This Canadian Chain Made Its Furniture the Official Hiding Spot for Holiday Gifts
If you’re someone who has kids, there’s an important question you must ask yourself now that the festive season is over. Did they find whatever gifts you had hidden away ahead of when they were supposed to receive them? If the answer is no, kudos, but if the answer is yes, it might be time to reconsider your approach to household sneakery.
One brand which is keen to help people in the latter category is Tanguay, a furniture chain based out of Quebec. Made aware by partner creative agency LG2 that it could be the first brand to position its offerings as the country’s official holiday hiding spots, the two launched a bilingual, multi-channel campaign to run through December. Centred around two spots – one told from the parents’ perspective, and one from the children’s – each appeals to distinctly relatable moments, whether you’re the one doing the hiding, or are the budding young detective looking for a hint of what’s in store for the big day. After all, even if gift hiding is an art, it’s OK to ask for assistance from time to time.
To learn more about how this came to life, and where this original insight came from, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with LG2 creative director Martin Charron, as well as copywriter Roxanne Pelletier for a chat.
LBB> A holiday campaign centred around hiding gifts is super fun! As such, what was the brief, and how did this factor into your creative iteration process?
Martin> We wanted to find a holiday insight that only a furniture store could capture, and we wanted to be the first to say it (before another certain big furniture brand). As our advertising was running from the beginning of December and many brands tell stories around the celebration and during family gatherings, we believed it would be more interesting to show the period just before: the preparations.
LBB> Specifically, the decision to frame certain pieces of furniture as official gift hiding spots is very clever. What inspired the decision to tell it from both the kids’ and parents’ perspectives?
Roxanne> We liked the idea of having a story told in two spots, which also worked well when watched independently. We also felt it was important to have a unifying message that would speak to all adults, not just parents. By also showing the children's perspective, we were appealing to nostalgia and youthful memories. We saw this when we presented the idea internally: everyone had a gift-hunting story to tell. After all, we've all been there – being young and on the hunt for presents.
LBB> In both spots, the dialogue strikes a nice balance between authentic and humorous. What was the writing process like, and how did you achieve this tone?
Martin> We put ourselves in the shoes of both realities, based on our own experiences as adults and our memories as children.
Roxanne> It's ironic, but I always try to make advertising not sound like advertising. If I don't recognise myself in my texts, chances are consumers won't either. With that in mind, injecting humour came naturally. After all, the holiday season is a joyous time to be festive, light-hearted and entertaining. There's no magic formula for getting the humour right, other than writing lots and lots of versions of scripts and testing them with lots of people.
LBB> As part of this, how did you showcase certain pieces of furniture as hiding spots, all without giving any potential young viewers too many ideas of where to look?
Martin> We collected the best and worst hiding places from our colleagues and social networks, including one person who hid his wife's present in the oven… where it burned!
Yes, our ads can give kids clues as to where to look for presents. But at the same time, parents just have to be extra careful, avoiding classics like hiding them under the bed.
Roxanne> Tanguay's product offering is so wide that it wasn't hard to find furniture with lots of storage to support our concept. Again, in the interest of authenticity, we conducted exhaustive research into the most common, best and worst hiding places, and made choices based on what would resonate most.
We also wrote the spots with kids in mind, keeping certain subtleties to ensure that our characters never find the actual hiding places for the gifts. In fact, we even hid a red gift from the consumer in one of the scenes, and we bet you won't be able to find it yourself!
LBB> Both the parents and the kids do an amazing job! What was casting like, and how did you help bring out strong performances?
Martin> We told them they'd get real presents if they played the part well! But for real, we clearly defined their roles.
Roxanne> We immediately sensed the enthusiasm of the actors who recognised themselves in our scripts – especially the parents. For the children, we were looking for a chemistry between the older one who leads the chase and the younger, more naive one who follows. Once the young actors got along, it was easier to make it feel like a game – like a real treasure hunt. We saw them helping each other with their respective lines, and it was great to see.
LBB> Building on this, what was filming like? Where did you shoot, how long did it take, and do you have any anecdotes from on set?
Roxanne> We filmed close enough to the holiday season that the excitement and magic of Christmas could be felt throughout the set. That was fortunate because it was a pretty big job; two 30-second spots with cut-downs in English and French across a double-shoot over two days, plus an extra day for the photo shoot made for very long days. At one point, we almost considered using the set's bed to sleep on! On a more serious note, the team we worked with, both on the production side and on the customer side, was super motivated, efficient and respectful, which made the project very enjoyable.
The set design team was also super committed. Shoutout to the person who meticulously packed the little toy guitar! On the last day of the shoot, we took a photo of the creative duo in front of the Christmas tree and hid it in one of the advertising frames.
LBB> Is there a spot you’re especially proud of between the two?
Roxanne> It's hard to decide, as we've always imagined the story as a whole: the parents hiding the presents and arousing the children's suspicions, and then the rest of the story with the hunt for the presents. But if we have to decide, probably the children's spot. When you know the challenges of shooting with young actors, it makes the result more gratifying. And they're so cute – it's hard not to go for this version.
LBB> The music also enhances the tone, being both festive and mysterious! How did this element come to life?
Roxanne> It's the result of working with strong partners. Based on our precise brief and our pre-shoot animatics, Circonflex created an original soundtrack that balanced the protagonists' mission with a light touch of Christmas.
LBB> Overall, what challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Roxanne> Tanguay is a Quebec-based brand competing against giants with huge budgets like Ikea, which can afford longer impact formats to generate emotion at this time of year. This meant that we had to put extra pressure on our creative product to stand out from the crowd and make the most of our resources.
Equally so, the territory was very prolific – we quickly got carried away with the number of variations to be made in OOH, the number of hiding places to be shown in the spots, and certain interesting shot values to tell the story differently. It could easily have lived in longer formats, but we had to make some concessions (not so dramatic in the end), to fit the messages into 30 seconds. With a simple idea and the right team, we managed to maximise our budget and turn it into a major campaign.
LBB> What lessons have you learned in the making of this campaign?
Roxanne> The importance of building trust with clients. It wasn't the concept Tanguay initially chose after the first presentation, but for a number of reasons, our agency was certain it was the idea to pursue (before someone else got their hands on this untapped universal insight). We continued to develop and refine the ‘Official Holiday Hiding Spot’ track in parallel with the chosen one until it became obvious to all that this was the best creative execution for the brand to stand out. Not just any client would have been willing to change its decision in this way. We really appreciate the team’s confidence and mutual respect.
LBB> Since launch, how have people reacted to this campaign?
Martin> People seem to recognise themselves in this universal insight, and there are still some surprises that people will discover shortly, but we can't reveal them at the time of writing. Stay tuned!
LBB> Finally, if you had to hide a gift somewhere in the house, where would you put it?
Roxanne> Probably in this Tanguay cabinet (because I secretly dream of having such an organized wardrobe).
