175 Years of Cooperative
How we brought cooperative founder Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch to life with AI – story first, AI in service of the story.
How do you tell 175 years of history without looking backward? The anniversary wasn't about celebrating the past, but the idea behind it - the cooperative thinking of founder Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch. With one catch: almost no images of him exist. And anyone who "brings a historical figure to life" quickly ends up with a gimmick instead of an attitude.
We started with the story, not the technology. At its centre: a real person at a moment of decision - and the timeless principles of the cooperative: self-help, support, participation. The role for Schulze-Delitzsch only emerged from there.
AI was never the star. We deliberately chose a real performer – because genuine presence carries what no algorithm can replace. AI was used only where it serves the story: to give the founder a face at all.
And deliberately not one that tries to look too real. Instead of a perfectly polished high-end 3D look, Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch stays visibly an interpretation – a painted, slightly abstracted character that remains an idea, not an imitation. A figure that looks too real lands in the uncanny valley and betrays the very authenticity this is about. This signature, between realness and magic, is the visual anchor of the entire campaign.
A film that brings the founder's idea into the present – not as a history lesson, but as a lived attitude. AI in service of the story, not as an end in itself. And a recognisable look that carries as the centrepiece for the wider communication around the cooperative year 2026.
Because good comes full circle.
Dieser Film enthält KI-generierte Inhalte.
