Manor unveils Christmas TV spot "The Guardians" starring Elfred
Last year, Elfred was already the star of a heartwarming story in Manor's Christmas campaign. Now, Manor is unveiling its latest Christmas commercial, «The Guardians»—with Elfred in the lead role.
In this year's TV commercial, Elfred and two other elves check the Christmas decorations in all the houses when they make a shocking discovery. One of the houses has not been decorated. Apparently the residents have been disturbed while putting up the decorations, because boxes of Christmas baubles and a bare Christmas tree are standing by. Suddenly, the trio encounter a stork, which throws the elves out of the house.
And it's immediately clear why they haven't decorated: The family has a new addition and therefore has its hands full. The stork is the self-appointed protector of the newborn and doesn't make things easy for the elves. They want to save the family's Christmas, which first leads them to the Manor department store.
The inspiration for the story was last year's Manor Christmas TV ad, which went viral with over six million views and landed at number one in the top 10 YouTube commercials in Switzerland. The 2018 TV ad broke the record set by the 2017 advertising video, which had already achieved 5 million views. Even back then, the Christmas elves proved to be a crowd favorite and Elfred was chosen as the protagonist on this basis.
40 specialists from various areas of film and numerous animation techniques were used to realize the new 2019 TV commercial. This year, Manor worked with advertising agency BETC Shopper and production company Passion Paris for more than seven months to develop the idea for the plot and the individual characters.
Elfred and all the Christmas elves were created by Peter de Sève. The award-winning illustrator and character designer for animated films also developed characters for the movies Finding Nemo and Ice Age. The other characters in the film were created by director Kevin Grady.
Since Thursday, the animated film can be seen on TV in a length of 30 and 25 seconds and in Swiss cinemas in a length of two minutes. The uncut version is shown on Manor's social media channels.
Responsible at ManorJerôme Gilg (Chief Executive Officer); Sandra Kottenauer (Chief Digital & Marketing Officer); Jennifer Frame (Head of Communication). Responsible at BETCChristelle Fagot (Deputy General Manager); Vittorio Lucchini Gilera (Account Manager); Elodie Monsallier (Group Leader); Rémi Babinet (Creative Director); Marie-Eve Schoettl, David Soussan (Creative Directors); Clara Lafuente (Copywriter); Jonathan Baudet-Boella (Artistic Director); Joachim Touitou (Assistant Artistic Director); Alexandra Chini (Traffic Manager). ProductionDavid Brakha (TV Producer); Passion Paris (Production); Schmooze (Sound Production); Sanjiv Sen (Songwriter); AgainstAllOdds (Produceur).
