Christmas advertising 2026: Prada and e.l.f. go handmade, Very goes with AI

Christmas campaigns are once again putting 2026 craftsmanship in the spotlight: Prada has its drawings animated frame by frame, and e.l.f. Cosmetics builds characters and sets by hand. At the same time, the British retailer Very uses AI for its animated Christmas film. The three productions show how differently brands justify their style in a crowded social feed – and why the production process itself becomes content.

Prada makes the drawing process a brand signal

For “Drawing Prada – Animated by Hand”, the fashion house brought in animator John Pomeroy and a team of classical illustrators. Under the creative direction of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, hand-drawn winter worlds meet real footage featuring Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Luther Ford. Glen Luchford is responsible for the photography.

What stands out is the presentation: Prada does not just show finished visuals, but explicitly makes the hand-drawn production the core of the campaign – including insights into the animators’ work. For a luxury brand whose products are defined by material, design and craftsmanship, this is a clear positioning. Prada’s official campaign page explains the approach in German as well.

e.l.f. brings real dolls into social videos and retail

“Made to Stand Out” is e.l.f. Beauty’s first Christmas campaign. The 60-second spot, released on 2 November, tells the story of friends Kit, Echo and Cleo. Instead of generating them with prompts, the team at Apartment D Films, directed by Cami Kwan, physically built the figures and miniature sets; Alan Cumming narrates the film.

The characters actually carry the brand’s product world: primer, lip oil and other cosmetics are part of their preparation for a shared evening. According to e.l.f., 90 percent of the doll team and the entire animation team were women. The campaign runs on digital and social channels and is additionally shown on screens in US Best Buy and Target stores. In this way the brand combines attention-grabbing craftsmanship with product relevance and reach at the point of purchase. Official e.l.f. announcement.

Very shows that AI-supported Christmas advertising can work too

An interesting counterpoint comes from Very. The British online retailer produced its flamingo campaign “That’s the Very Thing” using a combination of CGI and AI-supported animation. The characters have been part of the brand world for 2023; 2026 an entire flamingo family appears. Very says that recognition of its brand campaigns has doubled since the platform launched.

According to the company, the advertising effect measured in advance is also strong: in testing, the new film scored System1 5,9 stars and, within the target group, ranks among the top one percent of retail spots tested. These are test values reported by the company, not published sales figures. Very’s campaign announcement provides production and distribution details.

What social media teams can take away

The decisive question is not just “AI or handwork?”, but: what makes the making of a visual worth telling to the audience? Prada can turn drawings, intermediate steps and artists into further formats. At e.l.f., doll building, sets and animation offer additional short video stories. Very, in turn, relies on a familiar brand character that the technology can scale across different advertising formats.

Especially with elaborate productions, it pays to plan behind-the-scenes content, vertical cutdowns and short character moments from the start. How much the effort can change for creators is shown in our article about Grace Wells and 100 hours of production time for a social spot. Another Christmas example is Amazon’s “Joy Delivered” across social, CTV and cinema.

That the market is not splitting into "all analog" or "all automated" is also shown by Ogilvy's work with licensed AI images of celebrities. For German marketing teams, what ultimately counts is a consistent visual style with traceable production and enough material for the channels where the work actually runs.

The ADWEEK report on the Christmas advertising 2026 was the research trigger; the analysis is based in particular on the linked campaign pages and original announcements from Prada, e.l.f. and Very. Cover image: stock photo by Sema Martin/Unsplash, not footage of the campaigns mentioned.