WPP’s AI-ncient influencer draws young audiences to the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi
December 20, 2025
Capturing the attention of the young generation is a huge challenge for any brand. For cultural institutions, the task is even greater. Experience Abu Dhabi gave WPP the challenge of making its new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi captivating to young audiences.
The WPP team – Ogilvy Paris’ AI.Lab and Memac Ogilvy – noticed it had a world-famous centrepiece – the 67-million-year-old fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The opportunity became clear. Transform this icon from a museum exhibit into a living, breathing digital creator that could build an audience and drive excitement for the museum’s opening.
The first step was to understand the audience. Social listening revealed a vibrant and active dinosaur fandom online, hungry for content that blended pop culture with scientific fact. Simply advertising the fossil wouldn’t cut it. It needed a voice.
WPP developed a strategy to transform the T. rex into the first “AI-ncient influencer”. Using social insights to define a sharp, witty and expressive personality, a character was created to engage audiences on their own terms, using the memes, trends and formats they already love.
Then, to bring the character to life with unprecedented realism, the team turned to generative AI.
“This project is a perfect example of our creative transformation mission in action,” stated Elav Horwitz, chief innovation officer at WPP. “By combining the deep brand understanding of our agencies with early access to groundbreaking technology like Google’s Veo 3.1, we’re not just creating campaigns; we’re building new forms of connection and cultural relevance for our clients.”
Using a unique partnership with Google, the WPP team generated video content that was not only visually stunning but also rich with personality. David Raichman, global AI creative lead at Ogilvy, noted, “The challenge was to use AI to design every detail accurately. Through WPP’s partnership with Google, we had early access to Veo 3.1, which allowed us to achieve a level of precision that brought the T. rex to life with unprecedented realism and personality.”
The result was a series of short-form episodes launched across the museum’s social channels, turning the T. rex into a must-follow creator.
“Our social listening showed three things clearly: people drive dinosaur conversations online, the T. rex already has an active digital footprint and there is huge appetite for content that blends science with pop culture,” commented Ghadeer El Khub of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. “By making science social, entertaining and accessible, we’re inviting audiences to connect with the museum in a meaningful way and ultimately, encouraging them to come visit and discover more themselves.”
Since launch, the activation has continued to gain rapid traction, with content collectively reaching 50 million video views and 83.8K engagements, driven by top-performing posts that generated 23.66 million views and 40.7K engagements respectively, with audience sentiment holding at 95.9% positive and neutral across online conversations.
Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi sneak peek… and before you ask, yes, that tall, handsome skeleton is me. Try not to fall in love. 🦖💀 See you on Nov 22
