and the creative results leave room for improvement.
First, the cost savings are real enough to attract attention. No doubt, eliminating actor fees, production crews and location shoots cuts overhead by orders of magnitude. In an environment where marketing budgets are squeezed, that appeal is obvious. But the notion that AI can fully replace human creativity remains unproven. The visuals and storytelling in the campaign feel flat and formulaic. These are the hallmarks of early AI output. Scenes like “a guy falling from a skyscraper” or “a guy battling a bear after a protein bowl” may get attention for their absurdity, but they don’t necessarily connect emotionally or reinforce brand identity convincingly.
The press release frames the work as a bold leap, but the risk is that novelty overshadows effectiveness. Of course, the proof is in the pudding. Guest engagement, brand recall and conversion will tell whether the campaign works or just feels like a gimmick.
Teriyaki Madness is hardly new to innovation. It pioneered GPS-enabled “Mad Dash” curbside pickup and early delivery adoption long before many chains. So the AI campaign is logical from a brand that thrives on being irreverent and tech-forward. But tech-forward does not always equate to effective. Again, the critical test will be metrics (i.e., click-through rates, view-through conversions and sales lift), not press release buzz.
On the operations side, there’s potential. AI may accelerate campaign turnaround or allow iterative testing of variations far faster than traditional shoots. But there’s also the hidden cost of oversight. Human review, quality control and iteration will still require marketing staff. AI tools often remain dependent on human curation and correction.
While Teriyaki Madness can claim bragging rights for launching the first fully AI-generated campaign in the restaurant category, the creative output itself falls short of the hype. AI-generated content is still prone to uncanny valley effects, mismatched facial expressions or lip-sync issues and awkward transitions. Ironically, recent clips circulating on TikTok made with OpenAI’s unreleased Sora model look to be more advanced, with fluid motion, consistent lighting and cinematic realism that Veo 3 and Kling 2.5 struggle to match. In that light, the real revolution in AI video may still be a few product cycles away, once models like Sora become commercially accessible and capable of matching the polish expected by major consumer brands.
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Moreover, at least in my view, the creative strategy lacks an anchor. The campaign leans hard into spectacle over narrative, featuring bear fights, gravity-defying drops and wild visuals, but without a clear message beyond “this is madness.” That may make it harder for viewers to connect the visuals to teriyaki bowls or brand values. Arguably, too much novelty risks obscuring what actually matters: taste, service and value.
So, while Teriyaki Madness may have earned headlines with its “first fully AI” claim, it remains to be seen whether this marks a true milestone. The technology is impressive in what it promises, but less so in what it delivers creatively. The campaign shows flashes of cleverness but, in my view, lacks the emotional resonance, visual polish and brand coherence that separate great marketing from a tech demo.
For now, AI-generated ads feel more like experiments in efficiency than expressions of originality. They can multiply content, but they rarely multiply meaning. Still, the trajectory is unmistakable. As generative tools evolve, the distinction between human and machine-made creativity will blur rapidly. When that happens (and it’s likely to happen soon, given the pace innovation) brands will face the challenge of not just how to use AI to make ads faster and cheaper, but how to make them matter.
