Crocs, Claude and the ‘human’ approach to creative

The past year has seen an uptick in brands keen to show their human side following an AI backlash. Crocs and, even Claude AI itself, have successfully pulled this off.

Crocs recently dropped its ‘Wonderfully Unordinary’ platform, created with Flower Shop and directed by Adam Berg of SMUGGLER, in the form of a 90‑second hero film. 

The ad follows mannequins who come to life in Crocs, slowly becoming more ‘human’ as they dance. One haphazard model nearly gets hit by a cab, while one ventures into a club, with the film closing on the line “Let Your Human Out”.

It’s ambitious in its scope, with a unique look and feel that embraces what Crocs is seen as in real life: namely, a bit weird.

The offbeat, colourful and divisive nature of the clog (akin to Marmite in its polarisation) treats its ‘ugly chic’ as a flex, while its use of robots plays this into a wider statement on the perceived ‘dehumanisation’ in the age of AI and robotics.

Claude steps up

It was interesting to see Crocs launch its ad at the same time as Claude’s Super Bowl LX spot, which, although very different, also uses humour and self-awareness to soften fears about its very service.

‘A Time and a Place’, created with Mother and directed by Jeff Low via Biscuit Filmworks (with The Quarry, Time Based Arts, King Lear Music & Sound, THE HOGAN and Mayflower Entertainment on the craft), imagines a near‑future where your therapy session, homework help or fitness chat is hijacked mid‑conversation by sponsored answers from an ad‑loaded chatbot.

By ending with “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude”, Anthropic also finishes on a sell, this time positioning Claude as a sanctuary from interruption. (Slightly ironic, we thought, given that the ad dropped during the loudest 30 seconds in advertising).

Put side by side, Crocs and Claude are wrestling with similar tensions.

Audiences are exhausted by being sold to, and don’t want AI or robotics to take away their sense of identity or agency.

But, by showing they’re in on the joke, or at least empathetic to our concerns, we reckon Crocs and Claude are ahead of the curve.