Work of the Week

Following a flurry of Christmas campaigns over the past weeks, you would think that adland had gone full lapland, and in many cases you wouldn’t be wrong.

However, if this week’s creative showed us anything, it’s that life does in fact go on outside of the holiday period, with a majority of our work this week having little or nothing to do with Christmas at all.

Advertisers would be wise to take note of this: for example, stats from 2019 showed at least 7 per cent of the population did not celebrate Christmas in the UK, with other findings by YouGov showing that 15 per cent of consumers actively dislike the festive period.

This then should give pause for thought. Although the creative opportunity may seem slight, it is undoubtedly there, and provides advertisers with greater creative license to operate outside of tropes of the yuletide season and connect with those who may feel a bit left behind.

'Lights Up The Local', Guinness & 'Night Swimming', Ford of Europe and AMV BBDO

You only have to look at the Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO work for both Guinness and Ford of Europe. The former being a bedazzling Christmas piece of OOH that celebrates the return of the festive season following last year’s lacklustre affair, the latter a more grounded, low-key and intriguing take on the car category as a whole.

'Trade in Your Emojis for Dollars', The ICRC and Wunderman Thompson

Christmas is also a time for giving. A sentiment cleverly illustrated in Wunderman Thompson's work for ,the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The campaign shows the impact of donations versus emotions.

Mother London, Stella Please, Stella Artois

Meanwhile, in a new spot for Stella Artois, Mother London brought in legendary chef Marco Pierre White to urge the nation to mind their Ps & Qs following reports that, since lockdown was lifted, hospitality staff are being more abused than before.

'Fictional Toys', The Childhood Trust and Lucky Generals

Also in the spirt of understanding that the Christmas period isn’t the same for anyone, fictional toys created by the Lucky Generals for The Childhood Trust demonstrates that great creative can come from speaking to the reality on the ground: that Christmas isn’t always very Christmassy for many.

And that's this week's best creative, curated.