The owner of Toys ‘R’ Us just used OpenAI’s Sora to animate a zombie brand

But even though OpenAI has been hyping Hollywood about the technology, one of the first entities to publicly attack is brand management company WHP Global, which currently licenses the Toys “R” Us brand to stores like Macy’s and is also exploring larger stores. Almost every Macy’s department store now has a section for branded toys, but these are usually a few inane toy aisles rather than the toy warehouses that once fueled children’s dreams.

While some headlines are calling this the first commercial produced by OpenAI’s Sora, Press release It does not indicate that it will be broadcast anywhere other than Toysrus.comalthough it also premiered in front of an audience of ad agency executives at the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival in France last week.

Nor is PR trying to claim that the video was entirely produced by artificial intelligence. The creative agency Native Foreign that produced the video had “about a dozen people” working on the video and used “corrective visual effects” in addition, according to director Nick Klefrov. “We got Sora about 80-85% of the way there.” Written on X:

It appears that Native External reused a previous shot they created with Sora as part of the Toys “R” Us project. Here is the company’s bicycle repair shop It appeared in Marchcompared to the final corrected clip:

Disclosure: Vox Media, parent company of The Verge, has a technology and content deal with OpenAI.