Reuters has launched its first brand campaign in its 175-year history. The film, ‘Pure News, Straight from the Source,’ was created by The Brandtech Group’s Gravity Road and combines cinematic production techniques with generative AI.
The campaign arrives as news organizations face mounting challenges around trust and misinformation. The film uses water as a central metaphor, depicting a world where drinking water has turned cloudy. This visual is meant to represent what the campaign characterizes as an increasingly polluted information landscape. Generative AI was used to distort and cloud footage, which is then contrasted with clear imagery from actual Reuters reporting, positioned as the “pure source.”
“We scrutinize the sources of the food and drink we consume, where we demand transparency, traceability and purity,” said Mark Eaves, co-founder of Gravity Road. “So why should we be less concerned with the sources of the news we intake?”
The use of AI in the campaign is notable given the broader debate about artificial intelligence in journalism. While the film employs generative AI as a creative tool, Reuters maintains editorial guidelines that prohibit the use of such technology in its news reporting. The distinction is emphasized in the film itself, which transitions from AI-manipulated imagery to unaltered Reuters footage.
Advertisement
The campaign highlights that Reuters employs 2,600 journalists across 200 locations who report “as it happens, from where it happens.”
“In an era of information overload and growing skepticism about media, Reuters stands as a beacon,” said Paul Bascobert, president of Reuters. “Our mission has never been more critical: to deliver facts and rigorous analysis and shed light on the truth without fear or favor.”
The media strategy, led by StrawberryFrog Media, uses programmatic targeting and what the agency describes as AI-driven cross-device sequencing. The campaign runs on connected TV, online video, mobile and social platforms in New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC.
“Subscribing to Reuters.com provides a direct link to pure trusted journalism,” said Josh London, head of Reuters Professional. “In a world craving certainty, we offer consumers access to facts reported independently and accurately.”
Reuters
With unmatched coverage in over 16 languages, and reaching billions of people worldwide every day, we provide trusted intelligence that powers humans and machines...