Photo to Video

Bringing Camera Rolls to Life on YouTube Shorts

Overview: A New Way to Animate What’s Already Yours

YouTube’s new Photo to Video feature gives creators a playful and simple way to turn their static images into dynamic Shorts. Whether it’s a pet photo, a vacation shot, or a random meme-worthy moment, this tool lets creators generate animated videos from any image in their camera roll using AI-driven prompts.

To launch this feature, we activated a campaign focused on creator education and experimentation. The goal: show just how weird, fun, and creative this tool can be when it's used in the wild.

Challenge: Turning a Quiet Feature Into a Loud Trend

Photo to Video is tucked inside the Shorts creation tools and built for everyday moments, not high-concept shoots. The challenge was getting creators to understand how powerful this feature is—without overcomplicating the message. We needed content that felt intuitive, experimental, and aligned with creators’ natural workflows.

Solution: Make It Personal, Make It Weird, Keep It Short

We partnered with creators across verticals and asked them to anchor content around a single photo from their camera roll. The tool gave them multiple ways to build their Short:

  • Use a suggested prompt to animate their photo

  • Edit an existing prompt to personalize it

  • Write their own idea from scratch

Once they selected a prompt, the feature auto-generated a short animated clip that could be used as the centerpiece of their YouTube Short.

From Photo Dump to Story Jump

What Creators Did With One Photo

Creators didn’t just test the tool—they made it their own. From cursed pet animations to dramatic glow-up reveals, the content showcased how Photo to Video unlocks storytelling from even the most random camera roll images. Every video had the same starting point—a single photo—but the outcomes were wildly different, proving just how flexible and fun this feature can be.

Campaign is on-going and has not wrapped.

Everyday Photos, Turned Into Scroll-Stopping Shorts

This campaign invites creators to mine their camera rolls for ideas and then remix them with Photo to Video. It’s a new way to spark storytelling on Shorts—no complex shoots, no expensive setups, just one image and some imagination.

Engineering Social

Engineering Social

DRIVING SOCIAL CONVERSATION AND SENTIMENT IN WAYS THAT WORK.

Sulfur helps clients create authentic content to fit the touchpoints of today's connected world 🌎. We do this by engaging influencers to drive awareness, amplify reach, and gain insights + data 📈 to optimize and scale future growth and performance.

DON’T WAIT, IGNITE YOUR BRAND.

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YouTube - Gen AI