Written by Jeremy Lee on Mar 11, 2025. Posted in Contributors

Homemade and Lovingly Crafted

Is it a coincidence that at a time when agencies are being forced to examine what could be an existential threat to their business model, there has been a return to some traditional craft techniques such as animation, guerrilla advertising and stop-motion?

 

When the mantra ‘faster, cheaper, better’ first became widely adopted in advertising production circles at the beginning of this decade, AI was still very much in a conceptual phase. Instead, the expression – popularised most famously by the former WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell upon the creation of his new digital-first holding company S4C – applied to a more widespread use of first-party data and CGI in a digitally-led production process.

The ‘faster’ and ‘cheaper’ part of the equation have been plain to see with agencies now turning around ads at a speedier rate and at a lower price as demanded by advertisers – but whether advertising got ‘better’ is another story. And with agencies now adopting and embedding generative AI tools, most notably Dall-E 3, ChatGPT and Midjourney, into the creative process, (and some agencies such as VCCP setting up specialist AI creative agencies within the organisation), the question of their creative distinctiveness and efficacy has been thrown into further relief.

A further threat has come from advertisers themselves realising that perhaps they won’t need traditional advertising agencies in the future when they can simply acquire a suite of AI tools themselves, thereby extending the practical use of GenAI in marketing communications beyond in-house concepting into creating. ITV is even offering to make ads using AI for new-to-television advertisers and those with smaller budgets itself.

 

Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that a time when agencies are being forced to examine what could be an existential threat to their business model, as well as prove their worth beyond the limits of AI-generated creativity, there has been a return to some traditional craft such as animation (particularly anime), guerrilla advertising and stop-motion.

The quality you get from a more analogue approach is worth it. You can feel the humanity and the imperfection that you don’t get otherwise.

McCann London used the analogue technique of puppetry and stop-frame animation for its recent campaign Joy of Everyday for Just Eat. The Wes Anderson-style ads featured animal characters who personify customer cohorts including a family of squirrels, student rabbits, a suburban beaver and otter couple, and city-living moles. They were directed by the award-winning Tim McNaughton of the Bobbsey Twins.

Matt Searle, creative director at McCann London, who was responsible for the campaign, says that this approach came after much deliberation, but he pushed ahead with it “as the level of human-made craftmanship would add bags of charm and elevate the personalities of all our anthropomorphised puppets, and had huge potential for the brand.”

He adds that the process was also a lengthy one, which involved filming all day to capture just three seconds of footage for a campaign that required nine films, each 20-seconds long. “As a production, every detail must be agreed upon upfront. It’s like reversing the usual process, as you’re editing and recording VO talent before the shoot, to ensure animators know exactly what they’re working to – as they adjust an eyebrow, take a snap, adjust an upper lip, take a snap – it’s a laborious undertaking, says Searle.

“But the rewards for us were worth it. We knew CGI, animatronics, or a hybrid would be easier undertakings. Stop-motion however offered us the chance to fill every frame with personality, there would be an inherent tension at play between this nostalgic craft and the contemporary dialogue, and of course every nook and cranny of frame would ooze Just Eat joy.”

It's also expensive as Andy Jex, the chief creative officer at TBWA\London, points out. “Amazing craft sits at the axis of money and time. Whilst I don’t think great craft went away, I do acknowledge that in the last few decades money and time have shrunk. So as a result, the craft has taken a bit of a hit. Craft will continue to get better and better the more time and money you give to it, up until a point where after that it can then become indulgent,” he says.

While McCann London used a traditional craft technique to inject personality into a new cast of brand characters for Just Eat, Fearless Union also decided to adopt stop-frame for one of UK advertising’s more established ones – The Peperami Animal – in its 2024 campaign.

Mark Campion, chief creative officer at Fearless Union, says: “Our decision to use stop motion wasn’t a rejection of new technology or even jumping on the handcrafted bandwagon. It weirdly went a bit deeper than that. We all agreed, Animal just wasn’t Animal when he wasn’t made in stop motion. The crudeness and restrictions of the animation technology in the 90s, were part of the Animal’s DNA. Just like his voice, or his Dr Martens. Seeing him polished and smooth, in a 3D render – it was like we’d cast a different character entirely.”

