Buffalo Wild Wings’ Hank the Halls Brings Stop-Motion Spirit to Holiday Advertising

Buffalo Wild Wings leaned into nostalgic animation this holiday season with Hank the Halls, a character-driven commercial campaign that places the brand’s animated mascot, Hank the Buffalo, into a festive, retro-inspired holiday story. Developed by creative agency Anomaly with animation production by HouseSpecial, the campaign highlights how stop-motion aesthetics continue to influence contemporary brand storytelling—even in large-scale commercial advertising.

At the center of the campaign is Hank, Buffalo Wild Wings’ long-running animated mascot, reimagined in a holiday setting that draws heavily from mid-century Christmas television specials. The spot embraces exaggerated performance, tactile timing, and stylized movement rather than hyper-realism, evoking the warmth and charm traditionally associated with classic stop-motion holiday programming.

While the final animation style recalls handcrafted stop motion, no public confirmation has been released regarding whether physical puppets were fabricated or whether the animation was produced using CG techniques designed to emulate stop-motion performance. In the absence of behind-the-scenes materials or technical breakdowns, the work is best described as stop-motion–inspired animation, a distinction that reflects both its visual language and the current lack of disclosed production details.

HouseSpecial’s involvement aligns closely with this aesthetic approach. The studio has built a reputation for animation that emphasizes character, performance, and design-forward storytelling across commercials, shorts, and branded content. Their work on Hank the Halls demonstrates how stop-motion sensibilities—such as pose-to-pose animation, strong silhouettes, and expressive timing—remain influential even when applied within modern commercial pipelines.

The campaign also extends beyond the screen. According to Buffalo Wild Wings’ parent company Inspire Brands, Hank the Halls includes a series of limited-edition “Blind Box” collectibles distributed through Buffalo Wild Wings Rewards. These physical figures reinforce the character-centric nature of the campaign and further connect the animated world of Hank to tangible, real-world objects—an approach that mirrors the physicality often associated with stop-motion animation.

From an animation industry perspective, Hank the Halls stands as a strong example of how brands continue to draw from stop-motion’s visual heritage to create emotionally resonant, humor-driven advertising. Even without explicit confirmation of materials or techniques, the campaign’s look and performance place it firmly within a lineage of animation that values craft, timing, and character above spectacle.

At the time of publication, no behind-the-scenes images, production photography, or individual artist credits have been publicly released. Should additional production details emerge from the studios involved, Hank the Halls may yet offer deeper insight into how contemporary commercial animation blends traditional influences with modern production workflows.