The cost of one second

This Christmas, some brands are showing the time and work behind their films. Others are using AI to make films they could not produce in time by other means. 

Levi’s Christmas film took around 2,000 hours to make. Petit Bateau’s was created with AI after its agency concluded that a shoot or 3D production couldn’t be completed in time.

Showing the hours

Levi’s "Let’s Get Fuzzy" is a stop-motion film by Stevie Gee and Essy May of Blinkink. Each second took four hours to shoot. The puppets' tiny sweaters were hand-knitted copies of pieces from Levi’s holiday collection.

Levi's also released a making-of film. Watching the two together changes how you notice the details: the texture of the puppets, the small movements, the clothes. The hours aren't just a number. You can see some of the work in the finished film.

Prada’s "Drawing Prada" puts hand-drawn animation in the spotlight. Barbour brought Wallace and Gromit back with Aardman, where fingerprints in the clay have always been part of the charm. In both films, you can see the makers' touch.

The film made another way

Petit Bateau's L'extraordinaire voyage de Doudou follows a lost comfort toy, the Doudou, across a winter Paris on its way back to a child. The agency's creative director, Léa Debretagne, says the limits are no longer just technical; they depend on what a team dares to imagine.

The deadline explains the choice of AI. The film still has to make us care about Doudou’s journey. Christmas advertising often depends on warmth and feeling, and the finished film needs to deliver both.

Coca-Cola's AI-generated Christmas ads drew criticism in 2024 and 2025. That shows how the use of AI can become part of the conversation around a campaign. It doesn't tell us how people will respond to every AI-made film.

None of this proves that handmade films are better. A boring ad isn’t better just because it took longer to make.

When proof isn't enough

Dior hired Sylvain Chomet, director of The Triplets of Belleville, to make Christian Dior's Night in Color, a seven-minute hand-drawn film. After its release, some viewers questioned whether AI had been used, pointing to details such as warped lettering and an unusual eye.

There’s no evidence that AI was used. This is one example, not proof that audiences generally can’t recognise handmade work. Still, it shows how a detail can raise questions about how a film was made, even when a human animator is credited.

When effort becomes the message

The idea still comes first.

A beautifully made film can leave us cold; a film made with AI can still surprise or move us. But when images are easier to produce, we notice the choices behind them too. A hand-drawn frame or a tiny knitted sweater shows the time given to a detail.

When a brand is open about how the film was made, that effort becomes part of the message. The idea makes us feel something; the work gives us another reason to look closer.

This Christmas, that effort has become part of the ad’s story.

12 November 2026