We built holiday stories in surreal CGI

Bukovel, the largest mountain resort in Ukraine, came to us for a summer campaign: show that the place is alive beyond the ski season, and cement its status as a year-round resort.

The brief

Tell the key audiences how varied a summer at the resort can be. There were four audiences at once: families with kids, couples, groups of friends, and people who come to be on their own. One message for everyone would not land, each of them has their own Bukovel.

And the campaign had to live not only in digital, but in outdoor advertising too.

Creative concept

We made the campaign as a series of mini short films, each with its own hero, mood and dramaturgy. Two films, two opposites carrying one idea: in the first, a chaotic family day where everyone scatters in different directions and comes back together in the evening. In the second, a holiday at your own pace, with no compromises and nothing to agree on, from a hiking trail to a glamping site under Hoverla.

The style is photorealistic surrealism. The picture is cinematic, and the scale is exaggerated on purpose. That is what creates the feeling that Bukovel is bigger than you expected.

We wanted to go into surreal CGI: all the way to photorealism, but with the feeling of a computer game. When you go on holiday, that game feeling is exactly what you have. Kids definitely feel it, and sometimes adults do too. And when unrealistic things show up, like a bobsled track made of clouds or a straw going straight into a cocktail, you understand right away: this is a fairy tale, and it is simply highlighting the bright moments.
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Ivan Ishchenko, creative director

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Deliverables

• 2 film concepts, 15–20 seconds each, with adaptations
• 4 key visual concepts for the audience segments
• Static and animated formats for outdoor: OOH and DOOH

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Key visuals

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Production process

Every frame stands on recognisable spots of the real resort: the bobsled track, the water park, the observation wheel, the lake, the wake park, the bike park, Hoverla. The exaggeration highlights the real locations instead of replacing them. Anyone who has been to Bukovel will recognise every point on the route.

In our artist-led hybrid workflow we pulled both worlds of the campaign into one universe: two films in four formats and a line of visuals for outdoor, from brief to release in five weeks.

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