J. Walter Thompson uses contemporary images to celebrate the
pleasures of giving in its Christmas campaign for Boots, which launches
next week.
The 40-second spot shows the faces of an array of people reacting to the
gifts they receive, all of which have been bought at Boots.
We never actually see the presents but the gifts, the price tag and the
emotions are very clearly marked. The commercial was directed by Tess
Sheridan through Stark Films, who also directed the recent series of
Stork ads for Bartle Bogle Hegarty.
In the first scene, a woman smiles reluctantly as someone plays with her
hair. The caption, accompanied by a price tag, reads ’gold party
bag’.
Next a man grins broadly, flashing his brilliant white teeth, above the
words ’electric toothbrush’. Then a delighted baby grins next to
’peekaboo puppy’; a woman in her dressing gown smiles nervously at her
Kodak Advantix camera and a smartly dressed woman fights back tears on
receiving a bottle of Chanel No 5.
Finally, two old women collapse with laughter at a Scooby Doo hot water
bottle and a scruffy teenage girl sulks about being given a styling
brush.
The ad ends with the question: ’Guess what you’re getting for
Christmas?’
The different scenes are set to the Marvin Gaye track, You’re a
wonderful one. Media is through BMP OMD.
Meg Rosoff, who wrote and art directed the ad, said: ’The brief was to
celebrate the true spirit of Christmas. We decided to concentrate on the
joy of giving and the feeling when you get it right.’
