A moody teen sums up how we're all feeling about Christmas 2020 in Meijer's heartfelt spot
Noam Murro directs ad for the midwest retailer via The Distillery Project
Editor's Pick
Despite the efforts of multiple advertisers to jolly us into the Christmas spirit in their holiday ads so far, the teenage protagonist in an ad by midwest retail chain Meijer just isn't feeling it in 2020. And maybe she speaks for many of us.
"They might as well just cancel Christmas...they've canceled everything else," she mutters moodily as her little sister and parents decorate the tree and try to make things look festive. (She might be the long-lost soulmate of the animated teenager in the McDonald's ad from the U.K. this year.) However, she's dispatched off to cheer up her sister, and the two start singing the opening lines of "Santa Claus is coming to town" together. The endline: "Believe...Christmas is coming," gives the word a new poignancy for 2020.
The spot was created by The Distillery Project, and directed by Biscuit's Noam Murro, the director behind feature film work like “300: Rise of an Empire."
"The Meijer holiday spot has never been about selling product—it’s always been more of a Christmas wish for the community,” says John Condon,founder and chief creative officer of The Distillery Project, in a statement. “This spot is about empathy and hope—we’re not at our best when we pout, even though it’s a totally legitimate reaction to everything that’s happened this year.”
The work is airing on network and cable TV in regions where Meijer has stores as well as online, with an emphasis on YouTube and paid social media. Buys include NBC's Sunday Night Football,” “The Sound of Music” (ABC), “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical” (NBC), “The American Music Awards” (ABC), and “Fox NFL.”
Credits
- Date
- Dec 01, 2020
- Client :
- Meijer
- Agency :
- The Distillery Project
- Founder/Copywriter :
- John Condon
- Founding Partner/CSO :
- Ben Kline
- Head of Operations/Partner :
- Kim Tanner
- Head of Production/Partner :
- Nik Traxler
- Producer :
- Brenda Cortes
- Creative Director :
- Chris Pollock
- Account Director :
- Annie Gray
- Business Affairs Manager :
- Bonnie Kalaf
- Production :
- Biscuit Filmworks
- Director :
- Noam Murro
- Partner/Managing Director :
- Shawn Lacy
- Executive Producer :
- Andrew Travelstead
- Producer :
- Emily Skinner
- Head of Production :
- Rachel Glaub
- Head of Production :
- Sean Moody
- Director of Photography :
- Eric Schmidt
- Production Designer :
- Brock Houghton
- Editorial :
- Rock Paper Scissors
- Editor :
- Damion Clayton
- Assistant Editor :
- Sebastian Zotoff
- Producer :
- Sasha Grubor
- Head of Production :
- Dre Krichevsky
- Executive Producer :
- Shada Shariatzdeh
- Managing Director :
- Eve Kornblum
- Color :
- A52 Color
- Colorist :
- Daniel De Vue
- Producer :
- Jenny Bright
- Exec Producer :
- Thatcher Peterson
- Music Company :
- JSM Music
- CEO/CCO :
- Joel Simon
- VP/Executive Producer :
- Jeff Fiorello
- Producer :
- Norm Felker
- Producer :
- Andrew Manning
- Producer :
- Sharon Cha
- Audio House :
- Margarita Mix
- Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Designer :
- Nathan Dubin
- Assistant Engineer :
- Sean Melia
- Assistant Engineer :
- Mike Murzyn
- Operations Manager :
- Brian Frank
- Executive Producer :
- Whitney Morris
- Executive Producer :
- Paula Arnett
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