U.K. retailer Very aims to capture the ‘raw and real’ moments of the Christmas season
Comedic campaign by Grey eschews the festive cliches and will unfold with different stories over the season
Editor's Pick
Online retailer Very.co.uk is the first big British brand to unveil its Christmas work this year, with a campaign that aims to capture the build up to Christmas in an authentic and humorous way that eschews the usual cliches.
The hero spot, created by Grey London and directed by Gary Freedman at Independent Films, broke on TV Sunday night during the "Pride of Britain" awards. It starts off with what looks like a typical Christmas ad, with a family serving up turkey and a voiceover about the “magical moments” of Christmas. However, we quickly cut to a “real” family watching it on TV with expressions of disgust. “What a load of rubbish,” says the father.
The mother then goes on to describe the moments she loves about the holiday—neighbors' Christmas lights causing a power outage, the tree being too tall for the room, cheesy festive music, arguing over decorations and peeking at hidden gifts.
“It’s about trying to find the magic in the raw and real approach that we as humans have for this moment,” says Javier Campopiano, chief creative officer at Grey Europe and creative chairman of Grey London. “We found a great director and great casting, with a protagonist who conveys all those qualities of honesty and truthfulness. In a way it doesn’t feel like an ad; it feels more like a sitcom.”
“What we tried to do is focus on the build up, rather than that big Christmas day cliche," adds Racquel Chicourel, chief strategy officer at Grey London. "The things that make Christmas are these small moments in the build up for Christmas: when you put up decorations, when you buy the tree.”
The campaign will continue throughout the holiday period with several different follow-up spots featuring the same family as well as out-of-home, online and print. It builds on the brand’s new platform by Grey, “Life is this very moment,” which debuted last month with an autumnal spot featuring a little girl's monologue. Grey was appointed to the business in May. Very's advertising was previously handled by St. Luke's, which had created several animated Christmas spots for the brand.
Campopiano says the idea for the platform hadn’t changed much since the agency started pitching for the Very business at the beginning of the year, despite the coronavirus pandemic. “When we first started, the world was completely different," he says. "The crazy thing is, the platform survived the pandemic. It actually became more relevant.”
"Creating anything for this Christmas was quite possibly the most challenging thing any of us had done since we started in advertising," adds Chicourel. "There’s so much uncertainty. However, Christmas is not canceled. People are shopping for presents earlier and there is a yearning for something good in our lives."
Credits
- Date
- Nov 02, 2020
- Client :
- Very
- Agency :
- Grey-London
- CMO :
- Carly O’Brien
- Senior Brand Manager :
- Kim Pritchard
- Creative Chairman :
- Javier Campopiano
- CCO :
- Laura Jordan Bambach
- Creative Director :
- Matt Moreland
- Creative Director :
- Chris Clarke
- Creative Team :
- Matt Moreland
- Creative Team :
- Chris Clarke
- Creative Team :
- Emma Thomas
- Creative Team :
- Ryan Delaney
- Creative Team :
- Angela Harding
- Creative Team :
- Terry O’Neill
- CSO :
- Raquel Chicourel
- Strategy Director :
- Jess Smith
- Group Business Director :
- Kate Ilott
- Business Director :
- Tamsine Foggin
- Business Director :
- Charlotte Coughlan
- Account Director :
- Natasha Thomas
- Account Manager :
- Emilie Jenner
- Account Executive :
- Meg Johns
- Agency Senior Producer :
- Maxine Hose
- Agency Assistant Producer :
- Kate Reynolds
- Agency Print Producer :
- Toby Horrocks
- Production Company :
- Independent Films
- Executive Producer :
- Jani Guest
- Producer :
- Sara Cummins
- Director :
- Gary Freedman
- DOP :
- Barry Ackroyd
- Production Design :
- Jacqueline Abrahams
- Post Producer :
- The Assembly Rooms
- Post Producer :
- Dan Breheny
- Editor :
- Adam Spivey
- Post Producer :
- MPC
- Post Producer :
- Phil Whalley
- Colorist :
- Matthieu Toullet
- VFX Artist :
- TBV
- Audio Post Producer :
- 750mph
- Audio Post Producer :
- Mary-Ann D’Cruz
- Sound Engineer :
- Sam Ashwell
Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors
Related work

Very: Very spreads Christmas wider in earliest UK holiday ad this year

Very: Trick-or-treaters interrupt Christmas tree decorators in U.K.'s first holiday ad

Very: Kids take the throne at the back of the bus in Very's back-to-school ad
