If you're already sick of conventional holiday ads, here's a surreal offering from Loewe, the LVMH-owned Spanish luxury brand.

The campaign is directed by Nina Gantz of Blinkink, who mingles live action with puppetry and animation to bring to life whimsical creatures, inspired by the work of British Arts and Craft ceramicist William De Morgan.

Set to an original recording of choral music specially composed for the campaign by Terence Dunn, it starts off like a typical fashion ad, with a model walking across a Moroccan-themed room with a shallow pool. Suddenly an animated otter jumps out and we follow him through a tapestry into a journey into a fantasy sequence involving a wading bird, a kid in a frog suit, a dragonfly and a dodo that gets exterminated. The otter emerges as a puppet out of a De Morgan-style ceramic vase, and it all ends with one of the more interesting bags we've seen in a while. 

The film is running in cinemas as well as on social media and some out-of-home. It promotes the brand's William de Morgan Capsule Collection, which includes items such as a black leather jacket with a crimson dodo painted on its back. While it's described by the company as its holiday ad, it's a world away from the carols and Santas seen elsewhere. 

“The brief from Loewe was to create a film that brings the world of William De Morgan to life," said Gantz in a statement. "It was an amazing world to dive into! We were also very happy to have a real puppet genius, Josie Corben, who worked on films such as 'Isle of Dogs' and 'Frankenweenie,' join us in this beautiful endeavor.”

“This campaign defies all Christmas clichés," added Jonathan Anderson, creative director at Loewe. "William De Morgan was the main inspiration for the new collection and his work lent itself very well as a starting point for a darkly strange and fun film which epitomizes the collection.”