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Liwa Content.Driven extends ‘The Ripple Effect' with AI film

Following the launch of The Ripple Effect series for Emirates NBD's #UnitedAgainstFraud initiative, Liwa Dubai unveiled a second instalment – a fully AI-generated narrative film that continues the campaign's focus on scam awareness and, crucially, the importance of reporting fraud. The series is part of a Central Bank-driven anti-fraud initiative in which banks were tasked with creating meaningful, engaging storytelling to cut through public apathy towards scam alerts. The core insight emphasising on The Ripple Effect shows that ignoring a scam doesn't just affect the individual targeted – it can set off a chain reaction of harm. This second chapter builds on that premise while marking a creative shift in production. Unlike the first instalment, which was shot with live actors, the new film was created entirely with AI tools. While many AI-led projects in the creative industry rely on surreal visuals, randomised montage sequences and rapid jump cuts, The Ripple Effect takes a different path – anchoring the work in consistent, human character arcs. This makes it the first AI-driven narrative storytelling project with human characters in the region. The short film plays out as a tense 'what if' scenario: a single unreported scam spirals into a dark, exaggerated sequence of events. The damage grows until a turning point – when someone chooses to report the scam, breaking the cycle. The visual tone and pacing mimic what could have been captured during a realistic two-day on-ground shoot, yet no physical filming took place. 'This isn't AI for the sake of AI,' said Sagar Rege, Director at Liwa 'Most AI films today are essentially montages – visually stunning to look at, but not necessarily built to tell a story. With The Ripple Effect, we wanted to see how far we could push the technology, not to impress, but to move. We ensured we didn't do anything that would not have been possible in a realistic two-day shoot. We wanted to stick to classical storytelling and ensure all departments would work exactly the same way they would on the ground. To tell a story with a clear narrative arc, with characters, consequences, and catharsis. The first Ripple Effect film was shot by us – with real actors. For this second film, we wanted to employ AI to push ourselves and our storytelling abilities to the next level, while staying true to the visual aesthetics of the first.' Backed by Emirates NBD, the #UnitedAgainstFraud platform aims to shift the conversation from simply warning people about scams to actively encouraging them to report incidents. As fraud techniques become more sophisticated, the campaign seeks to humanise the risk and show the tangible consequences of inaction. Credits Client – Emirates NBD Mai Cheblak, Head of Corporate Marketing Sanaz Samadi, Group Marketing Liwa Agency Director and Executive Producer: Sagar Rege Creative Directors: Adham Abdullah, Shantesh S Row Business Director: Puja Banerjee Account Director: Anjali Dhami Senior Account Manager: Nikkita Fernandes Art Direction: Abhijit Chaubal, Nikhil Soman Editor: Danny Salloum AI Art Direction and Execution Agency: Studio Blo