I started by using AI in my own small business. Now I help e-commerce owners automate their work with AI.
200+ business owners have tested what I teach
Bilingual AI tutorials on RedNote, Bilibili, YouTube and Instagram
I use MiniMax to make product videos for e-commerce
About Kite Collective
Practical AI for e-commerce owners.
I'm an AI educator. I help online sellers automate the work that used to need a whole team.
What AI takes off your plate
Photo shootAI product photos & videos
CopywriterListings & a month of content
Replying at midnightAI customer service
Manual busyworkAutomated store operations
How I help
AI for E-commerceOnline course for Shopify, Shopee & TikTok Shop sellers
Workshops & team trainingHands-on, built around your real tasks
1:1 AI Growth SprintA few weeks, ending with AI running in your business
Why me
200+business owners have tested what I teach
4 platformsAI tutorials on RedNote, Bilibili, YouTube & Instagram
On stageAI panels with ByteDance & Google Cloud
kitecollective.co · hello@kitecollective.co
Today, in one slide
One wine glass. Two customers. Zero filming.
Same product, two very different buyers: a North American home, and a Singapore home with a local mum. Neither was filmed. I'll show you exactly how I made them, and what it cost.
North America
SG mum · SingaporeVideo coming. Drop it in as assets/v2-sg.mp4
Singapore
Why UGC video matters
People scroll past ads. They stop for people.
Traditional commercial
Studio lighting, perfect actors
Feels like it's selling to you
Only 16% of consumers say branded content feels authentic
UGC video
Filmed on a phone, in a real-looking home
Feels like a friend's recommendation
60% say UGC is the most authentic content they see
On TikTok and Reels, the ads that work don't look like ads.
Survey figures as reported by Influee, "UGC statistics" (2026). Industry estimates; verify before quoting.
The problem with real UGC
Real creators are slow and expensive.
US$150+per video from a new creator. Established ones charge $400–800.
4–8 wksfrom outreach to first post on a product-gifting campaign
+30–100%extra per month to run the video as an ad from their account
01Find creators
02Negotiate rates & rights
03Ship the product
04Wait for them to film
05Revisions, back and forth
06Some never post
Rates: Influee and Creator Blitz, UGC rate guides (2026). Timeline: Influee, influencer gifting guide. Industry estimates; verify before quoting.
The alternative
What if the creator, the home and the shoot were all generated?
No shipping. No scheduling. No reshoot fees. Just a product photo, a good reference video, and an AI video model.
This one cost me less than US$8.
AI-generated · no filming
The tool
Meet MiniMax.
The video, the voice and the music of a UGC ad, from one AI company.
Video · MiniMax H3
Up to 15 seconds, 2K, vertical
Several shots in one generation
Native stereo sound with every clip
Guide it with your images, video and audio
Voice · MiniMax Speech
Voiceover in 40+ languages
300+ ready-made voices
Localise one ad for every market
Voice cloning, with consent
Music · MiniMax Music
An original music bed
Generated to fit your video
A different mood for each customer
MiniMax H3 released 31 Jul 2026 (MarkTechPost; Hugging Face explainer). Speech: MiniMax API docs. Check current specs before the talk.
Sourcing
Don't invent. Copy what already works.
Meta Ad Library
Search your product category. Ads that have been running for weeks are the ones making money. Nobody keeps paying for a losing ad.
TikTok
Scroll your niche, e.g. "Amazon finds". Look for the format that keeps getting views: the unboxing, the reveal, the hook in the first second.
Copy the structure, pacing and shots. Never re-upload someone else's footage.
The most important tip
AI's strength: scenes and product in use.
Build your video around what AI does best: your product in a real-looking place, in real hands, doing what it does.
01 · Any scene
Any home
A US suburban living room, a Singapore flat, a kitchen, an office. No location needed.
02 · Product in use
Show what it does
unboxingthe reveallight through the glassthe first sip
03 · Any customer
Any buyer
Change age, style and home to match each market you sell to.
1Find a winning video
Start from a proven winner.
I found this "Amazon finds" glassware video on TikTok. A simple four-beat structure, and not one word spoken.
Same product type as yours (glassware → wine glasses)
A clear structure you can see in the stills
The product in use is the star
Box · hookUnboxHeroPayoff
2Break it down with Claude
Second by second, what happens.
Download the video, give it to Claude, and ask for a timestamped breakdown: every cut, every shot, the camera angle, the light.
Then ask it to rewrite each beat for your product.
0–6s
The closed boxHeld still for two seconds. Hands lift the lid. This is the hook.
6–10s
The revealGlasses in a row on the table. A hand turns one into the light.
10–14s
The heroOne glass lifted to the window. Light shines through the colours.
14–19s
The payoffPull back to the person. She raises the glass, sips, smiles.
3Create the character & scene
Generate the person. Bring in your product.
Use GPT (or any image model) to make a still of your customer and your product in their home. This locks the look before you spend on video.
Start from your real product photo
Describe the customer in detail: age, hair, clothes, jewellery
Pick the still where the product looks most like itself
Product photo+Character→Scene still
4Generate the video
One prompt per beat. Then stitch.
Feed Claude's description of each beat, plus your images, into MiniMax H3. Here each beat is its own clip, joined in Higgsfield. H3 can also hold several shots in one 15-second generation.
BEAT 3 · the hero, 4s. Genuine UGC phone footage, natural daylight from a large window. One hand lifts a single stained-glass wine goblet into the centre of the frame and turns it toward the window so daylight burns through the painted panels… No captions, no text, no logos.
1 · box
2 · reveal
3 · hero
4 · payoff
Same product · different customer
Change the world around the product.
North America
Singapore
Customer
Woman in her 20s
Singaporean mum
Home
Suburban living room
Singapore flat, sheer curtains
Styling
Tulips, red nails, silver jewellery
Simple tee, natural hands
Feel
Glam, aspirational
Relaxed, everyday
Same four beats. Same prompts, with the customer and the home swapped. Add a local voiceover with MiniMax Speech.
SG mum · SingaporeVideo coming.
AI for your sales workflow