35 Years of BUDMA in a One-Minute AI Commercial
For BUDMA — the only event of its kind for the construction industry in this part of Europe — we created a one-minute AI commercial for its 35th anniversary. A father and son travel through successive decades, from the event’s beginnings to BUDMA 2027.
The starting point was a precise brief from the BUDMA team: to show an event that has set the direction of the construction industry for 35 years while turning the audience’s attention towards its future. BUDMA takes place in Poznań — a city associated with trade for centuries. At the Poznań International Fair, the experience of successive generations meets modern technology. It is here that ideas, partnerships and businesses were born that now contribute to the strength of the Polish economy.
The idea of experience passed from one generation to the next became the narrative axis of the commercial. Instead of a conventional anniversary montage, we created a story-driven journey of a father and son — two characters connected with the construction industry. As they move through successive editions of BUDMA, they witness changing technologies and new ways of thinking about building. Their journey ends in 2027, when solutions and inspirations discovered at the fair begin to materialise in the construction projects of the future.
We portrayed the characters at three different points in time, placing them in both historical spaces and contemporary locations. We combined BUDMA’s archival photographs, contemporary footage recorded by our team and imagery created with AI.
The project demonstrates how AI film production can combine archival material, camera footage and generative imagery in one coherent story. AI did not replace the concept, screenplay or editing; instead, it allowed us to take the same characters through 35 years of change and achieve a scale that would be difficult to reach in a conventional commercial with a comparable budget.
The result is a dynamic, 63-second commercial that does more than summarise the event’s 35-year history. It shows the continuity of experience, collaboration and ideas leading the construction industry towards the future.