AI video localisation - Beyond badly dubbed TV ads
For Sage’s mentor series, we created AI-generated avatars and transcreated the films across multiple regions. The English and French teasers show how the same character can speak to different audiences while keeping the creative consistent. See the Sage mentor films - then read on for how this approach can help brands localise their own campaigns.
The same Sage mentor, in French
The English teaser above and the French version below use the same character and creative setting. Compare the delivery, timing and lip movements: each version needs to feel natural in its own language.
Sage mentor teaser — French version.
You know the advert. The character finishes speaking, but the voice carries on. A joke lands a beat late. A carefully cast face suddenly sounds like someone from a different film.
Brands spend serious money making a campaign feel convincing, then lose some of that care when they take it into another language. Good dubbing takes skill. Bad dubbing makes the production feel cheap.
AI video localisation opens up another route. With AI-generated characters, we can build a campaign around performances designed to work in different languages, with speech and lip movements aligned for each version. For a suitable fully synthetic production, that can happen without a film shoot.
The opportunity is bigger than swapping an English voice for a French one. It is making the advert feel as though it belongs in each market.
AI video localisation can change the performance, not just the soundtrack
Traditional dubbing works around a fixed picture. The actor has already spoken. The mouth movements, pauses and shot lengths are baked into the footage, so the translated script has to fit around them.
With a generated character, more of those decisions can stay open. We can develop the character’s appearance and the visual world, then create language versions from adapted scripts and approved voice tracks. Lip-sync tools can align visible mouth movements with the new speech, while the edit gives each line room to land.
There are two useful routes here: creating a new campaign with synthetic characters, or adapting suitable existing footage. They need different production plans. HeyGen’s video translation guidance, for example, distinguishes between audio dubbing and translation that also changes lip sync.
For a character speaking directly to camera, that visual alignment can make a meaningful difference. For an off-screen narrator, a well-directed local voiceover may already do the job.
One character. Several markets. No new commercial shoot.
Imagine a brand launching the same product in the UK, France and Germany. The campaign features a fictional character explaining a familiar everyday problem, then introducing the product as the solution.
Instead of shooting separate performances in every language, we can design the character and scenes digitally, approve the creative approach, then produce each language version around its own script and delivery. The character remains recognisable. The dialogue, timing and on-screen copy can change.
If a German line needs more space, we can adjust the edit or regenerate a suitable shot. If the French version needs a different punchline, we can write for that audience rather than force a literal translation into the English timing.
This is where AI video production becomes useful for brands expanding internationally: it can remove the need to organise another commercial shoot just to create another language version.
There is still production work. Voices need directing, characters need checking and scenes may need several iterations. Some workflows also use recorded voice or performance references. “No film shoot” describes the production route, not an absence of craft.
A translated script is only the beginning
An advert can speak perfect French and still feel painfully English.
Localisation means checking the idea as well as the words. Does the humour travel? Does the phrase sound natural? Is the product benefit relevant in that market? Does the call to action send people somewhere they can actually buy?
On-screen details matter too: currency, packaging, captions, product interfaces, offers and closing frames. A beautifully matched speaking character will not rescue an advert that points viewers towards the wrong website.
The best starting point is a strong campaign idea with room for local adaptation. Keep the brand recognisable, then give each market enough freedom to make the message work.
How we would build a multilingual AI campaign
We would start with the markets, audience and deliverables, before generating a character. A thirty-second TV spot and a six-second social cutdown need different amounts of dialogue and different edits.
- Develop the character and campaign world. Agree the appearance, personality, visual style and how the product is represented.
- Adapt the scripts with native speakers. Preserve the idea while making the language, humour and delivery natural for each audience.
- Approve voices and create performances. Build each version around its local script, with lip sync and expression reviewed together.
- Finish and check every version. Review character consistency, pronunciation, timing, captions, product details and sound, then prepare the required TV and digital files.
A short test scene is a sensible first step. It lets everyone judge the character and language treatment before committing to a full set of adverts.
The quality check is where the advert earns its place
AI does not make every shot equally easy. Profiles, hands crossing faces, fast movement and conversations between several characters can all complicate the result. Even video translation tools offer different processing options for more complex footage. A finished version needs a human eye and ear, especially from someone fluent in the target language.
For TV, the final films also need the appropriate broadcaster specifications and market approvals. And if a production uses a real person’s likeness or a cloned voice, the permissions must cover that use.
At Sidekick, our fully AI-generated Great Timing campaign for Stratiphy shows how an advertising idea can be brought to life through AI production. Multilingual character work is another way to apply that creative flexibility.
Your next international campaign does not have to sound like a voice has been pasted onto somebody else’s mouth. We can plan characters, scripts and language versions together, so localisation is part of the production from day one.
Talk to Sidekick about an AI campaign for your next market.
For a different application of generated content, see our Sage AI mentor films and multilingual onboarding portfolio project.
