Airbnb project hero image

Airbnb Spec Ad

Category

AI Spec Ad / Full Pipeline

Client

Hume Agency

Year

2026

This spec Airbnb campaign was developed as a full creative exercise for Hume agency, exploring how generative AI can be used to concept, design, and execute a complete advertising idea.

I built the project around the idea of Airbnb as a portal between worlds : a simple travel interaction unfolding into a sequence of unexpected destinations, each with its own atmosphere, visual language, and cinematic identity.

I developed the original concept, created and refined the storyboard, then reworked each image to achieve a more premium, high-definition look while maintaining consistency across characters, environments, and scenes.

From there, I generated video shots from the final images, edited them into a dynamic sequence, designed and animated the phone UI, handled phone tracking and compositing, created VFX transitions between shots, and finalized the piece through color grading, sound design, and background music.

The project focused on creating more than a set of standalone images: it was designed as a cohesive spec ad, with a clear brand idea, visual progression, and a sense of discovery that reflects the emotional promise of travel.

You can see the full breakdown below the final video

Role

Creative Direction · AI Image Generation · AI Video Workflow · Compositing · Editing · Color & Sound Layout

Deliverables

Final Spec Film · Storyboard · Key Visuals · Image-to-Video Shots · Phone UI Composite · VFX Transitions

Final Film

A cinematic travel spot built from AI-generated worlds.

The final piece brings the concept together as a short cinematic spec ad, following a couple as they move through a sequence of unexpected Airbnb destinations. Each transition shifts the visual language, atmosphere, and world around them, turning a simple travel idea into a more imaginative journey. The goal was to create a fast, polished commercial edit that feels playful, premium, and emotionally connected to the promise of discovering somewhere new.

Process

From concept to final delivery, the project was handled as a full commercial pipeline.

The project was handled as an end-to-end creative production, combining concept development, AI image generation, video generation, editing, compositing, and post-production.

Each stage was treated as part of the same pipeline: defining the idea, shaping the storyboard, refining the visual language, animating the scenes, integrating the phone experience, and finalizing the film through VFX, color, sound design, and music.

01

Concept

Original idea, brand angle, and Airbnb-as-a-portal creative direction.

02

Storyboard

Shot sequence, travel logic, scene progression, and visual pacing.

03

Image Build

Generated and refined key images with premium look, HD detail, and consistency.

04

Video

Image-to-video generation, motion selection, and shot cleanup.

05

Composite

Phone tracking, UI design, UI animation, and screen integration.

06

Finish

Dynamic edit, VFX transitions, color grade, sound design, and music.

01 — Concept & Storyboard

The campaign starts from a simple interaction: browsing Airbnb becomes a jump between worlds.

The concept and storyboard phase started with developing the core idea of Airbnb as a portal between worlds. I worked closely with GPT to explore different narrative directions, structure the base storyline, and shape the rhythm of the commercial.

From there, I reworked the storyboard with Photoshop and NanoBananaPro, refining the visual beats into a more complete and polished sequence. This helped turn the initial concept into a finished storyline, with each shot designed to move the viewer through a new destination, a new atmosphere, and a new visual universe.

Base NanoBanana storyboard generation
Base NanoBanana Storyboard
Refined storyboard with Photoshop and NanoBanana generations
Refined Storyboard — Photoshop + NanoBanana
02 — Image Direction

Each image was reworked to feel premium, consistent, and production-ready.

Once the storyboard was defined, I generated the key images needed for each scene and refined them to create a more polished, high-definition look. The focus was not only on making each image visually strong, but also on maintaining consistency across characters, environments, composition, and lighting.

Each frame was reworked to feel closer to a premium commercial still, with cleaner details, stronger atmosphere, and a more controlled art direction.

Image refinement
Image refinement

HD Look

Refined each keyframe for sharper details, cleaner textures, stronger composition, and a more premium commercial finish.

Character Continuity

Kept the couple recognizable across different shots, camera angles, outfits, and visual worlds.

Scene Consistency

Balanced each destination with its own identity while keeping the full sequence visually coherent.

Final Curation

Selected and polished the strongest images before moving into animation and video generation.

03 — Image To Video

The final images were animated into cinematic shots with controlled motion and pacing.

Once the final images were locked, I used them as the foundation for the video generation stage.

Each shot was animated from still frames, with attention to camera movement, pacing, and motion clarity. The objective was to preserve the strength of the original compositions while giving them enough movement to feel alive, cinematic, and usable inside a commercial edit.

04 — Phone UI & Compositing

The phone became the narrative device connecting the real world to the travel worlds.

A key part of the concept was making the phone feel like the central trigger for the experience.

I created and animated the phone interface, then tracked and composited it into the shots so the screen interaction felt integrated with the action.

This step helped connect the visual worlds to the Airbnb booking idea, grounding the more surreal transitions inside a simple, understandable user action.

Phone UI design
05 — VFX Transitions

Visual effects were used to make each destination shift feel intentional and cinematic.

To make the world shifts feel more seamless and energetic, I created visual effects transitions between shots.

These transitions were designed to support the concept of travel as transformation, using motion, distortion, atmosphere, and compositing to bridge one destination into the next. The goal was to avoid simple cuts and make the sequence feel like one fluid journey through different realities.

06 — Edit, Color & Sound

The final pass focused on rhythm, polish, color consistency, sound design, and music.

I worked on the montage rhythm, shot timing, color grading, sound design, and background music to give the film a stronger sense of momentum and polish.

The sound and music were used to support the emotional arc of the piece, while the color pass helped unify the different worlds into one coherent campaign film.

Color grading
Color grading and visual consistency pass.
Sound design
Sound design and music layout inside After Effects for faster iteration.
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