Instagram reels for $1.62 each, without a photoshoot

Why I built this

For a small product brand, every post used to mean a photoshoot, editing and an evening writing captions. So posting happened in bursts, then stopped for weeks.

What it does

It turns one product into a finished reel or carousel in the brand's voice, ready to approve. About $1.62 per reel and $0.28 per carousel. At three reels a week that's roughly 6 hours a week back (an estimate).

How it works

1. Pick a product.
2. AI suggests five creative ideas, then writes the shot list, caption and hashtags in the brand's voice.
3. It creates product-accurate images, short motion shots and music.
4. It assembles a reel or a carousel.
5. The owner approves it. Nothing posts without a yes.
6. It publishes to Instagram.

What it runs on

The product photos and descriptions the brand already has, and a simple content board (Airtable) where everything waits for approval. It runs for Hour & Hearth, a Sydney home decor brand, using their real product range.

What it costs to run

Per post	About $1.62 per reel and $0.28 per carousel, in AI generation costs
Monthly	Only what you generate. Nothing costs money until a product is picked
Owner's time	A few minutes to approve each post

What I learned

• The approval step is the feature. Owners were happy to automate the making, not the deciding.
• Product accuracy beats creativity. A beautiful image of the wrong colour vase is useless, so most of the work went into keeping the product true to life.
• Costs stay low because nothing runs on its own. Paying per reel, only when someone picks a product, kept it predictable.