U.K. retailer Lidl takes us to Christmas present and future, bringing us to the holiday feast table to see it evolve over the decades in this centerpiece spot, “Always,” directed by Gary Freedman via Independent Films for London agency Karmarama, with visual effects from Absolute in London.
The wry spot underscores that the more things change, the more they stay the same. As the cast propels forward into future festive fantasies, the performance, script, and costume of each actor get a space-age overhaul for the relevant decade. Uncle Gary goes from living in Spain, to the moon, to FOREVER, and the turkey is cut by knife, then laser, then hologram machine. Meanwhile Oggy the dog goes from begging for a pig in blanket, to using a speech generating device, to mentally manifesting for it–even though he’s since “gone vegan.” Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Absolute were tasked with bringing the gift of VFX to a whopping 30 shots for the :60 edit. “Christmas ads in the UK are a bit like Super Bowl ads,” said Absolute’s Creative Director, Jonas McQuiggin. “They’re competitive, awash with spectacle and full of anticipation. So, when the opportunity to join in came down our chimney, we couldn’t say no–especially when the script was loaded with comedy, VFX and, most importantly, Christmas dinner.”
Credits
Client Lidl Agency Karmarama, London Nik Studzinski, chief creative officer Luke Ramm, Joe Holt, creative directors; Fiona Moseley, Louisa Whitehead, creative team; David White, TV producer; Amie Nedwell, production assistant. Production Independent Films, London Gary Freedman, director; Ciska Faulkner, producer; John Lynch, DP; Cat Meredydd, production manager; Katie Giovanni, food stylist; Cynthia Lawrence-John, costume designer. Casting Hammond Cox Casting Thom Hammond, casting director. Editorial The Assembly Rooms Adam Spivey, editor; Daniel Breheny, head of production; Liz Trnovsky, producer. Color Grade Company 3 London Jean-Clement Soret, Steffan Perry, colorists; Ellora Soret, color EP; Chris Anthony, color producer; Dominic Phipps, assistant colorist; Adam Stanndard, data lab supervisor. VFX/Post Absolute, London Jonas McQuiggin, Phil Oldham, creative directors; Chris Tobin, 2D lead; Harvey David, Lucas Warren, Tom Clapp, Nuke artists; Keith Rogers, Matt Burn, CG supervisors; Craig Healy, FX artist; Ollie Grant, Dan Baiton, Huggy Stephens, Sean Elliot, CG artists; Pedro De la Puente, concept artist; Luke Barker, graphics; Thomas Higgins, Tom Boucher, editorial; Ran Manolov, CG character design; Sally Heath, exec producer; Kirsty Ratcliffe, sr. producer; Maddie Godsill, production assistant. (Toolbox: Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Flame, Adobe Photoshop, Substance Painter, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve) Sound Wave Studios Tony Rapaccioli, engineer; Rebecca Boswell, producer. Music Supervision Major Tom
FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, has partnered with Chicago-based creative agency VSA Partners to unveil a second round of spots in its “Not Just the Facts” campaign. The campaign originally launched back in April.
The campaign was built on a core strategic insight: While quality data is critical for financial professionals, facts in isolation provide little value. FactSet’s personalization, data connectivity, open and flexible technology, and dedicated service and support provide the context necessary for the investment community to turn facts into valuable insights--and make the most of them.
The new creative picks up where the previous left off. This time it focuses on a particularly boorish office worker, drolly played by character actor Wyndham Maxwell, who ticks off an encyclopedic list of facts and non sequiturs during business meetings and to the bemusement of his colleagues.
The tongue-in-cheek campaign, which plays more like a perfect-pitch comedy series than a typical B2B commercial effort, is a major departure from financial services industry norm--both in its use of humor and in its humanistic approach. Starting this week, FactSet will roll out 16 unique spots—a combination of :30s, :15s, :06s and nine “shorts”—across multiple channels including digital, streaming and CTV.
This :30, “Dinos,” has an office worker’s relevant reference to dinosaurs spark our boorish colleague who proceeds to utter one irrelevant fact after another about the prehistoric creatures.
The Los Angeles–based Docter Twins (Matthew and Jason Docter) directed the original campaign and this new humorous work through their production company, Thinking Machine. The identical twin... Read More
