Manor unveils new Christmas TV spot "The Gift
In this year's Manor TV commercial, Elfred the Christmas elf takes center stage and aims to delight viewers with his heartwarming story. As in 2017, BETC Paris is responsible for the creative concept.
The plot takes the audience to a Manor department store, where a little boy wants to fill out his wish list. Suddenly he discovers a secret door behind which the fairy-tale world of the Christmas elves is hidden. There he spies the elf Elfred and knows immediately: he wants him as a Christmas present. When Elfred sees how the boy draws his image on the wish list, it drives the sweat on his forehead. For what if Santa decides to send him as a gift himself? So Elfred searches for a solution in Santa's toy factory.
The inspiration for the story was last year's Manor Christmas TV spot, which was shared on social media and went viral with over five million views (Werbewoche.ch reported). According to Manor, the Christmas elves in the commercial proved to be audience favorites. Elfred, the protagonist of the new film, was created on this basis.
Seven months development time
For the realization of the spot, 40 specialists from different areas of film as well as numerous animation techniques were used. During more than seven months, Manor developed the idea for the plot and the individual characters in cooperation with the agency BETC Shopper and the production company Passion Paris.
Elfred and all the Christmas elves were created and brought to life by none other than Peter de Sève. The world-renowned and multi-award-winning illustrator and character designer for animated films also developed characters for the feature films "Finding Nemo" and "Ice Age". The other characters in the film were penned by director Kevin Grady. Elfred is also sold by Manor as a cuddly toy.
The TV spot, which will air nationwide starting November 15, 2018, will run 40 and 20 seconds on TV and 2 minutes in Swiss cinemas. The uncut 2:27-minute version will be shown on Manor social media channels.
Responsible at Manor: Stéphane Maquaire (Chief Executive Officer); Sandra Kottenauer (Chief Digital & Marketing Officer); Jennifer Frame (Head of Communication Non Food). Responsible at BETC: Nathalie Jacquier (Managing Director); Charlotte Picq (Associate Director); Elodie Monsallier (Account Executive); Rémi Babinet (Creative Director); Marie-Eve Schoettl & David Soussan (Creative Directors); Nathalie Dupont (Concept and Editing); Francis de Ligt (Artistic Director); Fanny Branger (Assistant Artistic Director); Alexandra Chini (Traffic Manager); David Brakha (TV Producer); Passion Paris (Production); Schmooze (Sound Production); AgainstAllOdds (Directors).
Short interview with Sandra Kottenauer
"Families adapt or mix different customs".
Werbewoche: Sandra Kottenauer, Manor's Christmas campaigns are elaborate and make an expensive impression. Why have they recently gone to such lengths? Does it pay off?
Sandra Kottenauer: Christmas is one of the most important dates of the year for retailers. Accordingly, marketing investments are planned for Christmas campaigns. Today, investments also flow into other channels and measures and the weighting has changed. However, our TV Christmas spot is still central to the overall mix. What's exciting is that we can use it flexibly and play it across other channels. In this way, we reach a broad target group with different media usage. In this context, digitization plays a key role - marketing measures, media and channels are being adapted and we now rely heavily on digital touchpoints. For example, the uncut version of our Christmas TV spot can be seen on social media. The spot from last year went viral with more than five million views - among other things, this shows the success of the campaign.
The campaigns paint an Anglo-Saxon picture of Christmas with Santa Claus, elves, the North Pole - even though Manor is an original Swiss brand. Wouldn't it be smart to be more locally oriented in this respect?
Families adapt or mix different customs. Santa Claus is known and loved in many countries and cultures, including Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland it is "Père Noël" and in Ticino "Babbo Natale". Last year, we had very positive feedback from customers all over Switzerland on the Christmas campaign, which already played with the figure of Santa Claus and elves. That's why Manor has decided to continue the tradition this year.
Was there also negative feedback last year in this regard?
No, on the contrary. The feedback was more about the mysterious drawing of the boy around which the spot revolved. Everyone wanted to know what it meant. The Christmas elves, which have only been popular in this country for a few years, were even particularly well received by the public last year. For this reason, we decided to focus on them this year and personify them with Elfred.
Interview: Thomas Häusermann
