They’re back, they’re big and they’re bold. What’s more, the creative brains behind this year’s Christmas TV ad campaigns have a tougher brief than every before: lighten the mood of a spend-resistant nation in 60 seconds.
Sales may be down, but retailers have not held back. Are the big-budget campaigns as relevant in the context of the subdued consumer mindset? Yes, without doubt, says Saatchi & Saatchi director of strategy Richard Huntington (pictured left). “People will be cutting out the real extravagances but we’re still going to enjoy it. People are still living their lives and have aspirations and hopes. All the normal rules apply,” he says.
Christmas can be a tricky time to marry the commercial demands of the retail client with the creative vision of the advertising agency. “Originality is not particularly valued at Christmas,” says Huntington. “It’s fundamentally about tradition and agencies are fundamentally about originality. Clients don’t want that and I don’t think consumers want that, so agencies are driven into a commodity situation where everyone is essentially making the same commercial.” And that is usually dictated by jingle bells, happy families being united, a heavy covering of snow and a light smattering of celebrity.
So how did they fare? On the whole, well. But Huntington believes there have been misjudgements: John Lewis’ sombre, understated effort is distinctly lacking in festive cheer; Asda’s emphasis on value is practical but forgettable; and he deems the surreal outer-space offering from Littlewoods Direct to be utterly baffling.
However, he also thinks Marks & Spencer’s celebrity-filled slot offers festive cheer by the spadeful, Waitrose’s depiction of middle-class homeward journeys is perfection, and Boots’ gaggle of office girls is a triumph.
Now all that remains is the nail-biting question: will this year’s offerings succeed in persuading people off their sofas and into stores?
ARGOS
LAST-MINUTE SHOPPING
Premise: Argos pokes fun at last-minute panic buyers, as hapless shoppers storm a deserted petrol station in search of presents and end up with engine oil, anti-freeze and the like. The idea is that those unwanted gifts will be a thing of the past and shoppers can save time and money if they go to Argos.
Music: Run, Rudolph, run, Chuck Berry.
Cast: No celebrities.
Richard says: “Initially, I started off thinking this is a cynical advert, with the agency getting too clever by half and the end result being just a nasty piece of work. It’s washed out, grey and made to look miserable. But you end up getting what Argos is talking about. Last-minute Christmas shopping is difficult, inconvenient and shoddy, and this emphasises the practicality of the brand. Argos isn’t going to have anyone loving it as a result of this, but it might get a few more shoppers.”
BOOTS
SECRET SANTA
Premise: Carrying on Boots’ “Here come the girls” theme, this year’s campaign has the office girls rushing off to Boots to buy Secret Santa gifts for colleagues, while the men are woefully lacking in inspiration. It drives home the value message, as the campaign promotes its three-for-two and under-£5 gifts.
Music: Here come the girls, the Sugababes.
Cast: No celebrities.
Richard says: “This is brilliant. It’s a Christmas ad with an insight, which is incredibly rare. It’s humour that comes out of insight rather than gags. Men don’t understand this Secret Santa stuff and there’s a hidden message here that men don’t really understand Christmas, either. The minute the opening bar starts playing everyone knows it’s a Boots advert, so no money is wasted. There are lots of well-presented products and it starts to get you in the Christmas mood. I feel uplifted after watching it.”
MORRISONS
FRESH-FOOD CHRISTMAS
Premise: Richard Hammond and his huskies make their way across the icy plains with a shopping basket as he outlines exactly what he wants this Christmas, from Santa to salmon. When he realises he need look no further than Morrisons, he turns around and heads back home.
Music: Let it shine, Take That.
Cast: Richard Hammond with Denise van Outen, Diarmuid Gavin and Nick Hancock.
Richard says: “It’s an incredibly complicated narrative to get away with in 60 seconds and I’m left a bit bemused. You can imagine the creatives saying to the client: ‘We’ve got something very special for you today. Our message is: Everyone thinks the real Christmas happens in Lapland. Well it doesn’t, it happens in Morrisons.’ And the clients go: ‘Oh you’re so right.’ It’s client pleasing. They’re trying to say Morrisons has more freshly prepared food than any other supermarket, but that’s not dramatised enough.”
JOHN LEWIS
FROM ME, TO YOU
Premise: It’s about matching the person to the perfect gift – an elderly couple and sat-nav, a long-haired dog and a hairdryer, and so on. The backdrop to the advert is a re-recording of the Beatles’ From me, to you, which, for the record, includes vocals from Matt Spinner, who works in IT at John Lewis’ head office.
Cast: No celebrities.
Music: From me, to you, The Beatles.
