As AI-generated content increasingly dominates retail marketing, some brands are pushing back, using hand-drawn illustrations, traditional animation and other analog techniques to stand out and appeal to shoppers craving the human touch.
Last October, customers went crazy over Annie Choi’s hand-drawn illustrations in the marketing materials for Gap’s collaboration with New York-based designer brand Sandy Liang.
Hermès and Loewe also released hand-drawn or painted illustrations to mark major anniversaries this year, and now Prada is getting in on the trend.
The Italian luxury label recently released its holiday campaign, “Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand,” which, alongside leading actors including Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Luther Ford, features hand-drawn illustrations by John Pomeroy, a legendary cinematic animator and Walt Disney veteran who helped define several iconic animated films, including Winnie the Pooh, Pocahontas and Fantasia 2000.
The campaign includes scenes of animated mice holding up a Dalmatian-print loafer to Sink, and Hawke holding a Prada handbag while talking to cartoon woodland creatures.
“As AI-generated imagery becomes increasingly accessible, it’s also becoming increasingly recognisable. There’s a certain visual sameness emerging across marketing and brands are beginning to recognise the value of creative work that feels distinctly human,” Bethany Paris Ramsay, a retail brand strategist and marketing consultant, told Inside Retail.
“Hand-drawn illustrations, traditional animation and other analog techniques offer something that algorithms can’t fully replicate: an artist’s individual perspective, imperfections, creative decisions and personal expression.”
In a social media post titled “Illustrations Are Having Their Moment: And Why Luxury Brands Are Suddenly Drawing Again,” marketing and brand strategy expert Anastasia Shtompel explained that when every brand can create hyper-polished content using technology, that sheen becomes less appealing.
Source link
