Personalized
AI Animation for Australia Post
We made kids the stars of a branded story for Australia’s postal service
Client
Format
Personalized AI animation
Runtime
40 seconds
Operation Birthday Delivery
The brief
Australia Post was planning an event for children and their parents and wanted each child to star in a personalized animated short. The story needed to show how postal employees work together to help a customer
Our task was to develop a branded story and a way to personalize it using each child’s photo. The experience needed to accommodate a steady flow of participants, keeping every child recognizable and the visual style consistent across all versions
The solution
We paired a photo booth with personalized AI animation. Each child received a branded photo print with a QR code that would later give them access to an animated short starring them
In “Operation Birthday Delivery,” postal employees race to deliver a child’s birthday gift on time, with the koala mascot handing over the package. The child’s animated character matches the appearance, hairstyle, and clothing in their photo
Every version used the same base film. We replaced the scenes featuring the child while keeping the delivery storyline intact
01
Photo booth
02
Branded photo print with a QR code
03
Personalized AI animation
“Operation Birthday Delivery”
0:40
01
Story development
Operation Birthday Delivery
We turned a birthday gift delivery into a 40-second rescue mission. A post office employee notices a child waiting for a package and sets a coordinated response in motion: the sorting facility locates the gift, a delivery vehicle brings it to the post office, and the mascot hands it to the child. The story puts the postal team at the center, showing how people in different roles work together to help one customer
The Tick-Tock clock
For a young audience, we chose a problem they could easily understand: a birthday gift might arrive too late. A storybook clock named Tick-Tock makes the wait visible, its hands speeding up as the story unfolds. It builds suspense without a frightening villain and helps children follow the race to deliver the gift on time
We built personalization into the script. The child’s face appears in the opening and closing scenes, while the middle section uses silhouettes and shots from behind. This keeps the child in the story throughout, with only a few scenes to replace for each participant
Runtime: 40 seconds
0:00
0:04
0:31
0:40
The child’s face appears in the opening and closing scenes
The middle section uses silhouettes and shots from behind
0:00
A child stands next to an Australia Post office
0:07
An employee pulls the “SPECIAL DELIVERY!” alarm lever
0:11
The camera flies along the sorting line
0:15
A scanner finds a small birthday package
0:19
An employee closes the doors of the loaded van
0:25
Hands the bag to Pip
0:31
Pip appears and holds out the birthday package
0:37
The child smiles and hugs the package
02
Visual style
We chose a children’s storybook illustration style, with soft pastel colors, warm lighting, and rounded shapes. Expressive faces made the characters’ emotions easy for children to read and helped them connect with the story
We finalized the character and location designs, then created still frames for style approval. These showed how the characters and settings would look in the finished animation
Main character
Tick-Tock clock
Koala mascot
Post office employee
Sorting facility
Ending
We incorporated brand elements into employee uniforms, post office signage, vehicles, and packaging, making Australia Post part of the world where the story unfolds
Post office signage
Employee uniforms
Vehicles
Packaging
We also designed a branded layout for the photo booth prints. Each child took home a printed photo with a QR code to watch their personalized animated short once it was ready
03
Personalization
01
Child’s photo
02
Character sheet
We started by creating a character sheet from each child’s photo. A single image combined full-body front and back views with a three-quarter portrait. This established a consistent reference for the child’s appearance, hairstyle, and clothing across scenes
Version 1
Version 2
Version 3
Seedance 2.5 Edit
03
Character replacement
We then uploaded the base video and character sheet to Seedance 2.5 Edit. We prompted the model to replace the character while preserving the original movement, setting, lighting, and camerawork. The scenes featuring postal employees and the delivery stayed the same across all versions
04
Editing
After generation, we adjusted the personalized clips in a video editor. The AI-generated scenes varied slightly in length, so we adjusted their playback speed to match the original timing. We joined the personalized opening and ending to the shared middle section, then exported the finished short
04
On-site production
Photo sessions and video production ran in parallel. While guests had their pictures taken in the booth, our team worked with photos that had already come in
Each child received a branded photo print right away. We attached a QR code linking to a folder set up for their video. Once the finished short was uploaded to that folder, parents could access it by scanning the code on the print
2–5
minutes
AI generation itself
15–20
minutes
Full turnaround, including character creation, editing, and uploading the finished video
Branded photo print
QR code
Folder set up for the video
Video via the code on the print
Results
Over 3 hours, 150 children took part in the experience. Each received a branded photo print with a QR code, followed by a personalized animated short starring them
1
week to complete the project
150
personalized animated shorts produced during the 3-hour event