Animated Commercials: 2D Animation Examples and How They're Made

An animated commercial is a short ad where animation replaces live-action footage: drawn characters, motion graphics, 3D scenes or AI-generated visuals tell the story. People also search for it as a cartoon commercial. The format is not one price or one look. A 60-second animated video can be quoted anywhere from $500 to $50,000, depending on the style, the level of detail and the number of scenes.

Below are the main styles, examples from our own projects and from other brands, what made one of them work, and what you should prepare before you ask a studio for a quote. If you need a team to make one, see our 2D animation services.

Types of Animated Commercials: Vector, Cel and 3D/AI

The style you pick sets the price more than any other choice. Most animated commercials fall into three groups.

• Vector (shape) animation. Assets are built from geometric lines and shapes, and movement is controlled by keyframes. The look is clean and sharp, and it is the most efficient style to produce.
• Cel (frame-by-frame) animation. Every frame is drawn by an artist, which gives unique, organic movement. It takes much longer than vector work, so it always sits at a higher price point.
• 3D and AI-generated animation. 3D-style characters and environments, built with generative AI models instead of a classic modeling and rigging pipeline. Our Pixar-style film for SNEI (below) is an example.

If you want characters that act and speak, read our page on character animation services.

2D Animation Examples: What a Real Animated Ad Looks Like

Example 1: A 2D animated product launch video for YouTube creators

We made this video for our own influencer marketing division, which had built an automated online service for YouTube creators: a digital media kit with channel statistics and ad-integration prices. The video replaced the classic PDF deck in direct messages with bloggers and lived on the homepage.

The easy route was a talking head with motion graphics and a screencast. We chose 2D shape-based animation instead, with two designed characters, a Blogger and an Ad Agency Representative, and a redrawn, stylized interface that matched the video's world. Every character was drawn from scratch, with no stock assets.

The results, reported in our case study:

• Over 90% view-through rate on the landing page.
• Over 65% of the creators we contacted went on to register for the service.
• $12,020 total investment and about 7 weeks (34 business days) of production.

The case also shows where that money went: art direction, concept art and character design, UI stylization, motion design, voice talent, and compositing. Read the full breakdown in the 2D animated explainer case study.

Example 2: 2D medical animation for Accu-Chek

For Accu-Chek we made training videos for an insulin pump that combine a studio shoot with 2D medical animation. See the full Accu-Chek training video case study.

What Makes an Animated Ad Work: Lessons from a Pixar-Style Film

SNEI is an environmental consulting firm that protects sensitive species in the Mojave Desert during construction projects. Its work is vital but technical and behind the scenes. We told the story from the animals' side: a tortoise, a kit fox and a burrowing owl explain how “highly trained biologists” keep them safe. The result was a 1.5-minute animated film, delivered in 4 weeks.

Four decisions made it work. Each is useful for any animated commercial.

1. Show the client options before production. We offered three visual directions: realistic, bright 3D render and Pixar-style. The client picked a bright, friendly 3D look that suits a broad audience and still carries a serious message.
2. Check the details before you animate. We generated static frames for every scene first. The first desert tortoise looked huge next to the other animals, although adult Mojave tortoises are only about a foot long. The AI also drew a generic red fox, so the prompt was reworked to produce a kit fox: lighter, with a black tip on the tail.
3. Plan shots like a film. AI models make good images but do not understand editing. We planned the “figure eight” pattern used in dialogue scenes: a wide establishing shot, then over-the-shoulder close-ups, so the cuts flow.
4. Finish by hand. Voices came from the Artlist library, one for each character. The AI read “Las Vegas, NV” as two disconnected places and sounded robotic, so we re-generated lines with different pacing and stitched them together. A final cleanup pass removed small artifacts left by the video model.

For the pipeline we used NanoBanana for the static frames and Google Veo 3 for motion. According to the case study, this skipped the expensive modeling and rigging stage of classic 3D animation. See the full Pixar-style AI animation case study and our character animation services.

The whole project, from concept to the final film, cost about $3,800.

Animated Commercial Examples from Other Brands

Animated commercials do not share one look. The five films below show five different ways to let the style carry the message. The facts come from the credits published by the agencies and studios.

Wimbledon: the drawing style evolves with the sport (2018)

The #TakeOnHistory film was made by McCann London and Nexus Studios, directed by Smith & Foulkes. It tells the history of tennis from 1877 to today as one continuous rally and merges eight illustration styles, from Victorian lithographs to 1990s graphic novels. The style changes with each era, so the development of the sport is shown through the development of the animation itself. The film opens with thin black-and-white pencil lines, the costumes change as time moves on, and the last scenes look like current illustration trends.

What to take from it: if your story has a time dimension (company history, product evolution, before and after), let the visual style change with it. The form then says part of what you want to say.

Airbnb: when the technique changes inside the film (BUCK)

BUCK made a series of seven 30-second “Get an Airbnb” spots in a miniature world, each based on a real Airbnb listing and each showing something a hotel usually cannot offer, such as staying up past bedtime with the kids or quiet time at a private pool. The credits list both 2D and 3D animation teams. In the “Surrounded” spot the film looks like flat 2D at first, then jumps into an isometric 3D view and stays there.

