This year, retail group TK Maxx has jumped into the Christmas advertising spirit with a somewhat unusual offer. If a customer manages to stumble across a snow globe with the words “White Christmas” written inside, the store will deliver a truck full of manufactured snow to their front garden on Christmas Day. The campaign is the brainchild of Wieden+Kennedy who were tasked with delivering something a little out of the ordinary.
Jingle all the way
From shortly after Halloween until store doors close on Christmas Eve, in store music across the UK will be pumping out the usual Christmas classics. White Christmas, Do They Know it’s Christmas and all the usual hits from the past four decades are our shopping cues.
While the first Christmas tune of the season usually takes us by surprise, there’s no denying that this subtle musical hint gets us all wondering just how many Saturdays there are left until the big day. And the Christmas commercials do much the same.
Getting the balance right
T K Maxx’s ad campaign, directed by Ian Pons Jewell and featuring the voice of Bill Nighy, is a very Christmas-aware commercial and gets us thinking about shopping days, just as in store music from suppliers such as Mood Media does. The commercial also recognises the impact of music on shopping and includes Pilot’s 1975 festive hit, Magic. Deborah Dolce from TK Maxx said they wanted to do many things with the campaign, firstly something traditional, but more exciting than the usual offerings, plus a more inclusive message, one which could be used in TX Maxx’s European locations such as Ireland, Germany and Poland.
Magical connections
With the hunt on across the UK, to find the magical Christmas snow globes, a buzz has arisen around where and how they might be hidden. Will an individual be placing globes secretly in open and obvious places, or will customers need to delve into boxes and behind racks to find the prizes?
The campaign bears more than a passing resemblance to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and this is helping generate some excitement. Some commentators have referred to it as “a snowy variety of the golden ticket” but whatever it is, for the lucky winners, it’ll certainly be a once in a lifetime experience.
