Photo: Prada
In a world where more and more visual content is created using AI, something made by human hands suddenly stands out. The new Christmas campaign by fashion house Prada is a perfect example. With its hand-drawn animations, the brand deliberately embraces traditional craftsmanship. The result? A warm, almost nostalgic advertisement that has received a lot of positive attention. But perhaps the campaign tells us more than just the story of a successful Christmas campaign. Is human craftsmanship becoming the new luxury?
A world of hand-drawn magic
Prada’s Christmas campaign is called Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand. The commercial combines live-action footage with hand-drawn animation. Actors move through an imaginative winter wonderland, where illustrated animals and fairytale landscapes come to live.
For the animations, Prada collaborated with experienced animator John Pomeroy, who led a team of artists. Pomeroy previously worked on well-known animated films such as Pocahontas and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Instead of AI-generated illustrations, the team opted for the traditional technique of drawing with pencil and paper.
That choice is reflected in the final result. The animations have a soft, playful quality. The subtle imperfections and fluid movements give the commercial its own distinctive character. It feels warm, personal and almost nostalgic. This seems to resonate with many people. On social media, the campaign is being praised as a breath of fresh air amid the flood of AI-generated content.
With this campaign, Prada highlights not only the finished product, but also the creative process behind it. The brand shows just how much creativity, time and craftsmanship can go into a production.
Perhaps that also explains why the campaign is receiving so many positive reactions. We are surrounded by images and videos every day. More and more of them are created using AI, making it increasingly difficult to tell how much human effort has gone into them. In this context, something visibly made by hand can evoke a sense of familiarity and connection. Knowing that people have spent hours working on these images gives them something special. It feels not just like a beautifully made advertisement, but like something genuinely human. And perhaps we appreciate that more than ever right now.
If everything can be made with AI, what still makes something special?
Prada's choice is particularly striking at a time when generative AI is increasingly being used to create images and videos. With just a few prompts, images, animations and even entire videos can be generated.
We are seeing the effects of this among our own clients, too. Video producers are receiving fewer enquiries and are noticing that brands are increasingly experimenting with AI instead of commissioning traditional video productions. This has consequences for the creators who have spent years developing their skills and expertise.
After all, making a good video involves more than simply putting beautiful images together. It takes an idea, a story, a sense of timing, an eye for detail, and knowledge of both audiovisual storytelling and communication. It is a craft in which experience and creativity come together.
Human craftsmanship is becoming visible again
What is interesting is that human craftsmanship is almost becoming a luxury in itself. Where brands once primarily wanted to impress with the latest technology, there now seems to be room for a different message: this wasn’t automatically generated. People made this.
That raises an interesting question. Does something become more valuable when we know how much time, knowledge and attention went into creating it? And will we come to appreciate human creativity even more now that technology can take over an increasing amount of work?
This doesn't mean AI has no place in the world of video production. But it is worth considering what we want to achieve with it, and what we don’t want to lose along the way.
Video accessibility is human craftsmanship, too
At Scribit.Pro, we believe that a video is only truly good when everyone can enjoy it. Video accessibility is an essential part of that. It, too, requires knowledge, creativity and craftsmanship.
Making a video accessible involves much more than automatically generating subtitles or adding a description. Good subtitling requires a feel for language and timing. Audio description requires a keen eye for what is happening on screen and the ability to put it into words clearly and understandably. Technology can certainly help, but the human perspective remains essential.
Perhaps that is the most important lesson of Prada’s Christmas campaign: in a world where more and more can be automated, there is still immense value in what people create with care and craftsmanship. Not everything needs to be faster, cheaper or AI-generated. Sometimes, it is the human touch that makes a production truly special and unique.
That is exactly what we have done with Prada's Christmas commercial. A video created with such care and craftsmanship deserves to be experienced by as many people as possible. That's why we have added audio description and a transcript, making the magic of this hand-drawn winter wonderland more accessible.
Watch the commercial below and experience it for yourself.