How ZEINA Accelerated Its Visual Production Without Ever Lowering Its Standards
Emmanuelle Thomas
When AI becomes a brand lever — not a creative shortcut.
The real dilemma for premium brands today
Marketing teams have never produced so much content.
More formats. More channels. More pressure. Faster.
And yet, a paradox is emerging.
Producing more without weakening the brand is becoming increasingly difficult — especially in premium sectors. Every visual matters. Every detail builds (or damages) desirability. And every compromise shows.
AI is often presented as the miracle solution to this problem. In practice, it creates a new risk: standardizing the image, smoothing out emotion, losing what makes a brand unique.
So the real issue isn't technological.
It's not "should we use AI?"
The question is much more demanding:
how do we integrate AI into a creative framework that protects — and strengthens — brand identity?
In this series of articles dedicated to AI in service of brand image, what better way to illustrate than with a concrete case showing how a brand actually integrated it into their practices — beyond promises and theoretical discourse.
This is precisely the situation ZEINA faced: a premium brand experiencing strong growth, under increased pressure for content production, but with a clear line — never compromise on creative standards.
The ZEINA case allows us to ground the debate in reality: field conditions, operational constraints, and the concrete trade-offs that AI imposes on brands today.
Why jewelry is an extreme — and revealing — case
Jewelry is one of the most demanding sectors when it comes to imagery.
Here, the visual isn't just a marketing support: it carries the promise, emotion, and perceived value of the product. Every detail matters: the accuracy of a stone's color, the precision of a reflection, the way a piece of jewelry captures light on skin.
The slightest approximation is immediately visible — and undermines the brand's credibility.
It's also a sector where imagery precedes the purchase. In-store or online, it establishes trust before the product is even tried on. In other words: if the image doesn't convince, nothing else follows.
This is why jewelry makes for a particularly interesting testing ground for AI.
If an approach works in this sector — without smoothing out emotion, without degrading quality perception — then it's transferable to other premium sectors.
The example of ZEINA is revealing in this regard: a brand for whom visual excellence is non-negotiable, and for whom AI could only be considered under one condition — serve the brand image, never dilute it.
When AI meets jewelry-level standards
"Without Kira, we wouldn't have even launched this campaign."
Anthony Cohen, CEO of ZEINA
In this case study, we examine:
- the initial context: how production relying primarily on traditional photoshoots ended up limiting the brand, despite significant investment
- the very specific challenges of visual production in jewelry, where every detail counts — and what AI enables (or doesn't) to overcome
- the method implemented to integrate AI without compromising on product standards or brand image
All illustrated with high-definition campaign excerpts, designed for demanding outputs, where precision, lighting, and product fidelity are non-negotiable.