The joys of dating a tech bro are numerous when you’re a marketing girlie. Most recently, I hijacked my man’s Gemini Advanced subscription to test out Google’s shiny new AI video tool, Veo 3. All so you don’t have to sign up for a free trial and forget to cancel it in six days.
As someone who works in content creation and spends a lot of time around a Knoxville digital marketing agency, I was curious if this AI tool could be useful for real-world applications. Could it help teams like ours working in branding and marketing videos for businesses, or just make a pitch deck look spicy?
Gathering Data
I asked my coworkers to send me prompts. They could be silly, but I needed at least some examples that were applicable. Prompts included:
- A reference video for a freelance videographer
- A dog video for a website
- A commercial starring an anthropomorphic frog
- Another dog video, because why not
- A surreal short film about mayonnaise
Everyone sent me their prompts via G-Chat, and I typed them into Veo on my boyfriend’s iPad like an AI middle-manager. The goal? To determine if this could serve as a quick and effective tool for teams producing video content for small businesses or creating social media content.
Testing
Reference video for freelancer
Selfishly, I started with my own prompt. I often struggle to explain visual ideas over email, and I hoped Veo could help generate a rough video to pass along to a freelancer. If it worked, this could be a game-changer for storytelling through corporate video production or even for explainer videos for B2B companies.
The prompt: I am creating an example video to send to a freelancer for reference. Please create a video that begins with a close shot of leaves on a yard being blown into a pile. After 3- seconds, camera switches to a wide shot of a man in a black long-sleeved shirt using a leaf-blower to blow the leaves into a pile. Camera pans to reveal a view into the window of a home. People are inside watching football on the tv. They stand up and cheer and celebrate.
The result:
Wait. I wanted a different kind of pan.
The prompt: I want the camera to pan to the left between the scene of the man in the long-sleeved black shirt to the scene of the window.
The result:
Let’s just say the leaf blower is a grower, the background actors are only somewhat excited, and the leaf blower man’s voice is like ancient Simlish mixed with regret.
Internal use only. 2/5. Next.
Dog Video 1
The web dev team gave me this one, probably with a homepage banner in mind, but forgot to include dimensions, which is necessary if you need anything besides a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The prompt: create a single shot moving towards a healthy medium sized dog that’s going up to a bowl of raw meat and happily eating it
The result:
Out of everything I generated, this came closest to being usable. The dog was doing dog things, and the chewing sounds were very accurate. This was most suitable for reels and TikTok or branded content creation. 4/5.
Anthropomorphic Frog Commercial
Have you heard the joke about a frog who walked into a bar? It’s as bad as this video.
The prompt: New video: A frog walks into a bar and orders a kombucha, it takes the first sip, smiles and looks at the camera and says… “that’s gooood”.
The result:
In most situations, I would welcome an additional frog, but I just need one frog for this. Also, Veo gave the frog’s line to the bartender. Let the frog speak. 1/5.
Dog Video 2
Hope springs eternal, and thankfully, Veo does seem to love a happy dog.
The prompt: a dig runs outside and sees an invisible fence perimeter around the yard.
The result:
Bonus: it corrected a typo! The opening shot made about as much sense as sending my single, childless brother a Mother’s Day card, but the video managed to get across the idea of an invisible fence. Not final-product worthy, but client-showable. Could support commercial video marketing or serve as visual direction for digital marketing services. 2.5/5.
Mayonnaise
At this time, I ran out of prompts and had to wait until the next day. I’m not sure what to say about what you’re about to see.
The prompt: A cinematic close-up of a glass jar of mayonnaise sitting on a rustic wooden table in front of a large window during golden hour. The soft, warm glow of the setting sun streams through the glass, casting rich golden tones, long shadows, and gentle light flares across the room. The jar glistens, its creamy contents catching highlights as dust particles float through the air. Outside the window, blurred silhouettes of trees and rooftops bask in the sunset, painting the scene with a nostalgic, dreamlike quality. Suddenly, a woman enters the frame casually, notices the jar, and says with a lighthearted tone, “Oh, that’s where I left it.” Without hesitation, she opens the jar, plunges her hand into the mayonnaise, and eats a full handful with a satisfied expression. The moment is bizarre yet strangely serene, framed like a surreal short film that balances beauty and absurdity.
The result:
Honestly? It kinda worked. The sunlight, the dreamy vibes, the woman pondering her life choices through a jar of Hellmann’s. Weird jar physics aside, not bad. This one had cinematic business video energy, but with mayonnaise. 3.5/5.
Conclusion
With a $20 monthly subscription, five prompts, and about 30 minutes of downtime, I didn’t end up with anything I’d consider usable as a final product. Some Reddit users have reported better results, especially using the Flow function, but those examples likely came from people with far more time and technical know-how than I currently have.
There are entire courses now dedicated to mastering how to prompt and properly leverage AI. The potential for high-quality AI video production is absolutely there, but it requires effort. You need to know exactly what you’re asking for, from lighting setups to camera movements, and how to communicate that to the tool.
So, should you add Veo 3 to your monthly subscriptions? If you’re new to AI or video, probably not. But if you know your way around a shot list and just need quick visuals to show a team or client, it’s not a bad reference tool or storyboard shortcut. If you intend to use this to make next summer’s big blockbuster movie, it’s going to take a lot of time and expertise.
AI won’t replace creative vision. It still needs yours to make something worth watching.