Christmas Adverts! And the man in the red suit.
We all know that Christmas is here when we see the Coke juggernaut thunder through the streets. This year I realised how powerful this image was when asked “Did Coke turn Father Christmas red?”
I had to break the Christmas myth and inform the child that the modern image of Father Christmas was not in fact created by the drinks company but instead by an artist called Sundblom, who took inspiration from existing depictions of the bearded man and gave him a Coke to hold.
Father Christmas did indeed exist looking like he does in the Coke adverts before people started associating him with the soft drink maker. It is a myth that Coke changed Father Christmas’ colours from green to red.
What are the 4 main Christmas images we’ll have in the office this year?
Furby
Tesco Clubcard Exchange advert. The funniest Christmas advert we’ve seen in a while and incredibly simple. Woman walks around supermarket (instantly putting us all in her shoes and identifying with her). The sound track seems like an unusual choice until she’s face to face with a Furby and the lyrics kick in. A perfect symbiotic relationship between song and storyline if ever there was one. This is what the whole Christmas campaign has been based around – Tesco have incorporated popular songs, “Prince Charming”, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, “Take On Me” and added them to pretty regular Christmas scenario’s with a fabulous comic effect.
Dangerous Snowmen
John Lewis, have without doubt, cornered the Christmas advert for the last two years running. In 2011 a cracking storyline teamed with the Slow Moving Millie track “Please, please, please” gained the advert nearly 5 million views and this year’s snow man advert follows the same track. With the slow cover by Gabrielle Aplin, The Power of Love, we follow the story of a snowman going on a journey to find the correct weapons to help melt his wife. It works because it introduces humour, love and a bit of jeopardy. It’s also beautifully shot which appeals to our senses.
Pants
We may be charged with being sexist on this choice, but it’s not the supermodels in underwear that we think is so clever about this advert. Let’s face it, we’re almost desensitised to that. Marks and Spencers have been doing it for years. What we like about this advert is that it’s a lucky punt. When we pitch ideas for clients we like to have control over the storyboard, we like to know what shot will go where etc etc. This advert looks as if the pitch was simply to have the ‘Angels’ (I learn so much doing these blogs) singing ‘Deck the Halls’. What we’ve ended up with is a very intimate and funny ‘behind the scenes’ collection of out takes. If this was the intended result then our hats go off to the company that did it. It works and it also widens the adverts demographic, obviously the men watch it because of what it suggests but then share it because it’s harmless and amusing.
Finally, this year we we did our first Christmas advert. Why ? Because Christmas is a fabulous time to do adverts. Not only are you working within a tight time-frame, but it’s an ideal method of reminding clients you are still alive and kicking, whilst spreading the Christmas cheer. There’s nothing quite like getting something bespoke at Christmas time. We will of course be using this advert as a case study… 
Happy Christmas from team Curveball.