MUMBAI: US broadcaster CBS has announced that it will use one of the iconic characters of the Christmas holiday season, Rudolph the reindeer in a new Animagic on-air promotional campaign.

The campaign has a behind the scenes theme and features Rudolph's North Pole friends and an array of 3-D caricatures of stars of CBS' shows.

It airs tonight 30 November 2005 on CBS

Rudolph and Sam the Snowman are joined in their Animagic world by similarly hand-crafted likenesses of CBS stars including Jon Cryer, Marg Helgenberger CSI, Kevin James, talk show host David Letterman, William Petersen CSI and Charlie Sheen. They participated in holiday promotional spots. In the promos, the actors portray their characters from their shows.

The 8 to10 inch tall sculpted wax models of the CBS personalities in the promotional spots were based on a series of sketches of each star. Costumers then fashioned appropriately styled fabric garments for each of the tiny figures. The retro stop-motion filming process to create the 30-second promo took 12 weeks to complete.

 
 
The promos start with Rudolph excitedly relaying to Sam the Snowman that "This is going to be the best holiday ever." However, after someone suddenly yells, "Cut! That's a wrap," the camera pans back to reveal the twist: Rudolph and Sam the Snowman have been shooting the familiar North Pole scene in a CBS studio in sunny California.

 
This is the second time that CBS is using Rudolph in its promos. Last year's Rudolph Holiday Campaign won a Promax Gold for Best Holiday Image Campaign.Meanwhile, the holiday special, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is in its 41st year.