What to take from it: a hybrid lets you use a flat, graphic look where the story needs it and switch to 3D when the viewer needs to see space and depth.

Mailchimp: a B2B brand explains its values with an illustrated world (2021)

“Big Change Starts Small” was made by the agency Kin and the studio BUCK, with Chad Colby as animation director and music and sound by Antfood. The film explains Mailchimp's approach to philanthropy: investing in grassroots efforts and putting the people who know their communities best in charge. Community leaders appear as characters in a surreal world. The frames were drawn by hand with a loose, sketchbook look. To our eye the visuals recall mid-century posters and cartoons: flat color backgrounds in yellow, peach and mint, simple geometric characters with exaggerated proportions, and black-and-white or two-color graphics for contrast.

What to take from it: a topic that is hard to film, like company values, can be shown with an illustrated world instead of stock footage.

Twitter: scale shows the feeling (Safety Mode, 2022)

Studio Fern made this film for Twitter (animation director James Mabery, illustration director Alexandra Badiu). It dramatizes the “dog-pile effect”: a character comments on an imaginary sports event and gets buried in replies. The animation works for the message. As the negative comments pile up, the heroine becomes small and the characters around her grow huge and press on her. When Safety Mode turns on, everything returns to normal proportions. The style is flat vector illustration with a grain texture and bright, unnatural skin colors.

What to take from it: use proportion and scale to show a feeling that a camera cannot film, and show the product benefit as a visual change, not as a voice-over.

John Lewis: a handcrafted 2D look for an emotional story (2013)

“The Bear & The Hare” was created by adam&eveDDB (creative directors Aidan McClure and Laurent Simon) and directed by Elliot Dear and Yves Geleyn. Animation was by Premise Entertainment, with Aaron Blaise on character design. It tells the story of two best friends: the Bear sleeps through Christmas every year, and the Hare decides to show him Christmas for the first time. The music is Lily Allen's cover of “Somewhere Only We Know”.

The technique is a hybrid: hand-drawn 2D characters inside a world of physical model sets. In the making-of the team says the agency's references were traditional 2D films, so the directors explored mixed media, 2D with stop-motion, to find a look that felt nostalgic and fresh at the same time. They built details by hand, for example the pine trees on bases made from children's snooker cues. LBB reports it was the first use of this technique in a UK advert. According to Wikipedia, the song reached number one in the UK chart. You can also watch the making-of.

What to take from it: the choice of technique can be an emotional choice. A handcrafted look gave the film the warmth of the animated movies viewers remember from childhood.

What these five examples have in common

• The style is part of the idea, not decoration: it changes with the story (Wimbledon), changes dimension (Airbnb), carries a mood (Mailchimp), or shows scale (Twitter).
• A brand with a hard-to-film topic (values, online abuse, history) gets the most from animation.
• Hybrids are common: drawn characters with 3D or physical sets, or 2D with 3D depth.
• A strong idea comes first and the technique follows it. This is the same order we used for our own films above.

How Much Does an Animated Commercial Cost?

The price depends on style, the number of scenes and the level of detail. Two real data points from our own projects: the 1.5-minute Pixar-style film for SNEI cost about $3,800, and the 2D shape-based launch video for YouTube creators cost $12,020 over about 7 weeks. For ranges by style, see our guides to explainer video cost and 2D animation cost per minute.

Three things move the price. Style (vector or cel, see above). Asset density: every extra window, shadow or textured background needs a specialist to draw and animate it. Dynamics: a 30-second video with 6 scenes can reuse backgrounds, while one with 15+ scenes needs many more environments, transitions and unique assets. Once a script is written, the price can still shift by 30–50% depending on how complex the story is. We break this down in how much 2D animation costs per minute.

How an Animated Commercial Is Made

Our 2D process has five steps: discovery and strategy, concept and script, design and storyboard, animation and voiceover, review and delivery. You can see the details on our 2D animation page. If your project needs AI-generated visuals instead of drawn ones, see how that pipeline works in the SNEI example above.

What to Prepare Before You Ask for a Quote

A studio needs two things to give you a final number: a finalized script (the “what”) and a visual reference (the “how it looks”). If you are early and only need a ballpark, find 2–4 videos in the style you want and send them with your idea. This is enough for a rough estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an animated commercial?
An animated commercial is a short ad made with animation instead of live-action footage. It can use 2D drawings, motion graphics, 3D scenes or AI-generated visuals, and is also called a cartoon commercial.

How much does an animated ad cost?
It depends on the style, the number of scenes and how detailed each scene is. Two of our projects: a 1.5-minute AI film for SNEI cost about $3,800, and a 2D shape-based launch video for YouTube creators cost $12,020. See our guide to 2D animation cost per minute for ranges.

What is the difference between cel and vector animation?
Cel animation is hand-drawn frame by frame and takes longer, so it costs more. Vector animation builds shapes and moves them with keyframes, which is cleaner and more efficient to produce.

Can AI make a Pixar-style animated commercial?
Yes. For SNEI we produced a 1.5-minute Pixar-style film in 4 weeks for about $3,800 with generative AI tools. It still needed people to check biological accuracy, plan the shots, direct the voices and clean up the final footage.

Want an animated commercial for your brand? Send us your script and references, and we will prepare a clear estimate. Request a Quote or see our 2D animation services.