Once you’re no longer a child, Christmas tends to come with a touch of melancholy built in. BBH’s Tesco campaign captures this perfectly, mixing up the joy the festive season with the ache of missing loved ones, and showcasing the importance of traditions for keeping us all connected to the past as well as the present.
The “Helping feed your Christmas spirit” campaign is more festive than that might imply. It’s bursting with all types of gingerbread, chosen to represent the tie that binds Gary and his grandparents at Christmas. Tesco is given a starring role in keeping up traditions and bringing people together.
Becky Brock, Tesco’s group customer director, said: “We appreciate that even if you love Christmas, there can be little things that eat away at your Christmas spirit as well as things that help to feed it. We’re here to top up your Christmas spirit wherever we can.”
Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, deputy ECD at BBH London, said: “After the success of the 2023 campaign, we wanted to create something that built on last year but still felt fresh. As the BBH mantra goes, we wanted to move it on without moving it off. Another proud moment in the BBH and Tesco partnership.”
Tesco is donating 10p from every sale of gingerbread biscuit products to charity, split between FareShare and The Trussell Trust.
Like last year’s effort, the 2024 version (again directed by Iconoclast) mixes the domestic with the surreal, but this time with some extra heart and a well-chosen soundtrack, Gorillaz’ On Melancholy Hill.
The story is based on Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes’ connection with his own grandparents, and the effect is uplifting as well as being a bit sad. It’s a brave move to admit any fragility around Christmas, and one that can only succeed when it’s built on the kind of trusting client-agency relationship that Tesco and BBH enjoy.
MAA creative scale: 8.5
