OTHERWAY Unveils ‘A Christmas Extraordinary’ for Fortnum & Mason
Creative agency OTHERWAY launches Fortnum’s new Christmas collection, ‘A Christmas Extraordinary’, a dazzling packaging and campaign created in collaboration with celebrated Berlin-based artist Olaf Hajek and animation team, Studio AKA.
Commissioned to reimagine Fortnum’s Christmas 2024 packaging, OTHERWAY has spent the past year collaborating closely with the iconic retailer’s product and design teams. The result is a rich, storytelling-themed design concept dubbed ‘Tales of Christmas’, showcased across more than 100 products—from handcrafted Christmas Puddings to Festive Teas.
Rooted in the narrative language of storytelling, the collection features festive characters, intricate frames, and patterns in a luxurious Georgian inspired Christmas palette.
The packaging brings to life the provenance of each product, celebrating the joy of togetherness and seasonal splendour. Renowned for his vibrant, nature-infused artistry, Olaf Hajek hand-painted a series of detailed scenes that blend nature and artifice. These illustrations became the foundation for OTHERWAY’s creative vision, adding depth and enchantment to the designs.
To elevate the launch, OTHERWAY in close collaboration with Fortnum's marketing and brand teams, partnered with award winning animation team, Studio AKA and director Marcus Armitage to create a series of animated 15-second films featuring five hero products, with an additional 30-second film bringing all of the action together in one place.
The animations, inspired by the tactile, paper-like quality of Hajek’s illustrations, combine CG product and photorealistic food renderings, with 2D textures in a whimsical stop-frame style reminiscent of childhood memories.
The films showcase unique creatures bursting from the packaging, playfully interacting with the festive products in a celebration of Christmas wonder.
“Christmas has always been at the heart of Fortnum & Mason, and this year we’re excited to showcase Olaf’s intricate and vibrant work across product, digital, and print—celebrating our extraordinary products and provenance,” added Crispin Butler, director of marketing and communications at Fortnum & Mason.
“Over the past 10 years, we’ve partnered with Fortnum’s to build a brand that celebrates their British heritage while balancing a contemporary sense of luxury and wit. Partnering with Olaf and Studio AKA has brought these key ingredients to life like no other,” said Ben Lewin, design partner at OTHERWAY.
Artist Olaf Hajek remarked, “It has been a dream brief to work with Fortnum & Mason and partner with the OTHERWAY team to create a world of festive fantasy. Painting flora and fauna, along with bold patterns into my pieces, in great detail and vibrant colour.”
Animation director Marcus Armitage shared, “Working with Fortnum & Mason and OTHERWAY was a delight. We had such a great source of material from Olaf, allowing us to bring charming and characterful animation to life that is immediately engaging.”
This visual style extends into an eye-catching OOH campaign that sees Hajek’s hand-painted characters and festive scenes burst from the layouts, bringing the magic of Fortnum’s Christmas collection to life across all touchpoints.
The products are set against a beautiful yet simple patterned background to keep the focus on the new items being showcased. With so much happening between the 2D paper-cut illustrations and CG products, it was important not to overcomplicate the films.
This multi-media approach was central to Otherway’s brief for the campaign, honouring the tactile and cosy spirit of Hajek’s illustrations while highlighting F&M’s products in all their glory. Both elements posed fun technical challenges for us to overcome, animating Hajek’s designs faithfully to the world he created and building photorealistic renderings of the food products.
In addition to the animated films, we created a stills campaign featuring billboards, as well as both print and digital posters. It was a joy to bring this campaign to life and to collaborate with the great teams at Otherway and Fortnum & Mason.
The stills campaign amplified these elements with explosive compositions and even more gold to draw you in. Keep an eye out for these delightful (and mischievous) creatures during your holiday shopping this season.
“Working with both Otherway and Fortnum & Mason on this project was a delight. We had such great source material in Olaf’s illustrations and Fortnum’s beautiful packaging, making our task that much simpler : Bringing to the screen what we do best, charming and characterful animation that is immediately engaging.” said Marcus Armitage.
“Each character has a unique personality that we tried to match up with the product it lives in. The Crackerdile, explosive and dramatic, bursting out of the cracker. The Starling, relaxed and motherly, sipping on a warming cup of tea. The Pelicans, playful and argumentative, fighting over who gets the coin.” said Marcus Armitage.
