Outlaw Sake tests prototype product launch with AI creative to quickly validate brand concept
Amid the boom in hard seltzer brands, the founders of the marketing agency Obsssn.co had an idea: to disrupt the market with an Americanized hard rice seltzer designed to counter traditional Japanese sake. But would this idea actually resonate with sake and seltzer drinkers? To answer this question, the agency used AI to develop a product prototype for the Outlaw Sake brand concept and leveraged Swayable to pre-test fully AI-generated video ads.
To kickstart the process, Obsssn.co founders Felix Yip and Darren Himebrook developed the idea for Outlaw Sake: a faux brand whose values are defiant, unapologetic, individualistic, and American. To accelerate creative development, the agency used AI to generate multiple video ads designed to introduce the brand to consumers.
These ads shared a common theme: challenging the status quo of traditional sake with creative ranging from humorous to irreverent to outrageous. The ads featured amusing narration and concepts that encapsulated the prototype brand’s identity, including “Sa-keh,” an ad in which an AI-generated man cheekily explains the difference between Outlaw Sake and traditional sake. The agency used rapid RCT methodology to test the creative among 7,000 consumers, generating insights into how the concepts impacted favorability, consideration, purchase intent, and authenticity.
@outlawsake www.outlawsake.com #outlawsake #outlaw #sake ♬ original sound – outlawsake
“Sa-keh,” where a man cheekily explaining the difference between Outlaw’s product and traditional sake.
@outlawsake The idea that sake is only for sushi is as made up as this AI video. #outlawsake #Outlaw #sake #breaktherules #defy #rulebreaker ♬ original sound – outlawsake
“I’m an AI,” which is transparent about the fact that the ad was entirely AI-generated.
@outlawsake www.outlawsake.com #outlawsake #outlaw #sake ♬ original sound – outlawsake
“Alligator,” which promotes the product through a talking alligator.
@outlawsake www.outlawsake.com #outlawsake #outlaw #sake ♬ original sound – outlawsake
“Genius,” which depicts people drinking sake at everyday functions.
Creative pre-testing allowed the agency to uncover insights into how consumers would react to the brand launch and to AI-generated content in general. The agency was also able to gather these insights much more quickly with AI prototyping than with a traditional production approach, which would take months.
Among sake and seltzer drinkers, nearly all pretested ads drove positive lifts in favorability, consideration, and purchase intent. The “Sa-keh” ad was the highest performer, generating a 1.3X higher brand lift than the lowest-performing video. A qualitative analysis of comments also supported the idea that the more Outlaw Sake leaned into humor or self-awareness around AI, the more likely respondents were to perceive the brand as authentic.
