BBC One says ‘enough’ to 2019: go live your best #XmasLife

BBC head of marketing Chris Hooper says he wants to get away from “poignant festive brand films” which he dismisses as “over-explored.”

So this effort for BBC One, by BBC Creative, is no tear jerker. It’s a range of festive scenarios featuring personalities who will be familiar to viewers of the channel, and Graham Norton, who’s familiar to everyone.

Set to a new version of Gorillaz’ Feel Good, Inc – this time with a rock choir – it was overseen by ECD Helen Rhodes, who recently joined the BBC from Wieden + Kennedy Portland, but hails originally from Kent.

Rhodes said: “Christmas doesn’t officially start until BBC One release their Christmas campaign, so we hope we’ve done the nation proud with a film that shakes off the shackles of 2019 and embraces our favourite time of the year. If showing a yoga-clad woman destroying avocados with a giant gingerbread, and a Maine Coon breed of cat riding on top of a Roomba, is wrong then I don’t want to be right.”

Hooper has succeeded in his stated vision to produce a “relatable and fun” ad, but it’s unlikely to get the nation talking.

MAA creative scale: 6

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About Emma Hall

Emma Hall is a journalist and editorial consultant and is the former Europe Editor of Ad Age, where she covered European marketing advertising, digital and media stories. She has written for newspapers including the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and the Telegraph, and was previously a section editor at Campaign. Emma started her career in New York as a researcher for a biography of Keith Richards.