”Hello, BRUTUS” with Google Gemini

As part of “Magazine House Exhibition: From Ginza to the World,” a special exhibition held in collaboration with Ginza Sony Park to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Magazine House, we took part in the development of an experimental project titled “Hello, BRUTUS”. In this exhibition, visitors could engage in voice-based conversations—via a telephone booth—with an AI constructed from 45 years of BRUTUS magazine archives. We were responsible for developing the AI dialogue engine for this project.

“Hello, BRUTUS” is a “talking magazine” experience in which visitors pick up a handset inside a telephone booth and say “Hello, BRUTUS”. The AI, which holds the memories of 45 years of BRUTUS issues since its launch, responds and engages in conversation. By speaking freely based on their own interests, participants can enjoy dialogues shaped by BRUTUS’s unique editorial perspective, grounded in its extensive archive.

After the call ends, a photo taken by a camera installed inside the booth is used to generate an image in which the participant becomes the cover star of a custom “Hello, BRUTUS” issue. Along with a summary of the conversation, this image is printed out as a receipt-like takeaway, allowing visitors to bring the experience home with them.

This project was created in collaboration with Google Gemini, utilizing Google AI technologies such as Gemini for large language modeling and dialogue generation and Nano Banana for image generation, including the magazine cover visuals.

To enable accurate and meaningful conversations based on BRUTUS’s archive, we implemented a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system. Past print issues were scanned and converted into PDF data, then organized into a database that Gemini could reference during text generation. This allowed the AI to draw on BRUTUS-specific content that is not included in Gemini’s original training data. In addition, we carefully addressed key aspects essential to building an LLM-based experience: shaping a personality true to BRUTUS, optimizing response speed to preserve the natural flow of conversation within a telephone booth, and ensuring accurate text generation grounded in the magazine’s content.

Links

- BRUTUS - AdverTimes

You can also find more about our LLM-related projects here: - Qosmo - LLM Experience Design

Event

- 2025.10.10 - 2025.10.25｜Magazine House Exhibition: From Ginza to the World (Ginza Sony Park)

Credits

Planning Executive Creative Director: suzukikenta (Firstthing) Creative Director / Copywriter: Yunosuke Nakayama (Firstthing) Art Director: Junya Nagai (Dentsu), Hanako Yano (Dentsu) Copywriter: Taiga Iwata (Firstthing) Creative Technologist: Kazuya Kishimoto (Dentsu Lab Tokyo), Kota Yamanishi (Dentsu), Kazuki Himata (Dentsu) Communication Planner: Sakura Hoshi (Dentsu Lab Tokyo), Sota Suzuki (Dentsu Lab Tokyo) PR Planner: Anna Tatsuno (Firstthing), Haruka Ori (Firstthing) Strategic Planner: Kohei Tsukada (Firstthing) Social Planner: Ryosuke Totsuka (Dentsu Digital), Masahiro Nakai (Dentsu Digital) PR Planner: Keisuke Fujita (Fujita Digital)

Producing Producer: Natsuki Kono (Firstthing), Karin Misawa (Firstthing), Seina Iguchi (Dentsu Promotion Plus) Account Exective: Hiromitsu Omori (Dentsu)

Production Production Producer: Ryotaro Omori (Think & Craft), Shotaro Matsumoto (Think & Craft), Kanae Kumaki (Think & Craft), Maito Kawabe (Think & Craft), Rentaro Maruyama (Think & Craft) Technical Director: Yasuhiko Nishimura (Think & Craft), Atsuki Masuko (Think & Craft) Engineer: Ryosuke Nakajima (Qosmo), Kazuho Ishida (Think & Craft), Kanta Horio (Ponoor Experiments) Designer: Tomomi Iizuka (Dentsu Creative Pictures), Rina Sahoda (Freelance) Motion Graphic Designer: Shoi Okuda (EDP graphic works) Event Producer: Shinya Harada (CAPMAN), Toshiaki Nagahashi (DNA) Drafter: Ryo Naoi (KOU DESIGN OFFICE), Daiji Nakayama (KOU DESIGN OFFICE) Art: Takeshi Takahashi (TAKAHASHI ART) Construction Manager: Shin Nakamura (KOBAYASHI KOGEISHA)