Dolsten & Co. is an AI-first creative agency founded by Simon Dolsten, a seasoned creative director with a background in crafting high-end brand narratives. After leading creative work for global brands like Michelob Ultra and Volkswagen, and producing Emmy-winning and Super Bowl–level campaigns, Simon set out to build an agency designed for a new era of creativity, one where technology accelerates imagination rather than constraining it.
Dolsten & Co. work with a wide range of clients, from personality-driven brands to large enterprise organisations, helping them tell stories that resonate emotionally whilst moving at modern speed. Whilst Simon’s foundation in storytelling remained central, traditional production models made it difficult to experiment, prototype, and bring ambitious ideas to life quickly.
HeyGen gave Dolsten & Co. a way to create, iterate and ship high-fidelity creative work in days rather than months, unlocking ideas that had once felt impossible.
Big ideas held back by traditional production
Before using HeyGen, Dolsten & Co. faced the same challenge as most creative agencies: the need for speed. Turning an idea into something clients could actually see and respond to required extensive upfront work.
‘You couldn’t really generate a prototype or proof of concept quickly,’ Simon explained. ‘You’d have to bring clients a long script or a 100-page deck.’
In traditional advertising environments, producing even a 30-second advert could take months and cost millions of dollars. Once production wrapped, creative teams were often locked into what they had captured on set, with limited ability to evolve or iterate.
‘For creatives, that’s limiting,’ Simon said. ‘You want to keep building, testing, and improving, but the process doesn’t allow for it.’
This slowed collaboration, increased risk, and made it harder to explore bold ideas, especially those involving emerging formats such as interactive avatars or AI-driven narratives.
Using HeyGen to prototype, iterate and create at speed
HeyGen fundamentally changed how Dolsten & Co. work with ideas. Instead of pitching concepts through scripts or static presentations, the team could now bring clients something functional and fully realised within days.
‘With HeyGen, you can bring something that already has fidelity and capability,’ Simon said. ‘Creating something impactful together becomes a lot faster and easier.’
The platform allows the team to prototype ideas straightaway, iterate based on feedback, and evolve concepts over time. Unlike traditional production, where footage is fixed, HeyGen enables continuous refinement.
‘You can create the first version, bring it to a client, and then keep building on it,’ Simon said. ‘That ability to evolve is quite powerful for creatives.’
HeyGen also made it possible to combine storytelling and technology in new ways. Dolsten & Co. began experimenting with digital twins and avatars that could educate, entertain, or deliver corporate messaging with realism and emotional nuance.
‘What surprised me most was the functionality,’ Simon said. ‘You can build knowledge into them, make them educational, entertaining, or branded. They can fill so many roles.’
Unlocking ideas that once seemed impossible
As the team pushed the platform further, HeyGen enabled projects that went far beyond quicker ads or prototypes.
Dolsten & Co. created a one-hour AI-generated feature film with realistic dialogue and mouth movements, something Simon describes as previously unimaginable. What once felt like a distant concept was produced and brought to market in just weeks.
‘HeyGen enabled us to do things that were far beyond our dreams,’ Simon said.
The team also explored immersive, one-to-one interactive experiences using realistic avatars. These experiences helped build trust with consumers, clients, and even the press by pairing advanced technology with a human face and voice.
‘The goal is not to replace human interaction,’ Simon explained. ‘It is to amplify it.’
HeyGen also made localisation and scale dramatically easier. A single story could be brought to life in multiple languages, allowing brands to reach global audiences without recreating content from scratch.
Faster delivery, stronger momentum, and measurable impact
The impact on speed and efficiency was immediate. Work that once took six months to produce could now be completed in as little as six days.
‘That speed changes everything,’ Simon said. ‘We can sell more work, clients get results faster, and the quality stays high.’
Beyond metrics, HeyGen created momentum. Seeing ideas come to life quickly energised both internal teams and clients.
‘When I watched the first video we created with HeyGen, it felt like magic,’ Simon said. ‘You could finally create at the speed you want to.’
That momentum made collaboration easier, feedback more actionable, and creativity more iterative. Instead of waiting months to see results, clients could react to finished work almost straightaway.
For Simon, the real value of HeyGen lies in bringing human storytelling and advanced technology together.
‘You still need to say something meaningful,’ he said. ‘You still need to craft the narrative. HeyGen just accelerates the process of bringing it to life.’
By removing friction from production, HeyGen allow Dolsten & Co. to focus on what matters most: emotion, dialogue, interaction, and impact.
‘HeyGen unlocked the impossible for us,’ Simon said. ‘It made ideas real that we could only dream about before.’
