Made by Humans bring Swissquote's iconic bull to life

Generative AI Studio Made by Humans has collaborated with Swiss creative agency Cavalcade and AI director and filmmaker James Lovick to deliver a new AI-led campaign for Swissquote, reimagining the brand’s iconic orange bull across a series of cinematic films.

The project marked one of Swissquote and cavalcade’s first major explorations into generative AI filmmaking at commercial scale, with Made by Humans helping guide the creative and production process from development through to final delivery.

“AI is like plastic surgery: it’s good if you can’t see it. And that is exactly what Made By Humans has managed to do for this campaign,” said David von Ritter, Founder and Creative Director at cavalcade.

Jan De Schepper, Swissquote’s Chief Marketing Officer added "We have experimented AI here and there, but this is the first time we’ve used it to produce a film from start to finish. The result exceeded our expectations, both creatively and in terms of speed of execution."

More than simply generating imagery, the campaign focused on building a production methodology that combined emerging AI workflows with the craft and discipline of traditional filmmaking. Working closely with Cavalcade, the team developed a consistent visual and behavioural language for Swissquote’s bull, shaping how the character would look, move and emotionally connect across multiple films, environments and storylines.

“Generative AI is not just about technology,” comments director Lovick. “It’s about creative direction, problem-solving, iteration and understanding how to turn these tools into finished commercial filmmaking. Our ambition was never to make something that felt experimental for the sake of it. We wanted the films to feel cinematic, grounded and emotionally believable.”

Swissquote’s bull has been part of the brand’s identity for a couple of years, but this campaign marks the first time the character was reimagined in 3D. The icon was rebuilt entirely through AI-generated imagery and motion, requiring extensive research and development to create a version that could perform physically complex actions while remaining consistent and believable on screen.

Each film was carefully storyboarded using AI-generated still frames before moving into production, allowing Swissquote, cavalcade, Lovick and Made by Humans to align on narrative, pacing, framing and visual direction early in the process.

The campaign involved the creation of fully realised environments spanning cafés, apartments, sports stadiums and a hacker’s studio, alongside extensive VFX and post-production work including multilingual phone screen replacements, branded stock ticker graphics, realistic reflections and crowd enhancements.

To support the scale of the production, Made by Humans expanded the workflow across its wider network of AI artists and specialists, enabling multiple sequences, motion studies and visual approaches to be developed simultaneously while maintaining consistency across all four films.

For Made by Humans, the Swissquote campaign represents the future of generative AI filmmaking: a collaborative process where creative direction, agency thinking, filmmaking craft and emerging technology work together to produce premium commercial storytelling.