In the age of AI, showing your work builds brand trust
As synthetic content becomes harder to distinguish from human creativity, brands are turning the making of their products and campaigns into marketing in its own right.
This week I am delighted to introduce the first official guest post on The CMO Office, written by content and communications expert Neal Moore, author of the Pro-Human Substack and a relentless advocate for the value of human creativity, imagination and labour. Here, Neal explores why showing how products and content are made may become one of the most powerful ways for brands to build trust in the age of AI. Take it away Neal…
Thanks Nikki!
Have you noticed how Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has been marketed as much through its making as through the finished film? Audiences have been shown the locations, practical effects, newly developed IMAX technology and physical effort involved in bringing Homer’s epic to the screen. Cast members have spoken about carrying armour, crossing difficult terrain and experiencing the scale of the production for real. Universal has even released featurettes from filming locations across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland and Scotland, repeatedly drawing attention to the craft behind what appears on screen.
This is partly a familiar celebration of cinematic spectacle but it’s also an increasingly relevant form of brand communication. AI can now produce convincing images, films, music and copy in seconds but that so-called “abundance” has placed greater value on work that can demonstrate provenance, skill and human involvement. Brands can’t just declare their “handmade” creds though, they must prove them to an increasingly skeptical audience. How? By making the creative process part of the product and helping audiences understand the judgement, effort and expertise they are being asked to value. For marketers, this presents a significant creative opportunity.
The rise of “show your work” marketing
Behind-the-scenes content is not new, but its strategic purpose is changing. Traditionally, the making-of film was an additional feature, released after the main campaign to reward existing fans. Today, the process itself can provide the central narrative. Factory tours, prototype tests, material sourcing, craft demonstrations, studio footage and employee stories all offer evidence that there is substance behind the finished product.
Apple TV used this approach when it revealed that its new idents had been created using physical models and practical effects rather than computer-generated imagery. Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Tourism Board have also allowed audiences to see more of the people and production involved in their creative work.
This same principle applies beyond advertising. For instance, PRISM+ has faced a long-running perception that it simply applies its brand to generic products manufactured elsewhere. In response, the Singapore company has begun opening up its product-development process. Recent coverage in The Straits Times showed its local team designing, prototyping and testing products, sometimes for as long as a year, before working with manufacturing partners to take them into production.
That visibility matters because an accusation of white labelling is not only about manufacturing. It questions whether the brand contributes enough expertise or value to justify its name and price.
Showing the research, design, testing and adaptation behind a product gives customers something tangible on which to base their judgement. It moves the conversation away from where individual components were assembled and towards what the brand has genuinely contributed.
Trust is becoming a product feature
As synthetic content proliferates, people are becoming more alert to signs that they are being manipulated or misled. In the original Pro-Human article, I described the disappointment of discovering that a nostalgic social-media video I had enjoyed was almost certainly AI-generated. I felt duped because the content had presented itself as something it was not; it had essentially borrowed the emotional texture of a real memory without possessing any actual memories at all.
Brands face a similar risk; a campaign that feels generic, automated or disconnected from the reality of the product may generate attention while weakening confidence.
Process-led storytelling offers an antidote. It introduces identifiable people, decisions, materials, limitations and imperfections. It gives customers evidence that someone cared enough to make choices rather than merely generate options.
Research published by Clutch in 2026 found that 69% of surveyed consumers regarded openness about processes or materials as a leading signal of authenticity. Forty-two per cent said knowing that real people were behind a product increased authenticity, while 48% felt that excessive use of AI content diminished it.
This does not necessarily mean brands should reject AI wholesale or turn every campaign into a documentary. The opportunity lies in identifying the parts of the process that demonstrate distinctive value, then making those visible.
Creativity has a measurable commercial effect
Analytic Partners’ ROI Genome® finds that creative is the second-largest driver of advertising impact after the amount invested. Good creative outperforms poor creative by 2.5 times on average, and approximately two-thirds of the impact of a video impression is driven by the quality of the creative itself.
The broader brand effect is equally important. Brands moving from an excessively performance-led strategy to a more balanced combination of brand and performance marketing achieve a median 90% increase in revenue ROI.
Showing how something is made can contribute to both. It provides distinctive creative material in the short term while building perceptions of quality, credibility and value over time and those perceptions become especially important when prices rise.
ROI Genome analysis illustrates that a 10% price increase without advertising support can produce a 10% decline in sales. With advertising support, the modelled decline is reduced to 7%. For a billion-dollar brand, that difference represents approximately $33 million in protected opportunity.
Advertising can’t make every price rise acceptable but it can help customers understand what they are paying for. A brand that has consistently shown its design standards, specialist knowledge, materials, testing and people has built a reserve of perceived value so, when costs increase, customers have more reason to believe the price reflects something real.
Make the process part of the proposition
Marketers considering this approach should begin by asking what happens behind the finished product that customers rarely see and, whatever the answer, try to resist diluting it into another vague claim about purpose or passion. Show the sketches, visit the factory, introduce the engineer, explain the rejected prototype, reveal what took longer than expected and why.
In an environment filled with inexpensive, instant and increasingly convincing synthetic output, evidence of effort is a differentiator. It demonstrates where a brand’s value actually comes from and gives customers a stronger reason to trust them, even when prices occasionally go up.
Want to know whether your creative is driving commerce?
Analytic Partners can measure how your creative contributes to sales, brand growth and overall marketing ROI. Get in touch with our modellers to understand what is working, what could work harder and where your next creative investment will have the greatest commercial impact.