Boots, Post Office, Lidl, Coca-Cola, Lego: Deck the halls

Anyone who is already bored of 2024’s Christmas campaigns, complete with gnomes, giants, elves, tinsel and large tables of festive treats, might want to look away now, as it is virtually impossible to hold back the tide.

Boots is a case in point, releasing its Christmas Makeover starring actor and Bridgeton star Adjoa Andoh as Mrs Claus in a “wonderland of Boots beauty”.

The film, devised by VML/The Pharm, the WPP partnership team, follows Andoh as she leads her squad of beauty elves in her Christmas ‘Werkshop’, reminding viewers that Boots has a present for every kind of beauty enthusiast.

A “Mr Claus” sleeps, his missus takes charge, helping to fulfil every Christmas wish list with beauty gifts from Boots, including viral brands such as Bubble Skincare, e.l.f, Sol de Janerio, and Laneige.

The wide range of gifts are also represented in the different beauty elves looks, from ‘vamp’ and glam to every style in-between, showing there’s a beauty gift for everyone. The advert culminates with Mrs Claus triumphantly satisfied with her work, commenting “You thought it was all him?”, giving a nod to those who make Christmas magical behind the scenes.

Directed by award-winning production company, Radical, and award-winning LA director, Dave Meyers, and set to the soundtrack Who’s That Girl by Eve, the ad will air first on Boots social media channels, and then on ITV1. Following this, the fully integrated campaign will run for seven weeks across TV, radio, cinema, print, social, and online.

For the first time, Boots will directly target men as a growth audience through a new and targeted media approach in particular in the last minute lead up to Christmas across podcasts, social, YouTube and creator content. Some 65% of its media strategy features new tactics to bring the campaign to life, with half of all media spend using first party data and 91% of the Boots target audience will be reached across the AV landscape.

The campaign will also be activated on Reddit and Pinterest with a bespoke Boots Christmas-themed game that will appear within Candy Crush, Bubble Witch Saga and Farm Hero Saga games. Influencer activity also makes up a key part of this year’s campaign, with more above-the-line creator-led content than ever before, increasing engagement online and across social media in new and exciting ways.

Meanwhile, the Post Office is aiming to put the Horizon scandal behind it – at least for the festive season – with a new campaign designed to celebrate the dedicated individuals who help keep Christmas running smoothly across the UK.

Created by Krow Group, the activity features CGI characters based on real-life Postmasters – Gurpreet Kaur Dhillon, Dhaval Gosaliya, and Helen Froggatt – alongside a crew of fictional helpers, to guide consumers through essential Christmas postage tips and deadlines.

Their characters have been showcased in a festive pre-launch social film, which will be used to introduce the ‘Helping you Master Christmas’ creative platform.

The campaign will run until December 23 and will feature across multiple platforms, including in-branch materials, social media, digital displays, and out-of-home advertising. Real Postmasters will also take the spotlight in a paid content partnership with Buzzfeed.

Next up is Lidl, which has also unveiled its own festive offering, directed by Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper.

The story begins with a narrator speaking of magic to be had for ‘all but one’ and shows a little boy looking chilly on the side lines while he watches other children sledging. A little girl notices him and looks concerned. On her way home, she stops to help an elderly woman who has dropped her bags – and, whilst helping her, the old lady tells her to ‘make a wish when the bell rings’.

The ad then shows a welcoming family scene and as the narrator talks about Christmas joy arriving in all shapes, a bowl of Lidl sprouts arrives at the table. Each family member begins to make a wish of their own, whether it be for a giant gingerbread man to arrive at the door, or for those sprouts to turn into a plate of delicious biscuits instead, and then back again.

The little girl makes a wish to send her present – a Lidl woolly hat – to the cold boy she had seen earlier that day.

In the spirit of creating a ‘Magical Christmas with Lidl’, the supermarket’s Toy Bank scheme has returned for 2024, with an aim of donating over 100,000 toys to reach more children than ever before. The Christmas ad premieres on ITV1 and across Lidl social channels, and the Toy Bank scheme will run in stores nationwide from now until December 16.

Now, apparently, the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour is one of the most anticipated elements of Christmas and this year it is once again visiting towns and cities across Great Britain.

The tour will this year support FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste, and promises to be bigger and better than ever before. For every person that attends the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour, the equivalent of a meal will be donated on their behalf. Coca-Cola aims to donate the equivalent of up to a total of 1 million meals via FareShare this festive season.

For the first time, Coca-Cola will also introduce an AI-generated reinterpretation of its “Holidays are coming” ad, developed through a collaboration of human creativity and advanced technology to usher in the start of the Christmas season.

In addition, Coca-Cola will unveil a new festive digital AI experience, enabling people to engage in conversations with Santa to create a personalised, shareable snow globe animation, based on a personal holiday memory. Accessible by scanning the QR code on a Christmas bottle or can of Coca-Cola, the digital snow globe aims to act as a virtual gift to share with someone as an act of kindness.

Finally to Lego, whose festive ad has been created by the in-house team at Our Lego Agency. The spot, which launches this week, continues the brand’s long running Rebuild the World campaign, and its focus on the importance of play and creativity.

It is backed by Unlimited’s 1991 hit Get Ready For This, as the trend for nostalgic tunes and themes continues.

While Cataclaws acts a thread throughout the ad, it also features over 20 different Lego builds plus a series of Easter eggs for Lego fans to spot. The Cataclaws Christmas jumper in the ad – which Darth Vader is even persuaded to don at one point – is also available to buy as a minifigure accessory this season.

The campaign coincides with the Lego Group’s annual Build to Give initiative, starting on November 11, which encourages people to share a heart built out of Lego bricks on social media with the hashtag #BuildToGive. For every heart built in Lego stores, or shared on social media or on the Lego Play, the Lego Group will donate a Lego set to children in hospitals, children’s homes and vulnerable communities.