Morrison's Aims For A Christmas Made Just Right

Leo is launching a full integrated Christmas campaign built to get the nation talking about Morrisons, launched by an epic 90-second film that reimagines Goldilocks and the Three Bears for a modern family Christmas. The film will make its national TV debut on Monday 9th November at 9.15pm across major networks including ITV, Channel 4, Five and Sky TV. For the early birds, highlight clips will also be dropping across Instagram and TikTok from 6:00am. 

The new 90-second film brings Goldilocks and the Three Bears together for Christmas, playing on the familiar idea that everyone likes things a little differently. At its heart are Morrisons skilled bakers, butchers, fishmongers and deli colleagues, who make and prepare food in store and help customers find the right cuts, portions and food for their own Christmas tables. 

The spot tells the familiar story of a Mum and Dad preparing for their grown-up child to bring a partner home for Christmas for the first time. It just so happens that these parents are Mummy & Daddy Bear. 

Daddy Bear heads to Morrisons Market Street, where its skilled fresh food makers help him prepare the family’s festive spread including an enormous salmon, with expert cooking instructions provided by a Morrisons Fishmonger to ensure it’s ‘just right’ for the big day. At home Mummy Bear sets about making the house just right, with a few bear-shaped mishaps along the way. When Baby Bear finally arrives, his new girlfriend is revealed as Goldilocks. 

As ‘Goldie’ steps inside, she finds a Christmas that is warm and welcoming rather than fairy-tale flawless. The tree is wonky, the decorations and place settings do not match and her chair is showing signs of disrepair. Her face lights up at the beautiful, homely Christmas and mouthwatering spread with a perfectly sized place setting for each of them. As she sits down to dinner, it is clear that everything has been chosen and prepared with love and care, especially for her.

The film ends with the campaign line: “Christmas Made Just Right”.

Beverley Lumb, Marketing and Advertising Director at Morrisons, said: “Everyone has their own idea of what makes Christmas ‘just right’ alongside their own family traditions that make the day feel truly magical. As Christmas comes in all shapes and sizes, we pride ourselves on delivering good, honest value, ensuring every piece of festive fare is crafted with the thought, care and quality for everyone gathered around your table.” 

“From award-winning smoked salmon and perfectly sliced glazed Christmas ham, to golden mince pies, freshly baked in store or British-grown fresh veg, our skilled bakers, fishmongers, butchers, and deli teams craft fresh food daily and help customers find exactly what they need, from the right cut to the perfect portion.”

The ad was directed by award-winning film maker Nick Ball, whose credits include campaigns for Uber Eats, Tesco and IKEA and work with Mariah Carey, Chris Hemsworth, Tina Fey and Christopher Walken. The Three Bears are brought to life as animatronic characters, with each given their own personality and performance.

Andrew Long, Chief Creative Officer at Leo UK, said: “At Leo, we always aim to create work that gets people talking. Christmas is one of those few moments when everyone is already excited to talk about ads, so our aim this year was to give people even more reasons to talk about Morrisons, and all of the things it does to make Christmas just right. And what better way to do that than by taking a story everyone knows and loves and reimagining it for the modern world? Goldilocks and the Three Bears gives us a brilliant way to celebrate all the different tastes, personalities and generations around the Christmas table, with a campaign that has something for everyone. From our epic launch film that introduces the idea, through to a social takeover by Baby Bear.”

 Ahead of the campaign launch, unbranded teaser activity has seen mysterious bear sightings appear across Leeds and Bradford, driving conversation and intrigue before Morrisons is revealed as being behind them.

In parallel to TV, a week-long Instagram takeover tells Baby Bear & Goldilocks side of the story, following their journey home through Gen Z style photo dumps, short videos and Stories, including a ‘not too hard, not too soft’ launch of their relationship.

Nationwide out-of-home executions further the story of the Bears through candid photos from their Christmas, showing relatable family Christmas moments such as Dad falling asleep on the sofa or the much-loved ‘Who am I?’ Post-it note game.

The integrated campaign was created by Leo UK, with Zenith leading media strategy, planning and buying. Fabric led organic social, while MSL led the pre-launch teaser activity. AV production was led by MJZ. The campaign runs across TV, digital, social, print, OOH and in-store, with 90, 60, 30 & 10 second edits running throughout November and December.

Morrisons will also partner with Gogglebox on 20th November for a special full ad-break takeover featuring reactions from the programme’s cast.

Sannah Rogers, CEO at Zenith UK, said: “Our ambition was to make Morrisons unmissable this Christmas, while bringing to life what makes the brand different: its fresh food, skilled Market Street colleagues and the care they put into making Christmas just right. From a TV roadblock at launch and super-fan host reads, to giving 1.6 million live Gogglebox viewers the chance to see the cast react to our ad, we’re using media in different and entertaining ways to bring the story to life. It’s a great example of media and creative working hand in hand, creating moments that are not only hard to miss, but genuinely fun to experience.” 

