Enter 'The Time Shop' with This Touching Festive Short for Chick-fil-A

It's the most wonderful time of the year – but it's also the busiest. In November, Chick-fil-A launched an initiative to help people give the gift of time. The restaurant company introduced a campaign with a special two-minute animated film, an online Time Shop, and a limited-time pop-up in New York City—all centred around creating space and gifting 'Together Time' at the holidays. 

Chick-fil-A's 'Together Time' campaign is fronted by a two-minute animated story from Psyop and McCann introducing the magical world of The Time Shop, whose characters and storyline remind us that while time can easily get away from us all, it's truly time together that matters most. The animated story premiered on NBC Thanksgiving morning and will continue to air in select programming throughout December. It tells the story of a family rediscovering the importance of time well-spent through a young girl and her magical visit to a fantasy Time Shop where the girl learns about 'Lost Time', 'Time that Flies', and the best time of all, 'Together Time'.

Psyop director Marie Hyon, comments: "This story 'The Gift of Time' is near and dear to our hearts. Everyone can relate to our modern day distractions of work, life and family. It can be overwhelming. The pressure pace at which things happen, the texts, the calls, the social media blasts, are all little pokes taking your mind away from the present moment to agonising about the past or worrying about the future. And on top of it all, taking care of all the needs of the holidays can be daunting, until we remember the true meaning of giving.

"The greatest gift that you can give to your loved ones is your time, your attention, and most importantly to be in the moment. This is why it’s called “the present.” Therefore, we wanted our story to be told through an intimate tale about an insightful 7 year old girl, Sam. This tale follows our hero’s emotional arch of wanting and needing her family to not only be there but be present, sharing in the moment with her, in this case, making a snowman together.

"Our goal was to get to know Sam, invent a narrative, design performances to bring out the subtlety and nuance her range of emotions, of her highs and lows: Her charming excitement, hopeful demeanour, her disappointment, and her curiosity, her sense of discovery, to her commanding presence and her joy. In developing this film and sharing with our viewers, we hope there is something that will stay with them, something honest, a little bit of magic, or perhaps some joy."

"Our creative process was not without its challenges but it has been one of the most meaningful and fulfilling projects I have ever been a part of.

"It’s funny how in the process of making our holiday tale, the values and the meaning of ‘Gift of Time’ inspired us to do our best. Create with love, make allowances for challenges and rise above it with generosity."