Featured project by ManicMonday/ Agency S-Communication Service
EVENTIM "RUDI"
A Ticket Dream Under the Christmas Tree. S-Payment and EVENTIM bring a digital Christmas fairytale to life – Rudi, powered by AI.
Just in time for the festive season, we created this charming social media spot together with S-Payment GmbH, the central payment service provider of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, and CTS EVENTIM, Europe’s leading ticketing company. The film brings EVENTIM’s well-loved reindeer Rudi from last year’s print campaign into motion for the very first time. Directed by Bastian Kuhn, the project blends classic commercial filmmaking with an AI-driven production workflow - allowing the spot to be produced within a remarkably tight timeframe. Music composition, sound design, and voice recording were created by Hofkapellmeister Berlin, adding warmth, emotion, and festive charm to the story.
Well planned is half prompted: Key creative and technical decisions had to be made early in the concept phase: Which elements could be reliably generated using AI? And how could Rudi remain visually consistent with previous campaigns? To ensure recognisable characters and a stable visual quality, multiple AI systems were trained in multi-stage prompting sessions using existing character designs and key visual elements. This approach ensured continuity across scenes while still allowing for creative flexibility. Unlike traditional animation pipelines, AI-supported animation feels much more like a film shoot. Preparation must be extremely precise and approved in advance. Once production begins, there is room for variation - but not for fundamental iterations. When AI-generated scenes are visually aligned, they are set into motion almost like working on set. Every take is slightly different, and the team refines these variations until the perfect moment emerges. As with classic filmmaking, the final decision often happens in the edit.
New workflows, new possibilities: For artists, this shift introduces a new way of working: detailed refinement no longer happens at the very end of production, but much earlier in pre-production. This eliminates many of the uncertainties typically associated with traditional previs workflows. That said, if maximum pixel-level control and creative flexibility until the final frame are required, classic 3D production remains the better choice. Still, new workflows open up exciting creative opportunities — especially when clients are open to innovation and collaboration is built on trust and curiosity. The Christmas story of reindeer Rudi is a great example of what’s possible.
Wishing you all joyful Manic Christmas days.
Client:
S-PAYMENT/ EVENTIM
Agency:
S-Communication Service
Production
ManicMonday GmbH
AI-Director
Bastian Kuhn
Contact
ManicMonday GmbH
hello@manicmonday.tv
+49 (0) 177 785 23 23
