A standard mid-range fashion campaign can cost around $12,000 to produce. That includes the photographer, stylist, hair and makeup team, models, and location. And we're not even talking about luxury production here. That's mid-range.

For a niche brand with a strong visual identity but without a six-figure marketing budget, that kind of investment has traditionally meant making compromises. Lowering expectations, working with what’s available, and hoping the final result still feels like a high-end editorial campaign.

I decided I didn't want to accept that as the only option.

Over the past two years, I've been developing campaigns with AI image generation as part of my creative process. Not as a shortcut or a way to replace creative thinking, but as a production tool that allows me to bring a much bigger creative vision to life.

The images in this post began with a fragrance campaign concept. A woman standing on a coastal cliff in Portugal, surrounded by the warm light of golden hour, wearing white linen and holding a fragrance bottle as if it were something truly precious. Before generating a single image, I spent hours developing the art direction, studying lighting references, choosing the right lens, defining the fabric textures and colour palette, and even thinking about how the wind should move through the scene.

The creative direction came first, as it always should. AI simply gave me the ability to produce imagery that would traditionally require an entire production team, from location scouting and casting to photography and post-production.

The result is campaign-level imagery that is now within reach of brands that might not otherwise have the budget for this kind of production. Not because the creative process has become less important, but because the way we approach production has changed.

I don't believe AI replaces people or creativity. I believe it opens up possibilities and gives more brands access to a level of visual production that was once reserved for those with much bigger budgets. And I think that's a conversation worth having.