For little ones who are eager to bring the magic to life, Morrisons is launching an exclusive cuddly bear plush toy, with 50p from the sale of every bear being donated to Marie Curie.

Credits:

CAMPAIGN TITLE:                                  ‘Christmas made just right’

CLIENT:                                                 Morrisons

ADVERTISING AGENCY:                          Leo UK

CCO:                                                     Andrew Long

CREATIVE DIRECTOR:                             Kim Gill

SENIOR CREATIVE:                                 Jack Stoten & Connor Wynn

HEAD OF WRITING:                               Gareth Butters

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:                         Verity Elvin

PRODUCER:                                          Kate Reynolds

DEPUTY HEAD OF ACC MGMT:               Sophie Garrett

SENIOR ACCOUNT DIRECTOR:                Ben Mallins

ACCOUNT MANAGER:                           Jess Lakay

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE:                           Michelle Oyinlola

PROJECT MANAGER:                             Anna Matyasovski

PLANNING DIRECTOR:                           Rebecca Priest

SENIOR PLANNER:                                 Oliver Edridge

MEDIA BUYING AGENCY:                       Zenith

MARKETING DIRECTOR:                         Bev Lumb

SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER:            Mike Neilson 

MARKETING MANAGER:                        Fiona Mitchell 

ADVERTISING & MEDIA SPECIALIST:       Fran Cooper 

PRODUCTION COMPANY:                      MJZ

DIRECTOR:                                            Nick Ball

MANAGING DIRECTOR:                         Lindsay Turnham

EP:                                                       Dickie Jeffares

HEAD OF PRODUCTION:                        Lucy Jones

PRODUCTION COMPANY PRODUCER:     Stephen Johnson

PRODUCTION MANAGER:                      Daniel Gay

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR:               Spike Elwood

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:               Matyas Erdley

1st ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:                       John Lowe

PRODUCTION DESIGNER:                       Andy Kelly

COSTUME DESIGNER:                            Ellie Walker

FOOD STYLIST:                                      Elaine Ngan

HAIR AND MAKEUP STYLIST:                  Lou Hinton

EDITOR:                                                Leo King

ASSISTANT EDITOR:                               Ruoyu Ou

EDIT HOUSE:                                         Stitch

SOUND DESIGN:                                    Sam Ashwell & Mike Bovill

SOUND DESIGN & MIX:                          Sam Ashwell

HEAD OF PRODUCTION:                        Rachel Saxon

COMPOSITION:                                     Stare Crazy

COMPOSER:                                          Jonathan Dreyfus & Amy Andersen

POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY:             Untold
VFX STUDIO:                                         Untold Studios

HEAD OF PRODUCTION:                        Tom Igglesden

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:                         Tomek Zietkiewicz

PRODUCER:                                           Elle Lockhart, Chris Preston-Barnes

PRODUCTION MANAGER:                      Amy Radford

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT:                      Callum Brettell

CREATIVE DIRECTOR:                             Tom Raynor

VFX SUPERVISORS:                                Alex Kulikov, Sam Driscoll

RIGGING SUPERVISOR:                          Andreas Graichen

GROOM SUPERVISOR:                           Thomas Huizer

ANIMATION SUPERVISOR:                     Chris Welsby

HEAD OF MATCHMOVE:                        Murali Krishna Reddy

VFX LEADS:                                           Alice Pott, Joe Kane

VFX ARTISTS: Aginesh KM, Ajaruddin Dilawar Mujawar, Anjinkya Mule,  Daniela  Catita, Dinesh Reddy, Efe Goksel, Ellie Risdon, Emma Tyler, Emilis Baltrusaitis, Emily Newton, Antoine Mariez ,Felicia Petersen, Francesca Guarino, Guthikonda Venkateswara Rao, Jadheer TP, Jess Glendenning, Julian Johnson, Juriaan Wolters, Kanishk Chouhan, Kapil Rana, Kshitij Jangir, Md. Munaam Gazzali, Moh Sohail Khan, Mohammad Asif, Naresh Kumar Nandaluru, Nathan McKenna, Paila Netaji, Pramod Dwivedi, Pratibha Kumari, Rachel Ward, Ria Banerjee, Roger Kupelian, Scott Brust, Sebastian McKernan, Sushant Vilas Lavhande, Silvia Bartoli, Tulika Tewari, Upsana Choudhary, V Siva Sarweswar, Victor Almela, Vidushi Singh, Vlad Holst

EDITORIAL:                                           Brandon Thomas

ONLINE:                                                Chris Winters, Richard Harris