Doc Brown and We Are From LA Team Up for Sainsbury’s Christmas Ad

Sainsbury’s has unveiled its Christmas campaign. Created by Wieden+Kennedy London, ‘Every Bit of Christmas’ marks a change in direction from previous years as it’s an extension of the retailer’s year-round ‘Living Well campaign’. 

 

The campaign centres around an upbeat, festive song written by lyricist Ben ‘Doc Brown’ Smith and composed by Mikis Michaelides. The central spot is directed by Iconoclast’s We Are From LA and features members of the public and Sainsbury’s colleagues singing about the things that help them to live well at Christmas time. It also includes cameos from festive favourites Ricky Tomlinson and Kermit the Frog. 

 

In a departure from the ‘Christmas special’, this year’s creative is an extension of Sainsbury’s year-round campaign launched in January which celebrates the ways that the nation lives well and the joy of food. Staying true to the year-round creative, the campaign is filmed in black and white, features real people rather than actors and heroes the retailer’s food products.

 

Laura Boothby, Head of Broadcast Communications at Sainsbury’s, said: “Living well has been at the heart of our advertising all year and there is no better time to celebrate that than at Christmas. There are so many rituals and moments that makes each person’s Christmas special and we wanted to feature as many of these as possible – and all set to a catchy festive tune!”

 

The campaign launches with a 90-second spot which airs for the first time at 19.45 during The X Factor on ITV, and will be shared simultaneously across the retailer’s social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. Throughout the festive period a variety of films and social content will run across broadcast, print, social media, audio, digital display and outdoor advertising.

 

The campaign was shot on location in London, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow with a cast of 200 people - and some of their pets - as well as three colleagues from Sainsbury’s.

 

In addition to Wieden+Kennedy’s creative, the media agency is PHD and digital agencies are AnalogFolk and Gravity Road.