Richard says: “This is incredibly understated and achingly beautiful, but it’s just not Christmassy enough. Even the most ardent John Lewis shopper would say ‘Where’s the holly?’. Also, I would have put prices in there. I want to know how much that Nespresso machine costs. The role of advertising at Christmas – particularly at the moment – is to say: ‘Life’s still brilliant’. How this advert sits with that is questionable. It’s all a bit miserable.”
LITTLEWOODS DIRECT
COSMIC
Premise: The retailer heads into space – filming took place in Iceland – with its biggest mass media advertising spend to date. In the 50-second TV advert, a Littlewoods Direct rocket hurtles through the atmosphere to deliver clothes and gifts to the inhabitants of a distant planet. Its residents include the “space queen” in a floating purple dress.
Music: Dream a little dream, The Mamas and the Papas.
Cast: No celebrities.
Richard says: “It’s bemusing and bonkers. What is going on? It’s as if it started off as a fashion advert and turned into something else. You can almost hear the other Littlewoods buyers watching the first edit and saying: ‘Whoa, hold on a minute, we don’t just do fashion. We do Playstations, we do all sorts’. So you suddenly have this weird pod with different products and it bursts that wonderful, enigmatic, beautiful fashion world – and the whole thing starts to fall apart.”
MARKS & SPENCER
WINTER WONDERLAND
Premise: Take That and the familiar female faces at M&S are celebrating a festive few days in a snow-surrounded country pile. Shot in home-video camcorder style, it’s about as Christmassy as you can get – log fires, mince pies, charades, dancing and gift-giving.
Music: A winter wonderland, sung by Macy Gray.
Cast: Take That, Erin O’Connor, Twiggy, Myleene Klass, Lily Cole and Noémie Lenoir.
Richard says: “It seems to be advertising out of the pic ‘n’ mix advertising box. It’s got snowball fights, crackling log fires, you name it. That doesn’t make it wrong, it’s just not particularly interesting. Most importantly though, this will make people go into a store. As a shopper, you think: ‘Lovely M&S’. If you’re going to make a cheesy Christmas commercial, this is pretty much perfect. It gets people in the mood – but it doesn’t do much more.”
SAINSBURY’S
JAMIE’S COOKING LESSONS
Premise: Jamie Oliver bumps into prime-time TV duo Ant and Dec in Sainsbury’s, who are having a Christmas party. The state of their shopping trolley – filled with pickled onions and pineapple chunks – prompts Oliver to go back to their house to give them some festive cooking tips and simple recipe ideas.
Music: None.
Cast: Jamie Oliver, Ant and Dec.
Richard says: “Here’s a brand with a clear point of view and a clear role it wishes to play in our lives. Sainsbury’s has been doing that consistently and with imagination for three years. The idea is that this is the Christmas stuff you’ll love and Jamie Oliver and Sainsbury’s are going to help you and make it special. “It’s bang on the brand strategy. It’s Jamie Oliver doing what he does really well, and Ant and Dec are great – they’re natural and humorous. Not high up there on the Christmas-ometer, but it’s an enjoyable piece of advertising.”
WAITROSE
HOMEWARD JOURNEYS
Premise: Waitrose shows people all over the world making their journeys back to family and friends, mixed with images of its party and Christmas fare, including brie and cranberry parcels and gammon with winter fruit chutney.
Music: How can I keep from singing?, South London boys’ choir Libera.
Cast: No celebrities.
Richard says: “This does stylish and festive. If you shop at Waitrose, it automatically makes you think: ‘That’s my brand.’ Waitrose is saying: ‘We do food, and it’s going to be amazing.’ However, if I were Iceland I’d want royalties: it’s a remake of its 1997 ‘Coming home for Christmas’ ad, but with posh people. It’s all desperately middle class – the kids aren’t just coming home, they’re coming home from deepest Africa where they’re helping a small charity on their gap year – but it’s lovely. “Waitrose is staring at the current climate and saying: ‘There’s only three things we can do: quality, quality, quality.’”
ASDA
WHY PAY MORE?
Premise: The supermarket has changed tactic this year and ditched the celebrities in favour of a festive portrayal of families preparing for Christmas day in the village of Austwick in Yorkshire. Its strapline is “Why pay more for Christmas?”
Music: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Perry Como.
Cast: No celebrities.
Richard says: “It’s a very practical, fairly bog-standard commercial, but maybe you can’t be too imaginative about the context if you’re then going to say: ‘You can have a cheap Christmas.’. Asda is saying: ‘We’re just as good as the posh stores, but we have an incredible reputation for keeping prices low, so you don’t have to shop at Aldi.’ The worry is, though, will people remember it? It’s nice and practical, and shows the role that Asda is playing in people’s lives. Half the game is that you might as well not bother if no one remembers what you said. You have to cut through still.”