“Helping you #BecomeMoreChristmas” - a feat of casting, costumes and a unified vision - is the winner of the latest Thinkboxes award for TV advertising creativity.
The Tesco ad, which explores the different moments when people get into the Christmas spirit during the festive countdown, focuses on the story of a teenager reluctant to feel Christmassy as his parents enjoy various moments in the yuletide period.
The commercial opens with a father and son visiting a Tesco store. When the dad samples from a panettone tasting-display, he turns into a Christmas tree – much to his son's annoyance. Back home, when the teen’s mother arrives with mince pies, she turns into a snow woman.
The teenager continues to ignore Christmas until, after another trip to Tesco, the father pulls out a star decoration the kid made when he was little and hands it to his son - who then turns into a Christmas tree himself. "Helping you become more Christmas,” the endline explains.
The campaign’s aim – making people’s Christmas at Tesco more rewarding – and its helpfulness theme was informed by Tesco research that discovered 31% of adults in the UK find the festive run-up more exciting than Christmas Day itself.
"It was about trying to encourage the frequency of the shop – to come to us time and time again over that Christmas period and you will feel Christmassy and we will put tangible rewards in there for you," says Tesco group customer director Emma Botton.
The brief was very simple, according to Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, deputy executive creative director at BBH London.
“It was about Christmas being a journey rather than a single day. From there, we landed on the insight that along that journey people get into the spirit at different times and at their own pace,” he says.
And using TV was all about capturing the nation's heart, thanks to its unrivalled ability to deliver both reach and emotional impact.
Work began exploring different ways to bring to life the truism that different people get into the Christmas spirit at different times. The father and son story struck a particular chord as it had heart, but also levity, and was full of insight.
With the creative idea in place, attention turned to finding the right creative partnership to bring it to life.
“We knew what kind of film we wanted to make, it needed to have a level of realism for people to connect. It needed to have a degree of magic for it to feel special. It needed to have scale and make people laugh,” Serradourada Guimaraes adds.
And Alaska, the directing duo Marco Lafer and Gustavo Moraes, had it all.
“They are incredible with cinematography and camera techniques. Their casting is wonderfully real and their ability to get performances was impressive. They had the right balance of real and magical in their work and their vision,” he says.
“When we saw their treatment, we all just knew, and they more than delivered.”
Casting was “a unique experience”, Serradourada Guimaraes continues: “I didn’t ever think I would be in a casting session and says ‘yes, he is definitely a tree’.” But the most important aspect was getting the dad and son relationship right.
“We needed dad to be lovable but also a bit annoying to justify the son's reactions. Too sweet and the viewer wouldn’t connect with the son. Too mean and the viewer wouldn’t connect with dad,” he says.
The shoot took seven days, including two nights shooting in a Tesco store. And the main challenge was the costumes, reveals BBH London producer Nicole Southey.
“We all made the decision to shoot most, if not all, in camera. We wanted very little CGI as we all felt that would have made the film feel a bit plastic and less relatable. Which meant all the actors had costumes and prosthetics,” she explains.
“This obviously took a lot of time to make. But also, on the day, there was a lot of prep for the actors and some of the costumes were understandably not the most comfortable to wear for prolonged periods so there were lots of extra hands to help and necessary breaks.”
The ad launched on Sunday November 19 – first in the first break of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! on ITV1.
“Alongside this, we ran the film in cinema by partnering with Cineworld to offer free tickets for Tesco colleagues and Tesco Clubcard customers,” says BBH London managing partner James Rice.
The film was part of a multi-channel campaign that included OOH, print, radio, digital display, social, in-store sampling and PR, he adds. And overall, the campaign has been very well-received.
In terms of building brand love and affinity and a demonstration of helpfulness, Botton says: “I think (what we ended up with) is spot on."
“What helped get this project out in the way it did was that, collectively, we all had a very clear and unified vision,” adds Serradourada Guimaraes.
“The easy bit is coming up with the idea, the hard part is holding onto it. The one thing I would say is hold onto the ideas as hard as you can, that’s what makes them great at the end of the day. Selling an idea in is just the start.”
Second in the November/December Thinkboxes was "More of the winning feeling” by Leo Burnett for Morrisons. “Snapper: the perfect tree” by Saatchi & Saatchi for John Lewis was third.
Also shortlisted were “Thank you, Santa” by The Pharm for Boots and “Make this Christmas Incredibublé” by Havas London for Asda.
WINNING AD
Agency: BBH London
Creative team: Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, deputy executive creative director; Elliott White and Will Maxey, lead creative team
Client: Emma Botton, group customer director
Production company: Iconoclast
Directors: Alaska (Marco Lafer and Gustavo Moraes)
The Thinkboxes, in association with Campaign, are the only bi-monthly awards that celebrate the UK’s world-beating TV ad creativity, in all its forms. They are judged by the Thinkbox Academy – advertising and marketing luminaries who have been involved in award-winning creative work for TV.
Want to see more great work? Head to the Thinkboxes hub
Thinkbox is the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, in all its forms. Its shareholders are Channel 4, ITV, Sky Media and UKTV. Thinkbox works with the marketing community with a single ambition: to help advertisers get the best out of today’s TV.
