CAA co-chairman Bryan Lourd at the New York premiere of The Odyssey in July 2026. Photo by PhilipRomano, cropped (CC BY-SA)
Your favorite star’s next ad might not need a shoot. Ogilvy and talent agency CAA have launched ECHO, an AI platform that turns celebrity scans into ads, Ogilvy announced on Nov. 9.
Key Takeaways
- ECHO draws on The CAA Vault, CAA’s service for capturing and licensing clients’ digital likeness and voice.
- Talent must sign off on every asset, and each one carries a visible “[Talent Name] Approved | Recreated with AI” watermark.
- Ogilvy says one shoot of 8–10 assets can become roughly 30–50, cutting cost per asset by up to 65–75%.
- Terry Crews is among the stars who have opted in, Digiday reported. CAA did not name others, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The Full Story
“We built The CAA Vault to ensure that talent owns, controls, and can safely monetize their digital likeness on their own terms and only with their consent,” CAA’s Alex Shannon said. Automated checks compare each AI asset against the star’s contract terms and brand safety rules before it can go out, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Ogilvy innovation chief Carol Reed called it “the ‘NIL moment’ between advertising and entertainment.” She told Digiday that a few pilots should go live toward the end of the year.
The Social Conversation
This is the flip side of Hollywood’s deepfake fight. Instead of banning AI likenesses, agencies are trying to license them on the talent’s terms. Expect the watermark to be the part fans notice first.
