Human Talent Has Never Been More Important in Marketing

When anything can be generated, the hand becomes the headline

This holiday season, two of fashion’s biggest houses picked up a pencil. Prada’s “Drawing Prada” was illustrated by a team led by animation director John Pomeroy, whose career began at Disney in the 1970s. Dior answered with a hand-drawn short film from Oscar-nominated director Sylvain Chomet. In a year when most of the feed can be generated in seconds, that is not a coincidence.

It is the brief for 2027. Talent is no longer only the face in the ad. It is the person who draws it, shoots it, animates it and voices it.

Why talent matters more than ever

AI has made the flawless image cheap, so polish alone no longer earns a second look. What a prompt cannot fake is evidence of a person. We have already looked at how Cannes 2026 put human creativity back at the centre of the industry conversation. Now the data is catching up.

Canva’s State of Marketing and AI Report 2026 found that 97% of marketing leaders use AI in their daily creative work. Yet 78% of consumers would rather see ads made by people, even if AI could produce better ones, and 87% say the best advertising requires a human touch.

Aerie. In autumn 2025, the brand pledged not to use generative AI to create bodies or people in its campaign imagery. The announcement became its most popular Instagram post, and fourth-quarter sales rose 23% year on year. Its 2026 follow-up put Pamela Anderson front and centre to carry the “100% Aerie Real” message.

Polaroid. Billboards in New York, London and South Korea carried lines like “AI can’t generate sand between your toes.”

The common thread: authenticity only lands when there is a real person to prove it. So who do you commission?

Three houses putting artists at the centre

Prada. “Drawing Prada” sets Glen Luchford’s live-action photography inside illustrated worlds the brand describes as “entirely executed by hand.” Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke star, but the animators share the billing. Creative Bloq called it “the antidote.” This particular piece of work includes all forms of human artistry as well as celebrity talent.

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Dior. “Christian Dior’s Night in Color”, made under Jonathan Anderson’s creative direction, imagines a winter night in 1949 when Marlene Dietrich calls the atelier needing a dress for her next film. Chomet, the director behind The Triplets of Belleville, worked for months in an entirely hand-drawn process reviving 1940s methods. The characters will also appear in Dior store windows worldwide.

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Hermès. For its 2026 “Venture Beyond” theme, Hermès handed its website to Paris-based illustrator Linda Merad. Her pen and India ink drawings became twelve illustrations, one for each section of the site.

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Give the story a voice

Dior’s film proves that hand-drawn worlds need human voices to come alive. Robert Pattinson narrates. Louis Garrel voices Christian Dior, Camille Cottin plays Dietrich, Rihanna becomes the lucky star and Josh O’Connor is, memorably, a chair.

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That is your opening. Narration and voice casting are among the most flexible ways to work with talent: less shoot time, more storytelling, and a voice audiences recognise instantly. Jon Hamm voiced Mercedes-Benz commercials for fifteen years. Martin Clunes, the voice of Kipper the Dog, has fronted Tesco voiceovers and narrated documentaries.

We have seen it work across categories. Peaky Blinders star Paul Anderson voiced DAZN’s campaign for Dereck Chisora vs Deontay Wilder, bringing cinematic intensity to the fight build-up. For World of Tanks, we partnered Arnold Schwarzenegger and Milla Jovovich on a festive story trailer about saving a ruined Christmas Eve.

MN2S works with many actors and celebrities, but the right voice does not need to be a famous actor, only credible. When Foot Locker wanted its “Then. Now. Always.” film narrated by music talent with genuine weight in UK underground music culture, we secured that voice for the campaign.

From booking talent to creating with talent

The artist is no longer a supplier executing someone else’s idea. Their signature is the campaign. Photographers like Magnum member Alec Soth can interpret a brand rather than simply document it. Storytellers like Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks comic strip and its animated series, know how a drawn world becomes a franchise. As we argued in Celebrity as Creative Co-Owner, the strongest partnerships give talent real creative ownership.

This is not an argument against AI, which is useful for ideation and production at scale. Linda Merad’s drawings were animated digitally for Hermès’ social channels. The tools served the hand, not the other way round.

Make it feel human

Bring artists and voices in while the concept is still forming, not after it is locked. Spring and summer 2027 briefs are being written now, and the brands that secure distinctive creative talent early will own a look, and a sound, competitors cannot prompt their way into.

If you are ready to put an artist, narrator or storyteller at the heart of your next campaign, MN2S can connect you with the right talent. Start the conversation.