Sky's Christmas Movie Mansion is a Magical Advent Calendar
Sky Creative Agency, Sky’s in-house advertising agency and the UK’s largest in-house creative shop, unveils the ad spot it has created for Sky Cinema’s 2018 Christmas campaign.
The team created a deceptively simple concept in the form of a magical Christmas mansion block, inspired by an advent calendar, complete with 24 frosty windows, all elegantly numbered. Through the windows, the viewer is invited to enter and observe the lives of a diverse cross-section of British families, all with particular tastes, and all enjoying Sky Cinema on demand in their own unique way.
SCA was tasked to communicate Sky Cinema's unbeatable range of blockbuster movies and Christmas classics, all of which will be available on demand, reminding film lovers that they can watch what they want, when they want, over the Christmas period. The overall experience is beautifully narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart OBE, whose instantly recognisable voice provides the familiar and welcoming tone one would expect at Christmas.
This is the first time that Sky Creative Agency has been charged with the task of delivering the Sky Cinema Christmas ad campaign. As well as the TV commercial, SCA was also responsible for delivering the wider, integrated campaign which includes DRTV, radio and out of home. The 60-second Sky Cinema Christmas ad is on air from 11th Nov – 25th Nov, while the 30-second is on air from 26th Nov – 28th Dec.
The advent calendar construct allowed SCA to represent the whole range of movies, while bringing the advent calendar to life with the real people living within. It’s an original twist on a long-standing festive tradition which, combined with a mansion block setting, also creates a heightened sense of a magical place that provides scope to really explore Christmas movie watching visually. The underlying message of the creative is that Sky Cinema is the only destination to encourage the coming together of friends and families and create wonderful, communal Christmas experiences that bring people together.
Due to the compartmental, episodic nature of the narrative, SCA also added a warm, lyrical voice, complete with rhyming couplets to carry the viewer on the journey and bring it all together as one. Patrick Stewart was the perfect fit to lend a little cinematic heft while bringing a touch of festive, movie magic and, true to form, makes the commercial feel really special. Sir Patrick’s mellifluous tones are perfectly soundtracked by the classic Christmas song Winter Wonderland.
Carli Farmer, the director of Sky TV products and premiums commented: “Christmas is such a huge time of year for Sky Cinema and it’s really important for us to communicate the sheer breadth of movies available during the festive period. It’s been brilliant to have the Sky Creative Agency team on-board for their first Sky Cinema Christmas campaign and they’ve pulled out all the stops to deliver a commercial that fulfilled our brief while bringing to life the magic of Christmas”.
Simon Buglione, agency director of Sky Creative Agency added: “The Sky Cinema Christmas campaign is always a highlight of Sky’s advertising output for the year and we are very proud to have been given the responsibility of delivering this pivotal Sky campaign for the first time this year. The team have done a fantastic job”.