Craft will continue to get better and better the more time and money you give to it until a point where it can become indulgent.

This focus on authenticity (including its handmade imperfections) is something that also attracted BMB to use an animated zoetrope for its campaign for Freenow. Jack Snell and Joe Lovett, senior creatives at BMB, say that this approach allowed them to embed hidden little details, some more obviously than others in the spot, many of which you wouldn’t even notice on first viewing, but makes the film fun to rewatch multiple times.

They say: “It’s interesting to see the online reaction to the first AI created ads hitting the scene. Not just on adland LinkedIn but amongst ‘real’ people. Toys R Us and Levi’s have been met with backlash as people have shown an instinctive aversion to it. For now at least human beings' reaction generally seems to be to distrust things not made by human beings. And distrustful is the last thing a brand wants to be perceived as.”

Whilst they acknowledge that some recent campaigns that use AI – for example Cadbury’s 200 anniversary campaign, where you can input yourself into a vintage ad, or their own AI photography exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery for Breast Cancer Now – do have a certain creative competence, that makes them the exception rather than the rule.

“For me the difference with these kinds of cases is that the brand is up front about the fact they’re using AI, and that they’re using it to do something that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, rather than simply replacing the skills of a human being to save money,” they say.

For me the difference with these kinds of cases is that the brand is up front about the fact they’re using AI, and that they’re using it to do something that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

It’s the human skill that attracted many to want to work in advertising in the first place. McCann’s Searle says that he particularly enjoys the attention to detail that handmade ads provide, and that AI never can.

“Having grown up with (and been obsessed with) Lego sets, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds, miniature railways, seeing the lengths our partners at Arch Model Studio [the studio that worked on the Just Eat campaign] went to create our little worlds blew our big kid socks off! Then there were the zips, buttons, watches, tie-dyed onesies, mini-knitting needle-stitched cardigans, mini grouted tiles, and even mobile phones, lava lamps and ovens, which could illuminate thanks to microscopic lightbulbs filled with actual gas.

“The combined efforts of skilled sculptors, mould makers, engineers, jewellers, painters, costume makers, foam technicians, miniature eye makers, wig makers, electricians, graphic designers were an incredible sight to behold, as what started on a blank Word Doc became a tactile and tangible world,” he says.

TBWA\London’s Jex agrees that creatives have always been drawn to the handmade over the digital. “I think there’s always been a natural preference to make stuff in an analogue way,” he says. “I’m not sure AI has enhanced this feeling, perhaps a bit. Things have become easier and quicker and cheaper to do in another way. And some may prefer that. But the quality you get from a more analogue approach is really worth it. You can feel the humanity and the imperfection that you don’t get otherwise.”

That’s not to say that advertising is resisting the new technology that is available, like modern day Luddites. “If there’s a conceptual purpose, traditional craft can always play a pivotal role. We’re in an age of AI, VFX, VR and AR, all of which are incredible tools, which will foster incredible films, images and I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of their possibilities. But tools are all they are. They are a means to an end. And creativity will always be about finding the right tool to build unexpected, disruptive, standout work,” says Searle.

For now at least human beings' reaction generally seems to be to distrust things not made by human beings.

In short, it’s not a case of one or the other – there’s no reason why craft techniques, such as anime or stop motion, can’t coexist with AI (which will do the more functional end-of-funnel advertising). It’s why vinyl persists alongside streaming tunes and why films like Palm D’or winner Anora are still shot on 35mm.

Searle concludes: “I don’t think AI or any other unforeseen innovation will ever temper people’s love for craft. Its irreplaceable charms, the aesthetic pleasure, the appreciation of how it was made. What’s more exciting for me is how creatives will take it to the next level. Combining AI, AR, VFX with film techniques of old, to create game-changing work, or simply to make a pretentious badger an aficionado of an afternoon Tunacado.”

 

This article was first published in the FOCUS 2024 issue of makers.

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