Key Takeaways

Hackstone explores how AI enhances video marketing without replacing human creativity. Tools like ChatGPT spark ideas, test messaging, and streamline research, while editing software speeds up tasks like transcription, audio cleanup, and clip search. AI also improves accessibility with captions and SEO benefits, though it still requires human oversight for brand voice and authenticity. TLDR: AI shortens tedious steps, but people keep storytelling sharp, emotional, and original.

Table of Contents

From Buzzword to Creative Renaissance

There was a time (circa 2018) when “AI in video marketing” sounded like a LinkedIn buzzword. 

A “large language model” was something you said if you wanted to create enough confusion on a bad first date so they’d fake being sick and leave early. “Automation tools” were something we talked about in manually composed pitch decks. And brainstorming and iterating required actual humans, who would report dutifully to conference rooms for vague conversations on the promise of Jimmy John’s being sent in for lunch.

Alas, the future arrived more quickly than we predicted. 

At Hackstone, we’re not here for the existential dread. We’re here for the creative renaissance.

Artificial intelligence isn’t going to steal your soul, your job, or your daytime Emmy. In fact, we’re using it every day – to kickstart concepts, clean up audio background noise, and get sharper, smarter content out the door faster. 

Human creativity is amazing. It’s also wildly unreliable. 

Fortunately, AI tools don’t call in sick because they stayed out too late on Thursday trivia night. They don’t get distracted by Slack drama or freak out because someone stole their last Chobani Key Lime Pie Flip from the office fridge. 

Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity … they’re just … there. Ready to riff.

In this blog, we’ll explain how we use AI in our video workflow – without losing the human magic – and give you a rundown on some pretty neat tools that help our team help clients like you reach sales goals, build engaging storytelling video marketing assets, and launch brand campaigns faster than ever. 

Whether you’re considering DIY video production for your company or want a clear-eyed take on how the pros are using the latest technology, we think you’ll find this just as helpful (and more entertaining) than asking ChatGPT, “How can AI help in video marketing?”

Young Creative Marketing Brand Specialist Uses AI Video Software on Desktop Computer

Ideation: Using AI to Kickstart Creative Concepts

At Hackstone, we use ChatGPT like a caffeinated second brain. It helps us:

  • Spark ideas fast: Need five video angles on a mattress brand that won’t put people to sleep? We’ll brainstorm with GPT first, then run a creative session with our team to punch it up with flavor, humor and weirdness (if that’s your schtick).
  • Pressure-test messaging: “Would a 10-year-old understand this?” “Would a middle-aged guy in Northern Virginia click away halfway through?” We train the bot to help spot messaging holes.
  • Research and clarify: GPT can spit out background, stats, or synonyms when we’re deep in script-writing mode. (Yes, we double-check everything.)

AI doesn’t replace our creativity. It just shortens the time between “meh idea” and “OK, this slaps.”

Streamlining Post-Production With AI Tools

Post-production is where great ideas go to die – unless you’ve got the right tools. Enter AI, your over-enthusiastic intern with zero need for bathroom breaks.

Here’s how we use AI video editing to shave hours off tasks without cutting quality:

  1. Adobe Premiere AI Tools
    • Dialogue transcription: Instant transcripts = faster captioning, clearer rough cuts.
  • Clip search: Just type “woman painting” and let Adobe pull every relevant shot from your library instead of manually watching 600 thumbnails.
  • Audio cleanup: Strip out background hums, wind noise, or Todd’s chair squeaking in the background – automatically.
  1. Descript
    • Think of it as a Word doc for video editing. Cut clips by deleting text in the script. Magic.
    • Great for quick-turn social content or rough cut approvals.
  2. Runway/Imagen/VEO
    • Useful for conceptual work, like testing visual vibes or generating stylized backgrounds.
    • Runway’s scene extension and motion brush? Cool for mockups, but realism still has its limits (and we prefer human camera ops for anything that matters).
  3. Photoshop Generative Fill & After Effects AI
    • Mostly used for extending backdrops or faking in subtle texture. Results vary – use with caution and a healthy dose of taste (or, hire us).

Bottom line: these tools help us move faster and cleaner. But no AI tool knows your brand’s tone, target, or untapped storytelling potential like a human creative does. 

No avatar or AI twin could deliver Alex Ovechkin’s deadpan performance in this Papa John’s commercial. No robot could produce the bamboozled, authentic responses these humans gave in our man-on-the-street interviews for the American Kidney Fund’s campaign. AI video generation is cool to play with, but there’s a reason we’ve left those kinds of tools off this list. 

We have an AI video workflow, not just to get out of boring tasks like searching hours of footage for clips, but also to amplify the good ideas we have along the way. Speaking of boring tasks. Here’s one most of us can get on board with using AI for: transcription.

Captioning & Transcription: Enhancing Accessibility and SEO

Captions aren’t just for silent scrollers or your uncle who refuses to buy hearing aids. They’re essential for accessibility and equity, and they do serious SEO work.

Here’s a quick rundown on three useful AI marketing automation tools for captioning and transcription:

Rev AI/Otter.ai/VEED

  • Real-time transcription: For live streams, webinars, and interviews.
  • Multilingual captions: Great for global brands (or, really if you do anything on the Internet).
  • Searchable transcripts: Your video becomes indexable content. That means higher rankings, better discoverability, and bonus gold stars from Google.
Concept of AI Generated from Prompt a Detailed of a Young Man Travelling Set Against a Scenic Background of Hot Air Balloons.

We clean up transcripts and QA everything manually – because no AI can spell-check the name of your CEO’s yoga retreat correctly. But it cuts down hours of grunt work.

Challenges and Considerations: Don’t Be a Sloppy Cyborg

Here’s the thing: AI isn’t perfect. It can hallucinate facts. It can bake-in bias. It can make things that look polished but feel soulless. 

Use the buddy system with AI – meaning, don’t skip the human input or review at any stage of use. Marketing strategy, brand voice, and emotional resonance with your audience still require human taste.

It’s a balancing act, right?

Don’t use AI clones to show people working in your factory (you’ll get called out and it probably will be ugly). But also don’t run in the opposite direction of technology (if your social media staff is still manually captioning in 2025, we love their grit – but you’re wasting time and money).

There’s a smarter, faster way to make brilliant content. And it starts with knowing when and how to use AI well. Or, better yet, hire a video production studio that made awesome work before these tools existed – and now does it even better.

At Hackstone, we obsess over every frame, every pixel, every “hmm … this might be too long.” And AI helps us get there faster – without sacrificing taste, creativity, or originality.

Want to see how this all comes together? Let’s chat. Book a free consultation with Hackstone. We’ll show you how AI-infused creativity can sharpen your workflow, elevate your brand videos, and (bonus) make your marketing team look like geniuses. No soul-selling required.