Every Thursday, one paid app or manual job replaced or improved with AI
THIS WEEK'S REPLACEMENT
Replaces: a UGC creator (beginners charge $150 to $400 per video), or a paid AI ad tool
Setup: 10 minutes
You need: a Google account, a computer and 3 photos of your product, space or work
Works for: online stores, cafes and restaurants, trades, salons and studios
Your customers scroll past photos.
Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are built around short vertical video now. Most small businesses still post photos, because a 15-second clip means filming, editing, or paying a creator $150 to $400.
As of this week, Google will make one for you from the photos you already have. Any Google account gets four 15-second clips a month at no cost, with sound.
Tonight you make your first one. Ten minutes.
⚡ What changed
On November 5, Google put its newest video model, Gemini Omni 1.2 Flash, inside Google Vids, its browser video editor. It makes clips up to 15 seconds long, with music and sound, from a written description plus your own reference photos. You can change a clip by chatting with it instead of starting again.
Every personal Google account gets 60 seconds of these clips a month at no cost. That's four 15-second ads.
Before this, a clip like this meant a paid AI video tool, a freelancer, or an afternoon with your phone and an editing app.
🔁 How it works
3 photos of your product → Google Vids builds a 15-second vertical clip with sound → You download it, ready for Reels, TikTok or Shorts
No filming, no editing app, no creator fee.
🛠️ Set it up tonight
Pick 3 photos. One clear front-on shot on a plain background, one close-up of the best detail, one of it in use. Phone photos are fine. No product? Use your shopfront, your space or a finished job.
Open Google Vids. On a computer, go to vids.new and sign in with any Google account.
Start an AI clip. Choose Create AI videos, or open the side panel and pick Create.
Add your photos as references, then paste the prompt below with your details filled in.
Set the shape and length. Choose the Omni option, pick portrait and slide the length to 15 seconds. If 15 isn't there yet, the rollout can take a few days, so use 8 for now.
Generate, then Insert. Insert the clip into your project before you close the tab, because unsaved generations disappear. Then download it as an MP4 from the File menu.
The starter prompt:
A 15-second vertical video ad for [PRODUCT OR SERVICE], using my reference photos. Keep the product exactly as it looks in the photos: same shape, colours, label and logo.
Scene: [WHERE IT'S USED, E.G. ON A CAFE COUNTER IN MORNING LIGHT]
Seconds 0 to 3: a close-up that stops the scroll, with movement straight away.
Seconds 3 to 11: the product in use, with a slow camera move around it.
Seconds 11 to 15: a still hero shot of the product, centred, with clear space at the top for text.
Sound: [MUSIC STYLE] music and light natural sound effects. No voiceover, no one speaking, no text on screen.
Look: real footage shot on a phone, soft natural light. Not animation.Not selling a product? There are six more starter prompts, one each for cafes, trades, salons, online stores, real estate and service businesses, in the workflow library.
It's working if: a minute or two after you click Generate, you have a 15-second portrait clip with sound, and the product looks like yours.
If the product looks off: make your clearest front-on photo the first reference, and reply in the chat with "match the product in photo 1 exactly" instead of starting over.
🧱 Where this version stops
The version above works tonight. Here's where you'll hit a wall by next week:
Four clips go fast. 60 seconds a month disappears once you start testing, and a bad clip costs the same as a good one.
One clip isn't an ad. There's no hook, no offer and nothing telling people what to do next.
Every product needs new prompts. Your second product, your service, your before-and-after shots all need different set-ups, and keeping the product identical in every clip takes a few tricks.
🔒 In the Pro section today
The 15-Second Ad Kit: a hook, a demo and an offer shot, built as three clips and joined into one ad
How to get four full ads out of your 60 seconds instead of four test clips
The prompt rules that keep your product looking identical in every clip
Recipes for six types of business, including ones with nothing to photograph
Your best second turned into a looping GIF for emails and product pages, plus the AI labels Meta and TikTok require
Plus the full resource library, yours from day one:
New: The AI Video Kit for Business. 30 ready-made ads for 10 types of business, plus 13 more places to use the same clips, from product pages to your Google listing and in-store screens. 9 parts and 113 prompts.
The App Builder's Kit: 50 app ideas and 60 prompts. Build it in an evening and get it onto your team's or customers' phones, no code.
Run Your Computer From Your Phone: tell the computer at your desk what to do from your phone. Twenty minutes to set up, 7 parts and 9 prompts.
AI Visibility Improvement and Management: turn your AI Visibility Audit into a plan, improve your site and track whether it's working. 15 parts and 15+ prompts.
Then $17.99/month. Not ready? More starter prompts are in the workflow library.
📰 This week in AI
🎞️ ChatGPT now makes GIFs. Images 2.6 (Nov 4) turns a prompt or a photo into an animated, looping GIF, and you can change the speed or fix single frames. It's rolling out to every plan. Read more
🏦 Claude can now read your bank accounts. The Personal Finance beta (Nov 5) links up to 16 US banks through Plaid, read-only, and answers spending questions or spots duplicate charges. US Pro, Max and Ultra plans only. Read more
📄 Gemini now edits files in the chat. Since Oct 29, Gemini can create and edit PDFs on web and phone, plus Docs, Sheets and slides on the web, for every user. Read more
📦 Added to the Pro library
This week's 3 prompts are now in the workflow library, sorted newest first:
The Scroll-Stopper: three hook styles that move in the first frame.
The Demo Shot: the moment your product delivers, in one continuous shot.
The Offer Shot: a clean hero shot with space for your price or call to action.
New this week in the resources library:
The AI Video Kit for Business: today's setup, taken all the way. 30 ready-made ads for 10 types of business, each with its hook, demo and offer prompts. Then 13 more places to use the same clips: product pages, your Google listing, email GIFs, your website, in-store screens and hiring posts. 9 parts and 113 prompts.
Also in the resources library:
The App Builder's Kit: 50 app ideas and 60 prompts. Build it in an evening and get it onto your team's or customers' phones, no code.
Run Your Computer From Your Phone: tell the computer at your desk what to do from your phone. Twenty minutes to set up, 7 parts and 9 prompts.
AI Visibility Improvement and Management: turn your AI Visibility Audit into a plan, improve your site and track whether it's working. 15 parts and 15+ prompts.
Your move
Make your first clip tonight. Then hit reply and tell me what you made it for. I read every reply.
Till next time,
P.S. The trick in the Pro section: build every ad from three 5-second clips. You can fix one beat without redoing the whole ad, and your 60 seconds becomes four finished ads. Pro also gets the new AI Video Kit for Business, with 30 ready-made ads to pick from. Start your 7-day trial.
