Engine 337 and Marks & Spencer Clothing & Home have used The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey for this year’s Christmas campaign, with a soundtrack provided by Harry Styles’ Treat People with Kindness.
The centrepiece ad is less about the glitzy A-list and more about community groups – including a Bengali dance troupe and a Bolton brass band – and the good causes supported by the retailer.
The film itself is a fairly generic Christmas offering, with the products taking a back seat compared to previous years. Much of the real heavy lifting in this campaign will be done online and in social media, but the TV sets out M&S’s stall.
MAA creative scale: 5.5
New Commercial Arts’ spot for online marketplace Not on the High Street flags up a series of different reasons for giving gifts at Christmas, and is unusually (for this year) free of any mention of good causes.
Not a big hitter in the Christmas advertising stakes, but still doing its bit for independent retailers.
MAA creative scale: 5