Uncommon’s ‘Family’ Portraits for JD Sports: “We've Never Seen Our Christmas on Screen"

During the festive season, advertising’s language all too often transforms into a series of cliches: red, glitter, homogenous families, jingle bells, and an insistence on fairytale narratives that present as universally aspirational. The reality for many is quite different. Traditions vary from household to household and what family looks like can be just as much about the connections we make as the blood that connects. Nostalgia too isn’t all decked halls, fireplaces, and the King’s speech; it can be “hot boxing your mate’s Golf as a teenager or trying to chat someone up at a house party.”

The team at Uncommon was tasked with representing this sense of realism by JD Sports this festive season. The brief landed in the hands of Shaun Savage, creative director; Quba Tuakli, creative; and ECD Benny Everitt, who worked on the “big yet sensitive” brief. 

“We were chasing something that created connection by being true,” says Quba, noting that many brands and agencies shy away from showing what life is really like for most during the holidays. That didn’t mean staying away from the tree or the decorations, but augmenting the expected with moments that feel borrowed from life as it really happens. The spot, titled ‘The Family Portrait’, weaves together vignettes of well-known talent surrounded by family, interspersing their stories with those of real people. Balancing stylisation with a documentary approach creates intimate, joyous portraits of what ‘family’ and ‘Christmas’ means to everyone.   

LBB sat down with Shaun, Quba, and Benny to learn more about making a campaign that showed “their” Christmas on screen, taking an expansive lens to family and tradition, and pushing the idea of festive aspiration beyond stock-photo cliches. 

LBB> A sportswear brand and Christmas aren’t an obvious pairing. What was the brief from JD like? 

Shaun> I guess it depends on whose eyes you're looking at the festive period through. I'd agree you don't see much of it on your TV screens, but loads of people are chilling at home, watching TV, wearing sportswear, going to house parties, and travelling across the country for football matches on Boxing Day. I think that is what gives our spot such a different feel. A different kind of cast in their own clothes, doing their own thing. Trainers and trackies are also coveted gifts for JD's audience. Putting them on immediately is part of the Christmas Day ritual. This is, after all, a big sales moment for JD and the rest of the high street. 

In terms of the brief, JD just wanted to hit a different tenor to everyone else, challenging us to make something that felt both big and yet sensitive. It's a cliche to say, "You need good clients to make good work", but they are such good people to work with. 

LBB> The spot’s tone is very modern – how important was it to avoid any festive cliches with the creative? 

Quba>  We weren't chasing whatever modern is or trying to avoid cliches – we were chasing something that created connection by being true. 

I think brands and agencies are scared to show life as it's lived by most because they think it's not aspirational – especially when it comes to the holidays. But as humans, we aren't searching for something we've never felt; we are looking for the beauty of a moment we have lived through. When you get down to it, it's rare that moment is found in a ‘Home Alone’ style white festive cliche. I don't think that's a modern thing; I suspect those moments never were. 

That said, we never wanted to do away with the bright lights and trees – we have both this year. But they are always contextual, never forced. The question was always, "What is true to this Christmas we are a guest in?" not, "How do we signpost this to everyone as Christmas?" 

LBB> The spot presents men in particular in a soft and emotional light; it’s really lovely to watch. Can you tell us about the decision to present and spotlight the relationships between men and men as caregivers? 

Quba> It was as simple as portraying men as they exist in real life. One of my greatest joys is being an older cousin and godfather. I also have a few close friends who have recently become fathers, and the depth it brings to their lives is breathtaking. It's not only middle-aged men in dad fits that fill that role; you walk down the street and see young men in tracksuits and every other outfit are engrossed in fatherhood. 

LBB> ‘Family’ in the spot is what you make it – talk us through that idea and why it was the right one for JD to present this festive season. 

Benny> Advertising goes mad during the festive period. Brand after brand makes out every family lives in the Cotswolds and wears matching jumpers. It ends up looking like a series of stock photos. 

But that doesn't represent 99% of the country. Not only that, the people who don't live that life have equal joy to display. So we wanted to strip back the decorations and redefine what family really means and what it actually looks like. For most of us, the holiday season is messy, noisy, raw, and full of emotion. So, we captured that and created a truer portrait of the period. That felt right for JD Sports because there are other stores on the high street that are a truer representation.

LBB> The spot is full of recognisable talent yet each vignette featuring a familiar face feels authentic and specific to them. How did you weave those individual stories into the wider narrative? Why was it important to feature talent alongside real people? 

Quba> The power of approaching this as a family portrait is that almost everyone has a reference point, be it found family or the one you were born into. It’s an underpinning thought that fostered breathtaking variety and true intimacy, a rare combination. With this as a starting point, we painted broad brushstrokes in the concept stage that were true to our team and to JD Sports and then sorted out the truth of our cast's festive experiences. 

LBB> Jamie XX’s track 'Wanna' scores the spot, an unconventional pick that LBB really vibed with. What was behind this decision? 

Shaun> Whether it’s the films looping on TV, the rituals we all partake in or simply the absence of close ones being brought into focus – the holiday season does tend to deliver a large annual slab of nostalgia. 

I think the Tina Moore sample does exactly the same thing – but rather than making you think about the nativity, carols, or your granddad, it makes you think about hot boxing your mate’s Golf as a teenager or trying to chat someone up at a house party. Which I think are equally, if not more, prescient experiences of being young. It’s hard to explain, but as soon as we’d heard ‘Wanna’, we never really got anywhere close to bettering it. 

LBB> We also really liked the way the spot is crafted and the authenticity of the visuals which instantly transport you to wherever the characters are. 

Shaun> We obviously had a very tight understanding of what we wanted and built out a script we felt achieved it. But we knew the real stories would come out in casting. Our friends at Road nailed it as per. We talked with those families to work out what felt right. It's about creating spaces and situations that Elliott, Saman and Norm Li (DoP) could explore. It's not a 

documentary, but it's definitely an observant piece of film. And as a result, hopefully, that is a bit more relatable to an audience who don't usually see themselves in most festive spots. 

LBB> Why were the directors Elliot Power and Samaneh Aminzadeh the right pick for this project and how collaboratively did you work together? 

Quba> Lovesong put them forward as a duo, which was an excellent suggestion not just based on their past successes, but on what they individually brought to the table. Saman’s work has a command of realism that’s both considered and inspired. His Iranian family running ‘the best Italian takeaway in Bradford’ was such a quintessentially British experience that we had to reference it in the film. Uncommon has worked with Elliott before and his skill at connecting with cast and keeping them in the moment was essential in a piece where no one was acting, just being. 

LBB> Did you run into any challenges while working on this? How did you overcome them? 

Quba> The spilling of a hot chocolate over a Nike tech suit caused a bit of panic, and a stern telling off from a mum. But you’ve never too far from JD Sports, so we sorted it out. The young man in question quickly found his smile again as well. It was water only from then out. 

LBB> What was your favourite part of working on The Family Portrait? 

Benny> A lot of us working on this have never seen our Christmas on screen. Three of us had parents who were nurses who worked over the holiday season. Saman’s family ran a pizza shop over the holidays, hard graft to be sure, but side by side with family. 

Quba> And I remember Christmas as rented halls full of Caribbean food and vibes. To bring these touchpoints and ones like it to life knowing that they speak to a wider and deeper truth than a mountain of presents and streets full of snow, felt like witnessing a larger population than most brands and agencies ever do. We wove small truths into a more candid portrait of Christmas as it really is.