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For its Christmas campaign, U.K. grocer Asda has brought back Will Ferrell’s arguably most beloved character: Buddy the Elf. The wildly popular ad is giving consumers warm and fuzzy feelings ahead of the holiday season.
James Fox, chief client officer at Havas London, and Stephi Brett-Lee, senior director of brand communications at Asda, joined Adweek during Brandweek Europe to talk about landing the rights to Buddy the Elf and the deep meaning behind the lighthearted campaign.
‘Have Your Elf a Merry Christmas’
Asda’s campaign marks the first time Buddy the Elf has been licensed for brand marketing. The duo said it took some heavy lifting to get Will Ferrell, Warner Brothers and director Jon Favreau on board, but the purpose behind the campaign resonated deeply with Ferrell’s character: spreading Christmas cheer.
“It starts with a good brief, like any good work,” Fox said. “The outcome is we want to deliver joy. When you look at that from a creative perspective, you’re going, ‘What is the No. 1 thing that demonstrates that?’ And Will Ferrell’s Elf is the No. 1 most-loved Christmas film of all time, and we thought, what better way to take the joy from that and bring the joy from Asda and bring them together to create this spot?”
According to Brett-Lee, although bringing Buddy the Elf back for an Asda spot was a wild card idea—the team even kept working on a backup plan in case it didn’t work out—the authenticity of the campaign’s intent was able to shine through.
“The reason it worked for us is because Buddy is the epitome of joy at Christmas—he’s naive and unbridled and excited, and we want to deliver that to customers,” she said. “We want customers to have a joy-filled Christmas, and we want them to have that experience in our store, from our products.”
She added: “Buddy is also wearing Asda green, so that’s very helpful.”
The Christmas ad isn’t dead
Despite some critics who proclaim the Christmas ad is dead, Fox and Brett-Lee believe there’s still room under the tree for the gift that keeps on giving: a well-thought-out and executed Christmas ad.
“Context is key,” Fox said. “People can look at it and go, ‘These brands are spending at a point where people are struggling,’ and that’s fair. But there are times, particularly in this occasion, when you can be smart with how you spend and create something that people really love, enjoy and share, and we can bring people around that great sense of feeling. So it depends on how you use your marketing and your moment to actually provide something back to people.”
“We had over 1 million views in just over 24 hours,” Brett-Lee said. “The response has been incredible, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Our customers are enjoying it. They’re going into the store and popping their face into the Elf hole and taking an ‘elfie,’ and having a bit of lightheartedness, which is what we’re all looking for.”
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