Why a French Supermarket's 600M-View Wolf Ad Just Crushed Disney at Their Own Game
What happens when a random French supermarket decides to out-Disney Disney?
Intermarché just dropped the mic on the entire animation industry. Their Christmas ad featuring a vegetarian wolf has exploded to 600 million views across platforms, with a single Twitter post hitting 26-27 million views in two days. Not bad for a grocery chain that most people outside France couldn't pronounce last week.
<> "Our 'unloved' wolf is now loved by the entire world," celebrated Intermarché chairman Thierry Cotillard on LinkedIn./>
Here's what blows my mind: 100 human artists spent an entire year crafting this painterly 3D masterpiece. Compare that to Coca-Cola's recent AI disaster, where a 5-person team generated 70,000 clips of what can only be described as soulless Christmas slop. McDonald's AI attempt was so creepy they yanked it from YouTube entirely.
The technical execution is chef's kiss perfect. Montpellier-based Illogic Studios (remember their Oscar-nominated "Garden Party"?) used traditional pipelines - concept art, storyboarding, modeling, rigging, animation, then that gorgeous painterly post-processing that makes every frame look like a children's book illustration.
When Grocery Stores Become Animation Powerhouses
The story itself is deceptively simple. A wolf transforms from forest menace to beloved chef, foraging mushrooms and berries for an inclusive holiday feast. Set to Claude François's "Le Mal-Aimé" (The Unloved One), it's emotional storytelling that hits different.
Fans are literally begging for a full series. Comments like "Intermarché just did better than Disney" are flooding in. When was the last time you saw that kind of authentic engagement with a corporate ad?
The technical implications for us developers are massive:
- Traditional 3D pipelines still demolish AI for emotional depth
- 50-100 specialists beat small AI teams for premium content
- Procedural effects in Blender/Houdini enhance rather than replace human creativity
- Audiences are actively rejecting "hyperreal" AI outputs
This isn't just about animation quality. It's about authenticity in an age of artificial everything. While brands rush toward AI cost-cutting, Intermarché invested in human craftsmanship and reaped viral gold.
Hot Take: AI Christmas Ads Are the New Jumping the Shark
Coca-Cola and McDonald's just learned the expensive lesson that cheap AI content feels cheap. Period.
Yes, some Hacker News cynics are crying "virtue signaling" about the vegetarian wolf theme. Others dismiss the global reach as "paid views." But here's the thing - when your grocery store ad generates more genuine excitement than Disney's latest $200M production, you've tapped into something real.
The business implications are staggering. Intermarché operates mainly in France and Belgium, focusing on fresh produce. This ad just elevated their brand globally during peak holiday spending season. Their "good food makes good friends" message through vegetarian discovery perfectly aligns with their fresh produce focus.
For developers building animation/advertising tools, the lesson is crystal clear:
- Hybrid workflows that enhance human creativity
- Bespoke quality over rapid AI generation
- Emotional storytelling that AI simply cannot replicate
- Authentic craftsmanship as a competitive differentiator
While competitors flood markets with AI slop, Intermarché proved that investing in human teams delivers exponentially higher ROI in views, engagement, and brand love.
The wolf is out of the bag. Traditional animation just ate AI's lunch, and I'm here for it.
