The commercial tells the story of a friendship between a hyena named Hattie, who is bullied by her pack for not knowing how to laugh, and an antisocial zookeeper -Carl- who doesn't want to laugh at all. Their passion for content makes Carl and Hattie end up sharing a curious friendship that will lead them to escape from the zoo and regain hope and more importantly, their smile. An unexpected Christmas tale condensed in two minutes for Prime Video, a brand specialized in storytelling.

Hyenas are usually portrayed as savage animals, especially thanks to international classic films like The Lion King. We had to turn that around through the storytelling, different gags in the film, and our main character’s evolution.

Another challenge was that the campaign was aired in 7 different countries with very different languages so we had to develop a story that would resonate across every culture. We wrote a script with no dialogue and with relatable characters who could make anyone, anywhere, smile.

An Unlikely Friendship was Prime Video first Christmas ad in Europe; broadcasted in 7 countries: Spain, UK, France, Ireland, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, so the content displayed on the screens throughout the commercial changed for each one of the markets.

An unlikely friendship was a very ambitious project from the beginning as our main character is a fully CGI (yet ultrarealistic animal). This required a very detailed and careful supervising and directing of all the details involving the production and coordinating a more than a 100 people international crew and more than 50 VFX animators worldwide.

An unlikely friendship is a non-dialogue Christmas tale condensed in two minutes that had to be fully understood and enjoyed in 7 different countries, with different cultures and languages. The tone, sense of humor, and pace required deep cultural knowledge.

The cinematography, art direction chosen, close to classic American Christmas movies -which we grow with- was also crucial for helping our audience connect with the story.